Commentary: These Discouraging Times

Dark free speech has great power to create 
an illusion of free will

Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves. -- Eric Hoffer, moral philosopher

“You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Revolt in 2100/Methuselah's Children


During the republican convention, it became clear that it is probably not very useful any more to point out the lies, deceit, dirty tricks, illegality and corruption the president and his propagandists are deploying in this election. The problem is that most minds are made up. The rule of law is broken at the federal level so that's not a factor. There is no pretense at truth any more by the GOP. And, most of the president’s supporters apparently do not care, and/or do not believe the president is doing the bad things he is doing, or if he is doing it, it’s not that bad. This is a tribal thing, not a rational thing.

Dirty tricks and broken laws

In an article today, Fact-checking Trump’s lies is essential. It’s also increasingly fruitless, the Washington Post writes that their fact checker rattled off 21 false or misleading statements in the president's 70 minute acceptance speech. That's about one attack on truth every three minutes. In view of the tidal wave of deceit, Anderson Cooper, “looking bemused, paused for a moment and then deadpanned, ‘Oh, that’s it?’” The speech was a cornucopia of lies and deceit. Apparently, Trump supporters generally believed it and loved it, or were at least OK with it whether they believed it or not.

Also today, the New York Times reports that the Trump campaign tricked three of four New York city residents in low income housing into a video interview about bad conditions in the massive housing project they live in. The three tenants were not told the interview was going to be used to make a campaign video for the president's re-election that aired on the republican convention. One of the three commented: “I am not a Trump supporter. I am not a supporter of his racist policies on immigration. I am a first-generation Honduran. It was my people he was sending back.” The fourth resident was a Trump supporter and was told of the purpose of the interview, and approved of its intended use.

According to the NYT, that was the second time the Trump campaign mislead people in an event involving the federal government that was filmed for the Republican National Convention. The other instance was the convention showed a video of five new American citizens being sworn in at a naturalization ceremony by the president. That stunt gas been criticized as an illegal violation of the Hatch Act. It doesn’t matter because the US Attorney General was hired to protect the president and his campaign staff from breaking laws and that is exactly what he is doing by doing nothing.

Do they really believe the propaganda?

It is not just reputable news sources who report on the scope and depth of the disinformation and illegality in the president's campaign and himself. I experience it directly by engaging with people at radical right sites. Narratives, i.e., verifiable facts, true truths and sound reasoning, that contradict the false dark free speech narratives the president and GOP routinely deploy are instantly rejected. They are attacked as lies. Citing fact sources makes no difference -- they are all liars telling lies. I am told that I should be ashamed of myself for pretending there is any truth in actual facts and truths. Then the ad hominem attacks and insults fly in my direction. I am dehumanized and thus make a comfortable and satisfying target for unfounded insults. Truth and sound reasoning have become lies. Lies and bogus reasoning are now truth. The amazingly poisonous power of dark free speech is on full display.

Of course, the people doing conservative-populist politics online are probably more radical, reality-detached and irrational than the president’s average supporter. It’s just not clear how much more. What passed for truth and reality at the GOP convention is probably what most of the rank and file believe to be mostly or completely true.

Vladimir Putin must be loving this spectacle of American self-destruction and dehumanization. I still believe that the president is working for Putin, willingly or not, knowingly or not, but probably knowing and willing.

The vindictive way of life

One can a person do?

The election is not too far off. The president’s supporters are dug in and probably nothing can dislodge most of them (~99% ?). Hundreds of millions in ads will be spent, but how many minds are left that are still persuadable? What on Earth would it take to persuade someone after 3½ years of the president? What else can one do, if anything?