Inflammatory Rapid City Headline Recalls 1933 Reichstag Fire

The headline of Rapid City’s local newspaper yesterday boldly proclaimed  the “Police killings of blacks” as the top story of 2014.  Trouble is, this is not what happened.

      Perceptions based on demagoguery aren’t the same as fact. As columnist Thomas Sowell summed up this week,  “What matters today is how well you can concoct a story that fits people’s preconceptions and arouses their emotions. Politicians like New York mayor Bill de Blasio, professional demagogues like Al Sharpton and innumerable irresponsible people in the media have shown that they have great talent in promoting a lynch mob atmosphere toward the police.”

     We are reminded how newspapers in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were pressed into service to help forge a one-sided view of the preferred political ideology.  The burning of the Reichstag on February 27,1933, by Communists was understandably taken as “fact” by the German public.

      Today, liberal politicians and journalists add seeming validity to unproven assertions. “Enough to consolidate political advantage,” they seem to say.