The Liars’ Defense
If one honestly
believes that what they are saying, without a shred of doubt, because that’s
the way their mind works, is that person lying?
If someone who did poorly in
math at school honestly believes that two plus two is anything other than four
and repeats that to others, is that person lying? And if someone honestly and fully believes
the untruths that some politicians spout, no matter how ridiculous and
disproven they might be, and repeats them, are they lying? Thus, one cannot call the author of Mein
Kampf a liar. For a variety of reasons,
all heinous, he honestly believed that the racial garbage he wrote was
true. As much of a monster that he was,
he was not a liar.
If Donald Trump
honestly and fully believes without a shred of doubt that he did not incite the
January 6 Capitol invasion, and sincerely feels that he was not its cause, and repeatedly claims that to be the case, is he a
liar?
If Donald Trump
honestly and fully believes without a shred of doubt that he won the 2020
presidential election, and claims that to be the case, is he a liar? He may be stupid or crazy or malicious or a
bit of all three, but if he honestly believes what he claims, he is not a
liar.
The problem is that many
American voters are willing to follow and vote for stupid and crazy and
malicious people, even when doing so comes
back to hurt them. Even when they believe liars who do not themselves recognize that they are liars.
The "Rabbit Hole"
I have heard the expression
“rabbit hole” used to explain where some of those who believe in the QAnon
philosophy of lies and wacko conspiracies get their ideas. Actually, It resembles some of the things I
do with my blog, www.jackspotpourri.com. That’s why I recognize it.
I have a list of about 45 people to whom I occasionally send emails about something, usually political, which I feel might be of interest to them. Some open my email, which is at the opening of the “rabbit hole” I have created. All of my emails always contain a suggestion to click on a link to my blog. I might even suggest that doing so will tell them more about the subject of the email they are reading. Those that click on that link to the blog (like you just did) slip a few inches further down my “rabbit hole.” Once on my blog, they frequently encounter my opinions (not conservative) and references to articles from various liberal and progressive media sources to which they can access with a click of their mouse. (There is one further down on this posting.) Those that do so get still further down into the “rabbit hole.” Where they end up may contain mention of other articles, of topics, of books or of individuals, which can be reached by clicking on those usually underlined words in blue. Clicking on those links takes the reader still further into the “rabbit hole,” where they may spend hours reading the progressive or liberal ideas their clicking has brought to them, if they wish to.
That’s the way my “rabbit
hole” works and I believe that is the way QAnon’s does as well. Those sites down deep in any “rabbit hole”
sometimes are capable of capturing the email addresses of its visitors so they
might send them messages directly. (I don't do that with my blog, but I cannot speak for others.)
Let’s dig a bit deeper as to how this works with QAnon. It is not as innocent as is my “rabbit hole.” The first click, usually on an email someone has sent them, as I send to my list of 45, offers information which might seem innocuous at first. This message may have originated on a supposedly legitimate conservative website such as Newsmax, Fox or OAN, offering to provide information on vaccinations, abortion, gun control, American history, the Constitution, and so forth.
The links they reach from there, however, as
they click on suggested sites which provide more information, take them deeper
into the “rabbit hole” and gradually take on a more conservative approach to
these subjects and, like the links down in my “rabbit hole,” offer referral to
further more opinionated links. Eventually, the deep level of QAnon conspiracy theory is reached.
This is where the QAnon “rabbit hole” differs from that of www.jackspotpourri.com. It detours from the real world and leads to
an “alternate reality.”
Along the way down the “hole,”
the reader is encouraged to forward the links to others, spreading it
further. Some of those who spend enough
time deep down in that “rabbit hole” can become fair game for recruiters for
causes which involve domestic terrorism, but many merely end up believing in or
giving unwarranted credence to an ‘alternate’ reality which is based on
fictitious conspiracy theories. Some of
this material is passed on to popular sites such as Twitter or Facebook (as
does liberal and progressive material as well) and especially the site which is
the current favorite of those well down that extremist “rabbit hole,” Parler. And that’s how QAnon grows.
The “rabbit hole” problem
facing America today is that many Republicans have crawled down to the QAnon
“rabbit hole’s” conspiracy-believing level and find it a comfortable place to
be. This is reflected by their
leadership taking control of State and local Republican parties, which formerly
were in the hands of more traditional conservatives. Attempting to crawl back up out of that “rabbit
hole” is difficult for that Republican leadership which still has touch with
reality because of the number of Republican voters who for a variety of reasons
find it very comfortable down at the bottom of the QAnon “rabbit hole.”
And while you are down the
“rabbit hole” of which this site is a part, you might want to check out
Michelle Goldberg’s New York Times column where she describes what in
effect is what happens when an entire political party, the G.O.P., stumbles
down a “rabbit hole.” JUST CLICK RIGHT HERE. If that doesn't work, I leave it to you to find your way to:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/opinion/marjorie-taylor-greene-gop.html?algo=combo_lda_unique_clicks_norm_20&block=2&campaign_id=142&emc=edit_fory_20210203&fellback=false&imp_id=278501726&instance_id=26731&nl=for-you&nlid=78918068&rank=1®i_id=78918068&req_id=890518007&segment_id=50948&surface=for-you-email-regular&user_id=02fa158150d34dc186b01b1b8ec7a224&variant=1_combo_lda_unique_clicks_norm_20
A Letter I Wrote
Here’s
a text of a letter I sent to the Palm Beach Post the other day. I doubt that they will print it.
