Fear is no longer just as an emotion — like the very real catastrophic flash floods that have claimed more than 100 lives in Texas, thus far — it’s become a political strategy, a cultural weapon, and a corrosive force reshaping the American soul. It spreads like a fever, distorting reason, choking compassion, and settling deep into the places where truth and trust once lived: our government, our classrooms, and the broadcasts that once aimed to inform, not inflame.
We see the symptoms plainly.
In June, Congress slashed funding for NPR and PBS — institutions that don’t shout, don’t rage, don’t follow trends. They inform. They educate. They connect. The rescissions bill cut more than a billion dollars from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, placing hundreds of rural stations at risk.