Unless you’re living under a rock, just about everyone knows about this past Tuesday’s Democratic debate on CNN, not without its controversies.

A massive uproar erupted when CNN conducted a poll reflecting Bernie Sanders, Democratic socialist senator from Vermont, as the winner after the debate, and the poll was somehow mysteriously removed from their website almost immediately.  

Big deal, some might say. Perhaps the poll was premature and something needed fixing.

This was not the case. CNN is owned by Time Warner, which happens to be Hillary Clinton’s seventh-largest campaign donor. Where am I going with this?

CNN pulled their own poll and made it so that Clinton was the frontrunner after the debate rather than Sanders.

This is simply false.

Every single poll conducted since and screenshots of CNN’s poll have reflected the win of Sanders at the Democratic debate. PSA: Once you post something online, it never goes away. You would fare better to remember that, CNN.

CNN has attempted to save face by saying that they made a mistake and that Clinton was the real victor.

I was disappointed and disgusted with this blatant act of unethical, false journalism on the part of CNN. I know that every mainstream news outlet is biased; FOX loves its Republicans and CNN loves their Democrats, but I expected more.

When did it become OK for our news to dupe us like this? More importantly, why have we allowed it? I can only think of one reason.

We are afraid.

I think we are all afraid to see the truth and to admit it to ourselves, myself included. I think that we have this “ignorance is bliss” attitude. It is not. Ignorance is death. “If we just ignore it, it’ll go away.” It does not. “If we deny it, that means it’s not real.” It is real. Science, reason, logic, fact and truth do not bend to our attitudes or beliefs about a particular issue. Bottom line.

Scientists have indisputably said that climate change is real, even if the state of Florida bans that word and that concept (which, yes, they actually did do). Research says that marijuana has beneficial medical properties, no matter what the law and big pharma says. The Bible does not condone guns, no matter what you read. Abortion does not cease to exist with the defunding of Planned Parenthood, even if that’s what your parents told you.

We must re-evaluate and reconsider the news we are taking in, and we need to get back to a time when we held people responsible for what they are reporting. We need to remember how vital critical thinking is to the health of our society. We have to question and do our own endless, tireless research for ourselves until we’ve left no stone unturned, until we’ve exhausted all our options. We must always be thinking, questioning and pursuing knowledge and absolute truth.