Don’t Fall for It, Part 3

“Russian Collusion” didn’t work.  “He’s a Racist” isn’t working.  So, now the media, spokes-machine for the anti-Trumpers and the Left, is pushing a “coming recession” as a way to keep President Trump from being re-elected.  Don’t fall for it.

The Democrats and their handmaiden the mainstream media love to float theories about President Trump and his administration that have no, or at best very weak, factual support.  They repeat their subversive allegations and accusations over and over, both directly (“Trump is a racist”) and more subtly in a way that presents as a fact that supports their message something that has not yet been proven  (for example, “Trump’s racist statement”  when there is no evidence other than the media’s biased interpretation that the statement being referred to is indeed racist).  The Left seems to subscribe to the theory that if you repeat something enough times, then the people will believe that it is true.

This repetition of an unproven and often false narrative is a key tool of propaganda as well as useful in brainwashing.  The media selectively presents facts in a way that make them sound as if they are proof of the narrative they are promoting.  They love to characterize opinion as fact and then use that “fact” to condemn the President. 

This is really not that different from what conspiracy theorists do.  “A conspiracy theory is an explanation of an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful actors, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.”  One seeking a conspiracy, or simply a narrative that condemns the President, will re-interpret objective evidence in a way that omits any fact or rational interpretation that counters the proposed narrative.  When there is no actual evidence to support the conspiracy or the narrative, what does exist will be re-interpreted as evidence of the truth of the narrative so that the conspiracy or the narrative “becomes a matter of faith rather than proof.”

And isn’t that just what we see happening among the Democrats and the media.  They have a narrative that the President is some sort of Russian agent, a racist, etc. and they will continue to ignore actual facts and instead continue to repeat their narrative.   They don't give up their belief in Russian collusion despite a thorough investigation to the contrary.  It has become a matter of faith rather than fact.

Similarly, the Left continues to put forth the now clearly debunked narrative that after Charlottesville the President said the Nazis were good people even though the actual tape of his statement shows that while he did indicate that there were good people on both sides who were there simply to protest about the Robert E. Lee statue, he then continued with the following words that persist in being completely omitted from the Left’s narrative:  “I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists because they should be condemned totally.”

But more insidious even than such outright omissions that fully change the reality of a situation is the Left’s use of basic persuasive and propaganda techniques to subtly present as true fact something for which there is no evidence or no proof.  How many times do we hear a statement about Trump begin “Trump’s racist words…” or “Trump’s offensive statement…” or “Trump’s disruptive act…”, etc.  The speaker is stating as facts that words or statements or actions are as negatively labeled.  Yet, that is nothing more than the speaker’s opinion, it is not a proven fact. 

Likewise, we hear over and over that the President’s purpose in enforcing immigration laws and putting an end to illegal immigration is one of promoting white supremacy.  There is no actual proof of that; it is simply the assumption of those whose hateful narrative about the President includes labeling him as a white supremacist. Yet, if the negative labels are repeated often enough it is likely that they become accepted as the fact that is necessary to prove the speaker’s narrative.

Now, I do not know if there will be some sort of economic collapse if the President is re-elected.  Actually, I believe it is much more likely that our booming economy will go bust if a Democrat becomes president.  But, that is my opinion, just as the Left’s new economic anti-Trump rhetoric is nothing more than their latest theory – their new narrative in their war on Trump. 

Like other conspiracy theorists, the Left’s narrative is more a matter of faith than of proof.  You do not have to join their cult.  Demand proof.  Listen carefully to their words.  Ask questions.  Find the full story – the full, complete, and actual narrative, not the fictional presentation of those who have their own agenda.  Do not simply fall for what they tell you, no matter how many times they repeat it.

Culture, Mental Health, and Guns

The Democrats focus solely on gun control, perhaps because it is easier for them to mess with our Constitution than to grapple with the mental health and cultural issues that underlie most mass shootings.

The Dayton shooter (a Leftist and Elizabeth Warren supporter by the way) had problems since middle school.  His classmates say they knew and even said he would shoot someone someday.  The manifesto of the El Paso shooter, while perhaps in part couched in the language of a white supremacist, reeks of hopelessness and despair from a young man who feels that he is ignored and forgotten and has no future.

These shootings were less political acts than they are screams of hopelessness and despair from young men who mentally could not cope in a culture that overwhelmed them while ignoring their mental issues.   Lost young men who turned to the internet and a violent culture for solace and for guidance on what to do – how to act out their hurt and despair.  By the time they got their guns they were well into some sort of downward spiral of depression and hate.  Feeling alone and unloved, they lashed out.

Let us ask not only how could we have prevented them from obtaining a gun at that point, but more importantly, what could we as a society have done to prevent them from getting to that point? 

Barbara Bush once said, “You must read to your children and you must hug your children and you must love your children. Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the white house, but on what happens inside your house.” 

