We’re all paying the price now for giving unethical media outlets a pass, granting them legitimacy they never deserved, filling our public discourse with hate speech and dangerous conspiracy theories. The Republican party has grown ever more radical since the ’90s, yet rather than report this objectively, newspapers put forth a safer, more palatable narrative of “polarization.” Even as the GOP dismantled the Post Office, lied about the election, and tried to change the results, we were told to “relax.” And here we are.