this tactic of distraction and division became especially clear in the late 2000s, when a global financial crisis exposed the rampant corruption and greed at the core of global finance. across racial, political, and economic lines, people united in a grassroots movement demanding accountability from bankers, financial institutions, and elites who profited while millions suffered.   that unity terrified the powerful. for the first time in decades, the working classblack and white, left and rightrecognized a common adversary. such clarity could have shifted the balance of power profoundly. but with vast media control, the financial elite pivoted the narrative: instead of stories highlighting wall streets abuses, americans were inundated with sensational coverage of cultural flashpoints, immigration debates, and racial tensions.   as malcolm x observed, the media is the most powerful entity on earth. they have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent. exercising that power with pinpoint accuracy, they derailed a burgeoning coalition before it could demand meaningful reform.   black communities, decimated by predatory loans and lost generational wealth, never fully joined forces with rural white families grappling with industrial collapse. progressives and conservatives alike watched their security vanish. yet the media portrayed one another as adversaries instead of allies. dr. martin luther king jr.s warning, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, went largely ignored as fabricated culture wars consumed the headlines.
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