The Women's March was a remarkable and inspiring event. The crowd in Washington is estimated to have topped 500,000. As one of the ten percent who were males at the gathering, I am prepared to accept that figure.
That, of course, is in sharp contrast to Trump's claims about attendance at his inauguration. His claim that his inauguration drew the largest crowd of any would be silly and laughable, were it not for the bold-faced lie that it is. The willingness of the man and his press secretary to state such a bold faced falsehood is extremely troubling. They seem to have learned that their core supporters will accept whatever they are told by them as the truth, ignoring all evidence to the contrary.
Added to the administration's willingness and propensity to say that black is white is their complimentary campaign against the news media, which they say are the real liars. Hitler and Goebbels could not have been a better tag team than Trump and his press secretary.
The media will need all the help they can get from we in higher education who claim an equal dedication for the search for and promulgation of the truth.
The biggest challenge, following the downer of the inauguration and elation of the March, is to sustain and build momentum. My daughter, who was by my side on Saturday, has vowed her dedication to the coming confrontations. Millions more, not only in America, but world-wide have done the same. In Hamburg, my son was an organizer of the march there. He had 100 RSVPs, hoped for twice that number, and got 700.
In this time of the tweeting president, we probably cannot penetrate the minds of his willingly ignorant followers. But they are a minority by any measure (except his, of course). The converts we must reach are the members of the blue-collar class who voted for Trump out of frustration and desperation, but who were Democrats historically and, hopefully, still are at heart.
Higher education is a vast, diverse and decentralized mass of very smart truth-seekers. We have plenty of problems, especially financial ones. But, united, we are a mighty force dedicated to truth-seeing and truth-telling. The shrunken news media --- those who have not sold out to infotainment --- are under attack. Truth is under attack. Democracy is under attack. Justice is under attack.
Our moment is now. We are the base upon which to build a sustained and sustainable counter-force to the fascism that America faces now.
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