"How
long will the working people of the State of Florida, especially in the
northern parts of the State, keep electing Republican legislators? Anyone
who reads the papers knows that Florida Republicans are against (1) raising the
minimum wage as approved by the State’s voters, (2) improving the nation’s
worst unemployment benefit program and (3) accepting increased Federal support
for the State’s Medicaid program. These measures are not “socialism” any
more than are Social Security and Medicare for seniors nor are they efforts to
redistribute wealth. They are simply government efforts to provide
minimal benefits to working people who might need them. Any working
person who votes for Republicans should have their head examined. I guess
they don't read the papers."
Fox News Interlude
Last night, I watched a bit of Sean Hannity on Fox. Believe it or not, he was criticizing and mocking Michael Beschloss, the noted historian who appears occasionally on MSNBC, Historians record, interpret and comment upon history. They deal with reality and not "make believe" as most right wingers, including Sean, do. This was too much for him. He's in his own world, which in the absence of Donald Trump, will become increasingly lonely.
JLA comment I
posted the other day on Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters from an American” website.
I am against
handling these domestic terrorists with kid gloves. Letting them out on bail
(like Rittenhouse), particularly in jurisdictions where the local authorities
might be sympathetic to them, is very risky. These terrorists, and those who
enable them, like Trump, have been around for years, but never before elected
to Congress nor with the support of those already there. That's a danger to our
democratic republic never to be underestimated. When they see their convicted
co-conspiritors sentenced to long jail terms, they will begin to understand
that their alternate reality has a very limited horizon which may reach only so
far as the presently empty cells at Guantanamo Bay.
A comment I
posted on the New York Times website yesterday concerning the failure of
law enforcement at the Capitol on January 6.
It is time for the FBI
and other law enforcement agencies to pursue domestic terrorists with the same
ardor, and budget, that enabled them to pursue foreign terrorists after 9/11.
The first thing that must be remedied is the removal of domestic terrorists and
their sympathizers from local law enforcement throughout the country and Federal
agencies as well, and the military. All of these entities have been
infiltrated. The First and Second Amendments should not be used as excuses to
stop this from happening. Since private militias are illegal in all fifty
States, they should be disbanded immediately by the National Guard in those
States where they exist, without bloodshed if possible. It is time to play
hardball. The danger has not passed.
This is a touchy
area which I am now entering. I hope no one is offended.
Scoundrels have been known to wrap themselves in the American flag. It lessens the chance of what they are saying being criticized. But the flag is only one part of a quotation often inaccurately attributed to Sinclair Lewis, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
 |
| McEnany |
That is close to what was happening during the Trump administration. In addition to his wrapping himself in the American flag at every opportunity, with a few dozen more in the background, it never went unnoticed that Trump’s final press spokesperson, Kayleigh McEnany, always conspicuously wore a cross. And FoxNews anchor Laura Ingraham often makes sure her viewers see her religion hanging around her neck as she spouts the Trumpublican line. Most recently, super Trump supporter Congressperson Marjorie Taylor Greene is always seen wearing a cross and of course, “pillow man” Mike Lindell, another wannabe Trump spokesperson, sometimes wears one on his lapel as well as around his neck. C’mon. He probably is similarly tattooed!
It
is written in the Bill of Rights that Congress shall make no law regarding the
establishment of a religion in this country, but Republicans seem bent on
letting Americans know where they stand in regard to matters of faith. Granted
that they very well may be as personally religious as is President Biden, who
conspicuously made the sign of the cross at the ceremony honoring the Capitol
police officer murdered by domestic terrorists on January 6, they certainly do
not hesitate to display their faith whenever they can.
Might
politics be involved in their choice of jewelry?
(Added on Feb. 10)
Text of my most recent emails to Senators Rubio and Rick Scott:PLEASE EXCUSE MY EMAILING YOU REPEATEDLY BUT APPARENTLY YOU
ARE NOT GETTING THE MESSAGE AMERICA IS SENDING TO YOU! SUGGEST YOU IMMEDIATELY MAKE APPOINTMENTS
WITH AN OPTHAMOLOGIST AND AN AUDIOLOGIST BECAUSE YOU ARE EITHER BLIND, DEAF OR
BOTH, OR PERHAPS A CLOSET NAZI! BUT YOU
CAN REMEDY THIS BY WAKING UP AND VOTING FOR IMPEACHMENT. (In doing so, you just might save the
Republican Party from its imminent demise.)
If the Senate’s vote on impeachment were secret, the vote would probably be overwhelmingly in favor of impeachment, perhaps 85 to 15.
But the Senators’ votes will not be secret and their constituents will know how they vote. Many Senators fear the loss of the votes of the Trumpublican base in their States and the vengeance of the State GOP organizations, mostly controlled by Trumpublicans.
As it stands today, I expect that Trump will not be impeached by the Senate based on the pathetically weak excuse that his words of encouragement to the mob were not sufficiently explicit to qualify as incitement, an argument on which Republican Senators will hang their hats. But that is the way he has always talked, with his true message hidden among innuendo, inferences, nods, silences, euphemisms, body language and signals. This will change only when enough Republicans desert the present GOP and form a new right-centrist party so that they no longer will depend on the Trumpublicans. And that will require a lot of weed killer sprayed on the GOP's grass roots. Don’t hold your breath.
Courage in 1776 (I just emailed this to my two GOP Senators)
The fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence risked their lives when they signed that document. The death penalty was the price paid for treason committed against the English Crown. But they did what they believed was right. Certainly, Republican Senators can vote the way they honestly feel is right in the ex-president’s impeachment trial, the way they would vote if it were a secret ballot. With their hearts. The penalties they face from their local Republican party and from the Trumpublican base when next they run are far less severe than what the signers of the Declaration of Independence faced. Unless, of course, these Republicans are spineless and gutless.
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