Political Road Trip

The era of fake news has been the prelude of the era of fabricated information.

For years, reality has been chipped away, one stroke at the time, in front of our eyes; when we get tired to feel helpless, we become indifferent. Our world has shrunk and keeps shrinking. Although we have never been so connected to each other, we do not know what happens a few kilometres from our home. Among the chief victims: politics, economics, foreign affairs and my knowledge of them.

                  It has occurred to me that although I have studied, worked and lived in the United States for many years, I have lost track of what is happening there. So far, during the current presidential elections I have struggled to grasp the sentiment, the mood of the country. I navigate the news using my memory. This ignorance is unacceptable for someone like me, someone who has spent her life analysing, reporting, writing about international policy, someone who believes in telling the truth.

I do not believe that since 9/11 so much has changed in people’s mind in the US. But I do not have facts to back this statement, mine is a gut feeling, so it is not worth much. To prove that I am right I need to travel across the country myself, I need to talk to and to watch people, to live with them and to share their worries and hopes. So I decided to drive across America together with three very old friends.

                  Ours is not going to be a traditional road trip. We are not crossing a continent to enjoy the sights, to listen to the music and to have a fun time. Our is a different road trip, a journey of human discovery, a trip of political investigation to discover the soul of the nation ahead of the election.

                  Friends and family have express interest in this trip, many would love to join us, a large bus would not be sufficient to host everybody; others asked us to report and record our daily discoveries on a blog, so that they can share the results of our quest.

                  I have never done a bog before and I confess I feel a bit nervous about it, but I will have a go at it for many reasons, among which my curiosity about how people will react to what we write, for I am anticipating that the America we will see and report is going to be very different from the America that foreign journalists project at home.

                  My companions are people I have known for 50 years, a former top civil servant, a film producer and a journalist. I look forward to our conversations while driving tens of thousands of miles.