I commissioned this art before the 2016 election. The artist wanted to use Hillary Clinton for the politician being chased by the watchdog press. I insisted it had to be Trump, figuring he would win: Evan Riddle

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The Big Picture –
By Glynn Wilson –

WASHINGTON, D.C. – They say you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. And you can’t “save the world” without watchdog journalism.

Horses are not totally stupid. Why would they not drink the water? They know instinctively they need the water to live. They don’t need a slogan like “water is life.”

People, on the other hand, sometimes rebel against the simplest advice to ensure their own survival.

This has been my experience anyway.

Maybe I should write a song about it, or let some A.I. chatbot program do it?

This is what I found in a search on YouTube.

Then I asked ChatGPT to riff about it by simply typing in “You can lead a horse to water…”

ChatGPT knew the cliche. It responded:

“…but you can’t make it drink.”

“This proverb means that you can offer someone an opportunity or show them the right path, but you can’t force them to take it or act on it. It’s often used when someone refuses advice or help despite it being in their best interest.

“Want to explore some variations or examples of how it applies in real life?”

I said:

“Yes.”

ChatGPT said:

“Great — here are a few real-life examples and variations of ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink’ across different contexts:

🧠 Education

Situation: A teacher gives a student every tool they need to succeed — extra help, study guides, even one-on-one tutoring.

Application:

“I gave him everything to pass the exam, but he never studied. Well, you can lead a horse to water…”

🧑‍💼 Workplace

Situation: A manager suggests a more efficient way for an employee to handle a task, but the employee keeps doing it the old, ineffective way.

Application:

“I showed her how to automate the reports. She still does them manually. Can’t force it — you know how it is.”

🧍‍♀️ Personal Relationships

Situation: You give a friend advice on leaving a toxic relationship. They agree but stay anyway.

Application:

“I’ve said all I can. At the end of the day, it’s their choice. You can’t make someone drink.”

💡 Variations and Spins

Dark humor version:

“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t drown it — legally.”

Modern take:

“You can lead a user to the FAQ, but you can’t make them read it.”

Corporate version:

“You can lead a team to a new process, but you can’t make them adopt it without a dozen meetings.”

Sunday Morning Thoughts

So what was I thinking about Sunday morning when I thought of this cliche? And what is the point of bothering to sit down at a computer and write this story?

I was reading the New York Times online and saw this story about the Trump E.P.A. dismantling the U.S. effort to combat climate change due to global warming from the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation.

Inside the ‘Radical Transformation’ of America’s Environmental Role

And I saw an email from the Southern Environmental Law Center, and thought: Are they still in business? Still thinking they can save the environment with law suits and emailed press releases? Are they not paying attention to the news at all?

Then just yesterday, for reasons I can’t recall, I had a conversation with a National Park Service ranger about the good old days not so long ago when you could make a difference with aggressive news coverage, what has been called “watchdog journalism.” Not to be confused with “lapdog journalism” or “guard dog journalism.”

Press Depictions in Editorial Cartoons

Back in the 20th century and even into the first decade of the 21st, it was possible to change the course of public affairs and policy by investigating breaking news stories and framing the issues accurately. This does not seem possible anymore, so why bother? Especially if people or “the public” are not going to help fund it and take the time to read it?

Even some of my smartest friends these days tell me they would rather watch a 10 minute A.I. video than to take the time to read a news story or, dog forbid, an entire book!

This is what the world has come to. Sorry, folks, but this is NOT my fault.

A little over a decade ago, I did a demonstration for the Southern Environmental Law Center about how journalism could make a difference, and tried to get them to understand that funding was drying up for news. I tried to convince them to take a tiny fraction of their non-profit proceeds to help fund journalism with advertising.

You can lead a horse to water, but…

Years later they did start spending some money sponsoring NPR stations in North Carolina, I heard, but NPR can’t and won’t do what I do, especially now that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is going out of business and public radio and television are being defunded.

American Crisis 2025: Media Capitulation

As I was telling the ranger, working with environmentalists and members of the public, we did an amazing thing back then. We stopped a plan by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to open up 43,000 acres in the Talladega National Forest to fracking for natural gas. It was the journalism that made the difference and got the public and some politicians onboard to fight it, not the press releases.

This story is recounted in my memoir, Jump On The Bus: Make Democracy Work Again. The paperback is only $15 on Amazon. If you buy it, I will sign it.

But you can read about it online here too. I’m sure some A.I. database has it all stored now, and is trying to use it to train the bots how to think and write. I doubt they will ever learn how to do what I do, as obsolete as that must seem these days. This was the only case of its kind in the country at the time, as drilling for oil and natural gas was allowed all over the country in many national forests.

Chinnabee Silent Trail Falls near the Lake Chinabee and Cheaha State Park in the Talladega National Forest, Alabama: Kenny Walters (now in the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.)

Related Coverage

Fracking in the Talladega National Forest is Not in the National, State or Local Interest

Sierra Club Asks U.S. Forest Service to Withdraw Oil and Gas Lease Sale in Talladega National Forest

Fracking Leases Proposed for National Forests White Washed at ‘Public Meeting’

Forest Service Backs Down on Oil and Gas Leases in the Talladega National Forest

A Groundbreaking Year for Environmental Journalism and Activism

Changing Times

Then I was talking to another friend on Saturday, who was waiting for a flight to Baltimore in the Atlanta airport, about how the Trump administration is dismantling our democracy.

“I feel like a knight of the Roundtable when someone invented the crossbow,” he said.

“Great analogy,” I said. “We are being rendered obsolete.”

How can you expect to make a difference with a lawsuit, when Trump will just bash and replace all the honest judges? And the Trump E.P.A. will just change the policy and let the power companies do whatever they want to do, including – along with state Public Service Commissions – raising electricity rates with no government regulations or oversight?

Back in the day, I tried to get some of the people working for non-profits to understand that politics and elections matter. You can’t do anything about these problems if you are prohibited from engaging in politics because of the I.R.S. policy of non-partisanship.

Of course now the right-wing majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that churches can endorse political candidates from the pulpit. When will the other non-profit groups test and challenge this ruling by going political in their own way?

Probably after it is far too late to do anything about it.

You can lead a horse to water, but…

-30-

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