The audio and video of Nixon was obviously fake. I knew the text of the speech was real since it was released years ago and though I couldn't remember all of it, I do remember how he tried to set the narrative of heroes lost.

I was a kid back then and I watched the TV broadcasts as they happened or as they were first reported so I was already familiar with those short videos though I originally saw them all on a black and white television. I have seen the same footage in color a number of times over the years since.

Growing up during this time period there was a sense of wonder, awe, hope, and we could look forward to even more missions and discoveries. It was a great time to be an American and there was some enhanced prestige associated with being a Texan since a lot of this happened because NASA was in Houston. Texas schools focused on science, technology, mathematics, and kids fitness was still encouraged through programs like the President's Physical Fitness tests. Even today I weigh only 30 lbs (13.6 kg, 2.14 stone) more than I weighed when I graduated high school. That part of the message stuck with me.

The video had too many repeat sections that were obvious fakes since it was too jerky. Live video and audio never sounded or looked that bad even when you were watching with a tuned rabbit ear antenna.

I have a feeling that the audio portion of the astronaut dialog designed to lead the viewer to believe that they had seen bad things happen was fake too and it used manipulated footage to build the mental image.

It was good seeing Walter Cronkite again. We watched Chet Huntley and David Brinkley a lot too. I think they were NBC news. Journalism has sure fallen on hard times over the last 40 years after we (the hearts and minds of the American people) were sold out to corporate pigs by a change in regulations that allowed one corporate entity to control all forms of media available locally. Independent local newsrooms could not compete with a well-funded national operation that could pump news stories into your homes over television, radio, and through a competing newspaper. Local newspapers sold out to national interests who used (and still use) partisan editorial control to sell their narrative. If you are under 40 your news has been a feed of carefully curated stories delivered by pretty faces intended to keep you engaged. Using those pretty faces to create a facade of attractive people with nearly plastic features evidently works. One network in particular uses so much makeup even on the male personnel that could all be wearing silicone masks during the broadcasts. This is intended to distract you from the message and to keep you watching their channel. Remember that Huntley, Cronkite, and other journalists on television every night weren't chosen for their looks. They were pretty ordinary looking men who would probably be a 5/10 where today's anchors are gussied up to try to hit an 8/10 appearance. You won't see any two-baggers on TV nowadays.

Unfortunately, all this new deep fake technology will be convincing enough to fool a lot of people. Propaganda is a huge problem today in all media forms without resorting to totally faked broadcasts delivering invented "truths". Our educational system is failing the people of the United States in many areas as religion goes back into classrooms, charter schools rob the public school systems, and private schools increasingly become a pathway for wealthier parents to pass their own political, religious, or social beliefs on to their kids with the assistance of others in their social circles. It is a tool for siloing the next generation so that they have none of the normal social interactions with people from different backgrounds that they would have had in a public school setting. This helps the older generation maintain social problems like racism, homophobia (through some religious-based private schools), women's place in society, etc.

A long time ago I thought we were getting close to solving problems like racism. As an older adult I see that we lost our way, not because it is intractable but because we were intentionally led back to the well-traveled path by bad actors after we had initially collectively chosen the less-traveled branch which offered a solution. Picking the less-traveled branch of the trail required us to be courageous, to be open-minded, empathetic, and civil to each other. Instead, while navigating this difficult path we chose leaders who did not deserve our confidence and who consistently, and intentionally in some cases, failed us eventually steering us back on to the original track where we are today.

Since life moves in cycles we will always encounter those branches in the trail that present opportunity and require courage. Thus there can always be hope that we will either willing choose to trace an alternate cycle or accidentally stumble onto the less-worn path and decide that it is more interesting and then decide collectively that we should continue that adventure.

And so it goes...