Editor’s Note: American Free News Network would like to welcome, Russ Rodgers. Rodgers is a retired U.S. Army Command Historian and an Army veteran with experience in tanks, infantry and military intelligence. Besides numerous publications on military history, including armor and Islamic asymmetric insurgency operations, Rodgers has over 35 years of experience in politics. He has worked as a campaign manager or senior consultant in over 60 electoral contests, winning over 70% of them, and has trained others to run for elected office. In New Hampshire in the early 1990s, he also started the first known organization fighting against false accusations of child abuse. He holds a Masters degree with Honors from the American Military University, and continues his political work as well as doing historical research and writing. As an aside, Rodgers is also an avid wargamer. Welcome aboard Russ!
Ed.
Just under 30 years ago, I was teaching high school history and government classes in Georgia. The internet was a new concept, but it was becoming obvious that increasingly more content was hitting the cybersphere. With that in mind, I explained to my students what my recent past had been like regarding news and information.
I pointed out that when I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s, news was controlled by essentially four networks: ABC, CBS, NBC and “Public” broadcasting. If you wanted to learn what was really going on in such a controlled environment, you needed to have a strong dose of “between the lines” awareness.
I was fortunate that I grew up in a home with a father who was radio broadcaster. I was allowed to hang out at the station, and one of my enduring memories was the teletype room. I can still hear the sound of a dozen machines hammering away as they printed up the news releases from the wire services.
Most people have heard of AP, UPI and Reuters, but there were a bevy of lesser-known agencies as well. Besides the rhythmic sound of the machines, the one thing that struck me was how many stories I saw that never made it on the air. It was then, at seven-years of age, that I learned how much our news was controlled. As I grew up, I learned that I needed to aggressively seek out information.
My search for truth caused me quite a few problems. In the late-1980s, I was the guest speaker at an event in Iowa. I explained that the purpose of the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was to allow citizens to be armed to protect themselves from big government, and not just to shoot geese on the back-40.
Part of what sparked my comment was that presidential candidate George H.W. Bush had just purchased a lifetime membership to the NRA, citing his support of the legitimate “sportsman.” Bush was clearly pandering, and I called him out on it. Yet, my comment sparked a very negative response from my erstwhile conservative audience. They reacted like I had just grown two heads because they had no idea of the history behind the 2nd Amendment. Yet, today the understanding of what the 2nd Amendment is truly about is widely discussed over numerous channels, and the average person sees it.
And this brings me to why I think we are winning. Things can look pretty depressing these days if you are tracking events. But, these type of events in our country have been going on for well over 100 years. You just didn’t see them, because the media was so tightly controlled. Now, the genie is out of the bottle and desperate elitists are trying feverishly to cork it up. The internet is our version of what in the Soviet Union dissidents called “samizdat,” and that genie is running rampant from the bottle. Hence the fanatical efforts to reign it in.
I wish them the best of luck.
Russ Rodgers has several books published on Amazon.
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us Help keep us ad-free by donating here.
Substack: American Free News Network Substack
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA