I can hardly condemn people for getting much if not most of their news from the Internet. It's efficient, you can read many sources quickly and you don't have to sit through all those TV commercials or deal with all that newsprint. That's why you're here, right? The problem is, obviously, that for every legitimate news report there are uncountable sources of propaganda, slanted news and totally fabricated lies. Unless you're just looking for laughs you tend to believe them because you want to. We all want our prejudices, or as we like to call them, our principles, to be confirmed. Indeed far too many of us log on first thing in the morning desperately seeking outrage, scandal and condemnation. It's like a strong cup of coffee to get us going, and as with all things, where there is a demand, there arises a supply. It's called the Internet.
There are web pages that closely mimic the major outlets and unless you look closely you may think you've logged in to CNN.com or a legitimate newspaper. There are all sorts of web sources attached as supporting links on the things you get on Facebook or in email demonstrating that whatever it is you don't like is a fraud, fake or a harbinger of doom. Many are just more propaganda, many don't even exist.
But there are all sorts, put up by all sorts of organizations or individuals or political parties. My opening delight this morning was labeled as World News Politics.com and in the wildest of hysterical terms proves that Hillary Clinton hates and wants to persecute Christians:
Hillary Clinton: CHRISTIANS IN AMERICA Must ABANDON FAITH IN CHRIST, Adhere To NEW LIBERAL LAWS
Screeches the headline. a misquoted menu of quotes mrom Mrs. Clinton proving this premise follows. Why this found its way to me, I don't know, being a cynical and fairly well informed atheist, but the claimed 277,000 "shares" means others welcomed the chance to feed the addiction, to feed the Hillaryhate, that newest branch of the Clintonhate religion that dates to Bill's first campaign. Of course none of those predictions or maledictions came true and Bill may have been the most successful president in our history, but faith never dies, nor do lies and they're still predicting all sorts of horrors that never happened then and won't happen now. One of those things is the persecution of Christians.
The writers of News World Politics may or may not believe this idiocy, but they know you desperately need it as a vampire needs blood and the people who pay them make their living from your fear and hate and other psychological problems you like to call Christianity. What you may depend on for your identity and self respect along with your Confederate pretense, your sense of biological superiority and your guns.
It's not going to die, it's not going to go away and it will continue like a cancer in America no matter that it's fake and like the "tax and spend" meme, the Gun Grabber meme, the "spread the wealth" calumny, it's designed to make you abandon your faith in America. Can you imagine what kind of people with what kind of motivation are behind this? That's not too hard, is it?
SCENES FROM THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE:
ReplyDeleteThe alternate rightwing has been pandering frightwing claptrap for years, such as Alex Jones who claims the Sandy Hook massacre never happened, that it was an anti-gun conspiracy to separate his pistol from his penis. Beyond offensive, especially to those parents who lost children that day.
How about that unmentionable presidential candidate from whom sewage spews forth hourly. More shocking are the consumers who gobble up his verbal diarrhea. Here are some new titles from the Publishers Clearing House that cater to these yo-yos:
Avoid Eye Contact Monthly
Better Homes Than Yours
Buxom Octopus Woman
Clowns and Pizza Monthly
De-Worming World
Dissatisfied Wife Magazine
Pretending to Read Magazine
Professional Porta-Potty Digest
Serial Killer Weekly
Sponge and Vacuum
True Vampire Stories
There's a great plague of insanity raging here. Maybe there's a better term but people are crippled with rage about things that are largely untrue. Nothing happens but that there's some preposterously complex and unlikely alternate reason for it - or it didn't happen at all. Trump is only a symptom and it's been here for years, slowly growing into the monster it has become.
ReplyDeleteShould we create a whole new field of study around the epidemiology of delusion or dementia or aberrative cognitive ability? Callit what you will, it's like the medieval plagues and I can see men with wheelbarrows in the streets calling "bring out your nutjobs"
According to the American Psychiatric Association, the incidence rate of pathological narcissism in the general population rose from 7% to 14% within a decade. Some may argue that this is a false correlation. Given the Trump phenomenon and the rise of alt rightwing fanaticism, I say there is a connection.
ReplyDeleteI find that very interesting. Is it possible that the narcissistic personality, perhaps with delusions of grandeur, or at least hipness is profitable for businesses to have in a consumer? If so can we suspect that teh gigantic amount of advertising we're subjected to in all our waking hours serves to promote that: that we try to elevate ourselves to the image we're trained to have about ourselves? I don't think it explains Trump but it may help to understand some of his support.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I remember 8 years ago when the meme was Obama is going to take your guns and your Bibles! Yet here we are at the end of his tenure and everyone still has their guns, their Bibles AND not one single Christian can attest to having lost one single liberty. Hmmm...
ReplyDelete