It is Cold War redux in America. People from Eastern Europe are now targeted and painted as villains. In this escalating, toxic and highly polarizing narrative of Trump-Russia election meddling wild conspiracy theories abound. East European immigrants are often labeled as suspicious “Russians”, tarred by the press and reduced to spy novel caricatures. Ruthless gangs of cyberbullies and Internet trolls are now operating under the guise of zealous “citizen journalists”, often instigating their career counterparts into action. There is little fact checking and even less regard for newsworthiness of half-baked conspiracy theories.
Complicit in this red scare is our media, which often cheerleads for this deceitful narrative every chance it gets, becoming a state propaganda arm for the extreme left faction in our government. Even if you subscribe to the idea that Russia did interfere in our presidential elections, and altered its outcome, the collateral damage of the red scare is undermining our core values by fostering an epidemic of discrimination.
