Frank Santarpia – The term Fourth Estate, as many know, refers to the press; “press” being a now-archaic description hearkening back to a simpler time, when delivering news was strictly a function of metal, paper, ink, and the time it took to get it to the reader—no electricity involved. We need not go into how different things are today.
To the best of our knowledge, Edmund Burke coined the phrase in 1787 while in the House of Commons. The first three estates, as generally defined at the time, were the clergy, the nobles, and the commoners. Burke is said to have gazed at the press gallery and said, “Yonder lies the Fourth Estate, and they are more important than them all.”
Likewise, students of history are aware of the phrase “Fifth Column,” which refers to a dangerous enemy unit that operates clandestinely within the borders of one’s own city or country. The expression is said to have originated during the Spanish Civil War in a radio address by insurgent General Emilio Mola, who broadcast the news that his four military columns laying siege to Madrid would be supported by a “Fifth Column” that was operating there surreptitiously.
Of course, paranoia can lead a nation at war to fear a Fifth Column that doesn’t exist; the most egregious example in our country being the belief that Japanese-Americans represented an internal threat as both spies and saboteurs during World War II. This erroneous conclusion led to the unfortunate internment of more than a hundred thousand loyal American men, women, and children of Japanese descent.
Generally, all Fifth Columns, whether real or imagined, share one commonality: they operate in the shadows. Their members listen from behind closed doors and peep through keyholes, and above all, keep their nefarious actions hidden and secret. They wait silently, patiently, until the day finally comes when they can rise up, shed their sheep’s clothing, and proudly affirm their support for the cause that has brought about the annihilation of the society in which they so traitorously intermingled.
Not anymore. With few exceptions, America’s Fifth Column conducts its business in full view of the public. In fact, they fight amongst themselves for the privilege of being the most visible, as they do their damndest to bring about the metamorphosis of our country as we know it.
America’s Fourth Estate is its Fifth Column.
Formerly known as the “Watchdogs of Democracy,” most of today’s media is the propaganda arm of the American Left. As vicious as a starving predator during the Trump years, this once snarling beast has now become a pussycat, rubbing at the ankles of Joe Biden as he, or his handlers, scratch behind its ears.
When the former Republican administration occupied the halls of power, this Fifth Column was capable of almost any calumny, no matter how destructive. Indeed there were cases which, in other generations or situations, their reporting might have been considered treasonous.
No single matter relating to the conduct of the Donald or his team was beneath their microscopic scrutiny, and even the slightest misstep—real or imagined—was reported by nightly newscasters with grim expressions and deathly-serious tonalities. It seemed that the only standard used to determine what was “fit to print” was the degree to which a story could be used in an attempt to damage that prior occupant of the White House or his appointees.
Hence the long days, weeks, months and finally years of wailing and gnashing of teeth, as nothing seemed to stick to the Trumpian wall at which they hurled their accusations. They appeared to be unable to cope with his often-brutal honesty and seemingly endless self-confidence, as well as his incredible ability to shrug his shoulders over accusations of myriad acts of criminality and moral depravity.
Today, however, while those critics with backbone have plenty of ammunition with which to attack the mainstream media’s biases, their slings and arrows seem to be unable to penetrate the screens of the HDTVs, computers, or cell phones behind which the purveyors of Biden campaign material, disguised as “news,” hide in plain sight.
For the most part undeterred, America’s Fifth Column continues its slink to a battlefront where truth and critical thought are the enemies, and those Americans who believe not only in the sanctity of our constitution but in the sanctity of our borders are being pummeled on almost an hourly basis—though never into complete submission. At least not yet.
So we watch with dismay and disgust, even if without surprise, as the Fourth Estate continues to descend into the nether-regions of crazed adulation and tingly legs when they report on the executive branch.
Like a new and potent Andromeda Strain, America’s press has mutated into a different pathogen. Where they were once intently focused on 24-hour surveillance of the White House, waiting to see or hear anything they deemed to be disagreeable—whether political or personal—after the 2020 election they have turned 180 degrees and put on blinders, with no interest in condemning any aspects of the Biden administration’s failed policies, foreign or domestic.
Sadly, because they are our country’s Fifth Column, our Fourth Estate is unwilling to express any sort of criticism of the party currently in power, and their goal appears to be burying the America we know and love, shovelful by shovelful.
SF Source American Thinker Jan 2024