Welcome to the wild west. Or at least that is how I would like to think of our current situation. This is not the beauty or simplicity of the Gilded Age or Victorian Era. Instead, it is the other side of that coin that is especially messy, outright political, exaggerated for maximum effect and definitely verging on constant crisis (if you still feel we are relatively sane and have not gotten there just yet).

Big corporations own so much of the media we all consume. We know that, especially when it comes to franchises we love (looking at you, “Star Wars”… WHY?!), but not necessarily for our local news. Syracuse and the Central New York market are big business for conglomerates like Sinclair. Out of the Big Four networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) locally, Sinclair operates two of them (WSTM NBC 3 and WTVH CBS 5). Another national company, Nexstar Broadcasting, owns and operates WSYR ABC 6.

According to Syracuse.com / The Syracuse Post-Standard and The Associated Press, both Sinclair and Nexstar were the first to refuse airing comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” after his monologue about the shooter involved with Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Combined, both companies own almost 70 ABC stations covering most of the country. Across New York, Sinclair owns and operates Rochester’s ABC station, while Nexstar operates ABC stations in Albany, Binghamton, Utica and Watertown.

Choosing not to show a mainstay program of their network ended up with Disney-owned ABC putting Kimmel on indefinite suspension starting Wednesday, Sept. 17.

Donald Trump has historically had a war with late night talk shows and he is willing to exert his loyalist government to follow his whims under the guise of constitutionality. As already large companies consolidate to make even more money, they need to satiate and appease the government to approve their mergers. When Skydance’s purchase of CBS owner, Paramount, was stalled by the FCC earlier this year, they decided to cancel “The Late Show with Steven Colbert” after its current season.

Comedians love to parody politics but under the regime, any parody or joke is an insult against Dear Leader. Even insulting the government or protesting is now framed as criminal, evil intentioned, anti-Americanism. Is that “free speech”? Is that the freedom our service members have died fighting for?

Remember that the sweeping powers of the presidency are not fully let go by future office holders. And with Congress and the Supreme Court seemingly unwilling to challenge Trump, popular culture steps in as a political voice and we are lucky to have them up at bat, as Damien Rice of the “New York Times” recently put it; “With lawsuits against media companies, cuts to public broadcasting, and threats to rescind licenses or deny mergers while rewarding friendlier outlets, Mr. Trump’s tactics fit a disturbing global pattern.”

Without comedy or theatre or fine arts, the core of human expression, there is no culture. You will destroy your nation if there is no guaranteed and strong freedom of speech and expression.

We just celebrated almost 240 years of the oldest codified constitutional law in the world, a model for others in shared governance and enshrining the rights of the people. Should we bend over backwards to cater to a socially conservative portion of the country that refuses to think critically about the world and engages in comfortable revisionism and edited isolationist worldviews?

We are not China or Russia, or India or Venezuela, or Turkey or Iran or North Korea. We must believe in the power to challenge our elected officials peacefully through dialogue and analysis of their actions. If we cannot have investigative journalists or comedians, we cannot exercise our power to make an account.

Right now I am ashamed to be American, not because I hate this country, but because I love my country. I want America to be great and to thrive, to make the regular person’s life better, and to fight for fairness, justice and truth everywhere. But that means listening to what is uncomfortable.