In 1938, a voice was caught up over the American radio. Explaining an unthinkable scene – The Martians landed in New Jersey and wiped out the city. Humanity was on the verge of collapse.
It was Orson Wells’ HG Wells’ infamous adaptation World Warfictional broadcasts are so realistic that the panicked listeners reportedly fled their homes, and are sure that Earth is under attack.
Fast forward to almost a century, radio hoaxes became a nightmare reality, not Martians, but hostile takeovers of the American information landscape. This time, “Aliens” pitches election plots for red tie, host magazine rallies and clicks.
Their mothership? Some American news, and conquest, are not of the Earth, but of the radio waves that once carried America’s true ideals and truth.
Oan, right-right propaganda network was born in a sludge-filled Trumpist swamp, Will Filling the shoes of those who are respected Voice of America is a state-run international broadcasting station with an 80-year heritage that tells the truth in the dark corners of the world. This is not a normal programming shift. It’s a cry from America’s credibility, a bulldozing of journalist integrity, and smoking flares that disintegrate the greatest megaphone of democracy in generations.
VOA has begun broadcasting In 1942, “The news may be good. The news may be bad. We will tell you the truth.” That spirit led its coverage through Nazi Germany, the Cold War, the Tiananmen Square, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Arab Spring.
In oppressive regimes where truth was buried or prohibited, VOA was a lifeline. The journalist risked their lives to report the facts. The story influenced the revolution, exposed the abuse, and perhaps most importantly, it built trust. period.
And now that trust is being exploded by Donald Trump and his rap dog.
News that Trump is giving that story, including Lake Kari, whom he talks about. Who is running VOA violently now?the front row seats of VOA are more than political interference, and truly Orwell’s sabotage. It’s similar to giving the key to Alex Jones to the Library of Congress or replacing FEMA with canons. That’s exactly that serious. And it’s very wrong.
In fact, I think I can accept that if Trump told the Martians to take over the VOA. At least they are more honest and dare I say, I’ll connect more to the news.
OAN, on the other hand, is not a news network. It’s a cheap speaker system that blows up lies, hatred, and white grievance politics. That’s the channel that I claimed Trump won the 2020 election After even Rudy Giuliani gave up on the charade. It facilitated the Arizona Audit, a show of voting hunting volunteer clowns led by cyberninjas and delusional activists. EvenHe filed a lawsuit With Smartmatic of Honor and Am Loss after spreading unfounded claims of election fraud.
But that crime goes beyond misinformation. oan Trafficked with homophobia and total hatredcalling the pride flag “unpleasant.” LGBTQ+Americans defend the policy of queer and trans living from public life while “perverted.”
It used its platform to demonize teachers and libraries, book bans, embraced the white, straight, angry American version. Network’s own contributors spit anti-LGBTQ slurping on cameras, laughing at marginalized communities, and support the kind of state-run surveillance belonging to Putin’s Russia rather than the Democratic Republic.
Perhaps this is the point.
Because when Oan enters the VOA, the “American voice” no longer brings threats, not integrity. It no longer becomes a beacon for the oppressed, but a bull of the oppressor. This is not just about programming. It’s about power. When you control the story, you control the people and the world’s perceptions of it.
The dictatorial state has long understood this. Russia has RTs. China has CGTN. Hungary, Türkiye and Iran all have government mouthpieces disguised as journalism. If Trump succeeds in converting VOA to MAGA-injected OAN, the US will join that list. And that is absolutely deplorable.
This fits neatly with Trump’s dictatorship roadmap. He promised to cleanse the federal government, weaponize the Department of Justice, and turn military loyalty into a political litmus test. And now he wants to hijack our voice into the world. This strategy is straightened out of an authoritarian playbook. The silent objection lies to the zone, erasing the line between fact and fiction.
What remains when the VOA is castrated? How does the truth shine in a Burmese village? Even CNN does not reach rural Afghanistan. VOA does that. Or did it. And if we let the channels be controlled, I think those who once saw the light in America only see the darkness and like that.
If Oan, Kari Lake, and Trump’s ideological bootlickers allow journalists to be replaced with propagandists, then all the risks of RFK Jr. are aside, it’s a test of the American democratic immune system.
They panicked in 1938 when the Martians “invade” them. But this time the aliens are real. They put on makeup and lie completely confidently, sitting behind the supposed “news desk.”
And when the real Martians land, we have no credibility to warn anyone.
vOICES has a wide range of moving personal stories and LGBTQ+ Communities and their allies. visit advocate.com/submit For more information about submission guidelines. The views expressed in the voice story belong to guest writers, columnists and editors, and do not directly represent views of Supporters or parent company, EqualPride.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
