Many people believe all sorts of things that aren’t true. Some of those don’t matter much, for example, a person believing that rubbing keeping his lucky rubber ducky next to his easy chair will make his team win. It’s not true but it does no harm.
We aren’t talking about that. We are talking about lies that destroy and kill. For example, Trump said the Corona Virus was just like the flu and we didn’t have to worry about it. But he was lying, as proven by the recordings of him saying otherwise. That lie cost people their lives because action that wasn’t taken based on it supposedly being true.
Now we have seen this on display again, in Washington, D.C. and the U. S. Capitol Building. Trump has said he won the election. That is a lie. It’s not a mistake, or a miscommunication, it’s a lie. And he knows it’s a lie. But he doesn’t care. He wants to win so he’s making up a story that says he won. A story without evidence to back it up. And his followers believe him. They believe him so much they storm our Capitol and ransack it, searching for Senators and Representatives disloyal to Trump, perhaps to make stand trial in a kangaroo court right then. Luckily they didn’t find any officials.
The problem is the mob, a mob who isn’t bound by truth or evidence or facts. They are only bound by allegiance to Trump. And when Trump said to march on the Capitol and his servant Guiliani said to commit violence, they did so. Trump and all the public officials that supported and encouraged his behavior and his words are complicit and should forever be stained with the infamy of January 6th, 2021.
Delusion is a hard thing to overcome. Individuals believe things that are untrue for all sorts of reasons. Many times they even know inside that what they believe is untrue but they just can’t get the courage to admit it to themselves or others. It really isn’t that uncommon. But what is far more dangerous is when large groups inside a country believe things that there is no evidence for or is grossly exaggerated. This is true in America right now.
Some Trump supporters have gone down a rabbit hole of adoration. They are so enamored of Trump, so invested in him being their savior (from what I don’t know), that they can’t handle the fact that he’s been voted out of office. They want so badly not to believe it that they have staked their faith on lies told to them by people who don’t really care about them. It’s sad to see but really not surprising when you take into account Trump’s methodology of propaganda and disinformation and his legion of media followers who are also so invested that they amplify that message without regard for their duties as journalists or commentators.
It’s sad to see and I can only hope that we find a vaccine for this hysterical delusion soon.
In the book ‘1984’ there were official sayings of the party in control, inscribed on the giant white pyramid at the Ministry of Truth. war is peace freedom is slavery ignorance is strength
This has always been used as an example of a scary dystopian future we in America might see in a place like Russia or China. But that is not how it’s turned out. Instead we are seeing it play out here in the US under Trump. If you doubt this to be true I would submit the words above as just the merest of slices of what he has said that is absurd and untrue in the extreme.
All you have to do is look through a collection of what he’s said over the past 4 years or more to see the truth. If you don’t see it, I think you might work for the ‘Ministry of Truth’.
I always thought there was a certain ethical and moral line that most politicians (of any party) would not cross in their pursuit of political power, money or fame. I really did assume that…until Trump came along.
But now I know better. Nothing in my 50+ years of following politics has astounded me quite as much as the Republican party’s acquiescence to the cult of Trump. And what can explain it? Competing bodies of evidence? No. The evidence is clear for all to see. It’s in broad daylight, spoken by the President himself and by his Chief of Staff. It’s in every single witness in both the Mueller Report and the Impeachment inquiry. It’s in the entire public history of Trump’s untruthful proclamations for the last 4 years, since he announced his run for office. Those who doubt this are living in denial.
I have come to the conclusion that there is only one explanation. The Republicans in power are fearful cowards. They fear losing elections, power, money, status. They fear tweets from an angry orange man. They know that if they stand up and say the truth, that Trump is a criminal and has taken impeachable actions, they will have people mad at them. That they will be ostracized from the club. They will lose speaking fees and appointments in the future. It will be like leaving the church they grew up in, excommunicated and shunned forever more.
And that is all true. It will take courage and it will have consequences. But that doesn’t matter. Their first and foremost obligation is to the country, period. If they lose an election, it’s still worth it. If they don’t get that plum lobbying job after congress, it’s still worth it. If they don’t get huge speaking fees or a gig on Fox News, it’s still worth it. And at every step along the way it will, more than anything else, be THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
Our country matters much more than a lucrative gig at Fox or a plaque on a wall at the state house.
But being unwilling to learn is. This is the Orange Man’s sin. He thinks he knows better and smarter than everyone. Just yesterday he said he knows more about the environment than most people. And why is that? What study has he done, what investigation has he embarked on, what books has he read and which experts has he consulted on this topic?
This proclamation without substance is bluster. It’s the Orange Man’s way of making something real. You just say it and it is. The side effect of this is mentality is one does not have to learn or study or grow. You just say you know and you know.
This attitude is problematic when an elementary school teacher sees it in a young boy or girl. That teacher will work to show the child that it is good to open minded about ideas and topics, that you have a lot to learn and you won’t learn any of it if you already think you know it all. Many parents have to deal with that same illusion of expertise with the teenagers. Luckily most people grow out of this stage. They are humbled and realize there is a lot of amazing things to learn in this world.
Unfortunately we sometimes have to deal with this egomaniacal personality in an adult. It’s insufferable to have a co-worker have this issue for example. They can make life quite miserable.
But what we should never have to deal with is this sort of immature and dangerous person as the leader of the free world.
When you refuse to learn or understand, when you revel in your prejudice, and when you don’t have critical thinking skills to discern the difference between facts and propaganda then you become victim to demagogues who are only interested in their own ego and don’t care about you, America or any ideals America stands for.
This will sound funny coming from an artist but for a long time I used to think artists who said, “I have to do art to express what I can’t any other way.” were sort of copping out. I didn’t really get it. Then the Orange Man came along. I’ve been drawing the Orange Man for 3 years now and it’s a series I wish I wasn’t compelled to do, but I am. I can’t express my disgust any other way. Words just aren’t enough for me.
The Orange Man Sat on his golden throne and thought for a second. Then he went out into the world and said, “IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII”. The End
