I've come to the conclusion that almost all politicians lie, some more egregiously than others. Some actually never tell the truth about anything, and if we're lucky, they get caught and get forced out of office. Or at least not re-elected. Once upon a time, back before I had reached double digit age, I believed politicians were in it for the good of the people. Silly me.
It has frequently been noticed that the surest long-term result of brainwashing is a peculiar kind of cynicism – an absolute refusal to believe in the truth of anything, no matter how well this truth may be established. In other words, the result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lies will now be accepted as truth, and the truth be defamed as lies, but that the sense by which we take our bearings in the real world – and the category of truth vs. falsehood is among the mental means to this end – is being destroyed. And for this trouble there is no remedy. It is but the other side of the disturbing contingency of all factual reality. Since everything that has actually happened in the realm of human affairs could just as well have been otherwise, the possibilities for lying are boundless, and this boundlessness makes for self-defeat. Only the occasional liar will find it possible to stick to a particular falsehood with unwavering consistency; those who adjust images and stories to ever-changing circumstances will find themselves floating on the wide-open horizon of potentiality, drifting from one possibility to the next, unable to hold on to any one of their own fabrications.
The yellow highlight is mine. While the sentence is really the root of her argument, I think it needs to be seen as part of the whole paragraph as well as being singled out.
Listening to the bombastic speeches from Feckless Loser and the cohort of candidates gives Arendt's words a new kind of spectacular clarity. The inability to determine truth from fiction will be, in the next few years, that which brings this country to its knees. Even when candidates like Mike, Pence, Chris Christie, and Ron De Santis say that Feckless lost the election aloud, it does not begin to make a dent in the cult following of the last administration.
Never mind that indictments have had no discernible impact on Feckless other than to broadcast and intensify his bombastic claims, he has now gone one step further: he has openly threatened the people of the process on his social media platform. I keep thinking this is like shouting FIRE in a crowded theater...only the audience doesn't have to worry about the fire...they have to worry about the firemen.
If you want to read about the aftermath of that post, check The New York Times or The Washington Post. I cannot write about it here without wanting to vomit.
Whether or not it was intended to be a threat, veiled or otherwise, is actually not all that important. Like every other dog-whistle he has used, this is the starting gate. He doesn't have to make any threats at all...he simply has to give permission to his rabid followers that it's okay to "go after" anyone they perceive as trying to prosecute their leader's ass.
As Arendt says, there is no remedy for this. Once the lies transcend the truth, the orders to behave accordingly will be embedded and ingrained in the language of the devoted minions. Every time he opens his mouth and the lies about the last election spew out, Feckless Loser empowers those who are seeking open revolution. They know he can't win, so like drunks in a bar, they will attempt to toss stools, break windows, and punch out anyone who tries to stop them.
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| Jon Minadeo II |
Oh, wait! Never heard of the Sovereign Citizens Movement? The Anti Defamation League provides a good definition:
The "sovereign citizen" movement is a loosely organized collection of groups and individuals who have adopted a right-wing anarchist ideology originating in the theories of a group called the Posse Comitatus in the 1970s. Its adherents believe that virtually all existing government in the United States is illegitimate and they seek to "restore" an idealized, minimalist government that never actually existed. To this end, sovereign citizens wage war against the government and other forms of authority using "paper terrorism" harassment and intimidation tactics, and occasionally resorting to violence.
The Southern Poverty Law Center goes even further...and falls right into Arendt's descriptives:
Sovereign citizens believe they are not under the jurisdiction of the federal government and consider themselves exempt from U.S. law. They use a variety of conspiracy theories and falsehoods to justify their beliefs and their activities, some of which are illegal and violent.
Do not think for one New York minute that they are gonna go away, blow over, or otherwise disappear after the next election. This shit is here to stay.
Look, I know politicians have lied since there were politicians to be heard. This is not new. In his novel, LYING CHEATING SCUM, Ed Uravic, a former Washington insider wrote:
The American people remain forgiving of their politicians, as long as those politicians put the people first and deliver tangible benefits for all of us.
I think he's spot on. Think about who we forgive and who we don't. I'm sure you can come up with a few names.
The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week
Read the whole Truth and Politics essay.
It's important.
To paraphrase a common statement," If a lie is said often enough, it begins to become the truth."Who decides this? Those sovereign citizens who many forget to watch what they are doing in this country.
ReplyDeleteIt slips up quietly and suddenly it takes hold.Frightening and it is not 1937.