Almost half of Americans have come to believe in an alternate universe. We’re trained from birth to be conned – by advertisers. The more fantasies we “buy,” the more stuff we buy. Our economy runs on the gullibility of American consumers.

So much blame to go around. The media who refuse to connect the dots. The media personalities who deliberately spread lies to confuse people, misdirect their legitimate anger, and arouse their fears. The advertisers who support such programming. The schools that are afraid to counter it.

I also blame our siloed, classist society, where academics only talk to academics, media only talk about rich people and ignore the non-rich, and intellectuals scorn to lower themselves by debating on right-wing talk shows or explaining things to the plebes.

Ignorance must be fought. It includes racism but goes far beyond racism. And the fog of delusion won’t decrease without a lot of hard and patient work, not just by the new administration, but by all of us.