No, I am not blaming parents for mass shootings conducted by their children.  But this quote does suggest that we, our societal family, need to look at what sort of a culture we are creating for our children.  Are we teaching them how to cope with the heartaches and disappointments of life?  Are we showing them non-violent methods of addressing conflict?  Are we loving them and teaching them how to love and respect others as well as themselves?  Are we treating them fairly?  Are we paying attention and when someone needs professional help are we reaching out to find that help?  Or, are we simply willing to stand by and ignore cultural problems and related mental health issues until they erupt in an individual’s heinous act of violence, and then satisfy ourselves by blaming the white house and the weapon?

Clearly, with the 2020 election on the horizon and the ever-present hatred of Donald Trump, the Democrats are happy to make the Dayton and El Paso shootings nothing more than a political battle sword in their never ceasing war on the President.  This is not helpful. 

Yes, we have guns in America.  We also have the second amendment.  And, we have a variety of gun control regulations (including those put in place by President Trump).  But these things have been present in our society long before Trump took office.  And we have had mass shootings throughout our history. 

We can argue about what types of guns can and should be restricted and what individuals should not be allowed a gun, but we need to go well beyond that.  As the President said in his speech yesterday, we need to look at culture and at mental health.  We need to address the underlying causes.

Teenagers and young adults (and others) have long struggled with angst and despair as they grow up and begin to face the world and its many realities, some pleasant, some not.  Children act out when they are hurt or confused or troubled or simply not getting what they want.  We used to teach children as they grew that such behavior of acting out, especially when it hurt anyone else (or themselves) was not acceptable.  We taught them other ways to cope.

Yet our culture today seems to fail to provide coping skills other than destructive acting out.  Are our growing teens learning how to cope with life’s disappointments  and their own sadness and depressions without hurting others?  Have we taught them how to deal with a situation in which they do not get what they want, how to respond constructively rather than destructively?  Do we show them examples of people treating other people with respect, or do the movies, music, and other entertainment teach them disrespect and violence?  Do we find a way to give our children hope rather than hopelessness, a strength rather than an emptiness in their soul?

We cannot change a culture overnight.  But we can begin to examine ours and ask the hard questions of what we are doing, what are we teaching our children, and what does that mean for our society.  We need to do this, to ask these hard questions.  And we need to do it with an open mind, with a non-political mind, a mind that truly seeks to make any necessary corrections in the path of our society.  But, as long as the Democrats want to make this a political weapon, that is not likely to occur. 

So, we will argue about gun laws.  We will hear the Democrats blame Trump for all the evils of the country and the world, call him racist, and continue their one-sided hatred and vitriolic language against him, his supporters, the office of president, and ultimately the country.

Meanwhile, we, as families and neighbors and citizens, can ignore the political firestorm and ask ourselves how our culture is contributing to underlying causes of violence and we can demand that our elected officials, our media, our entertainment industry, and ourselves go beyond the means and address those underlying causes. 

If Democrats' Response is One of Hatred, then What?

After the President called for a sensible, multi-phased, and bipartisan attack against the violence and hatred in America, what was the Democrats’ response?  To unleash more partisan and vitriolic hatred against the President, his supporters, and his suggestions. 

Sen. Corey Booker:  “Such a bulls—t soup of ineffective words.”  Rep. Tim Ryan:  “Fck me.”  Responding to his call to stop the glorification of violence and including as one of his points to look at mental illness, Sen. Elizabeth Warren responded, “White supremacy is not a mental illness. We need to call it what it is: Domestic terrorism. And we need to call out Donald Trump for amplifying these deadly ideologies.”  [We should note here that Trump condemned racism and white supremacy along with hatred.]  Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, the Democratic chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said, ““President Trump’s words today are meaningless.  We know his vile and racist words have incited violence and attacks on Americans.”  Presidential candidate Julian Castro accused the president of serving as a “national spokesperson” for white nationalism. 

Trump commented on the media’s responsibilities; the response of filmmaker Ava DuVernay was, “Nah. News coverage has got to start calling you what you are. A traitor. A liar. A racist. A coward. A fool.”  The Washington Post found criticism in counting of words: “The president used 105 words of his speech to call out the Internet and social media. He spent 80 words condemning racism and hatred.  He also used only 53 words to address access to guns, compared to 62 words on mental illness and evil.” 

The above are just a few of the comments that have occurred in the 3 or so hours following the President’s address this morning.  More will surely come.  And, they do not include the post address commentary by the media and pundits, most of whom decided that the President was lying when he denounced racism and white supremacy, reverting back to their narrative that he is a racist and he is personally responsible for the two tragedies in Dayton and El Paso.  Others focused on the one mistake in an otherwise fine speech – a one time use of Toledo, a different city in Ohio, when it seems that the reference should have been to Dayton.  Note, there has been no similar ridicule for candidate Biden referring to Houston and Michigan where it seems he meant El Paso and Ohio.

These reactions are in complete contrast to the virtue signaling of the Democrats.  They present themselves as warriors against a hate-filled society that is the sole creation of the President.  Yet, since the day that Donald Trump became president, we have heard a constant barrage of hate-filled words directed at him and his supporters.  We have seen Democrats encourage and some act out violence against the President, his supporters, and essentially anyone who does not stand fully with the Democrats.  Even before 2016 it was the Democrats who were using identity politics to foment hatred among the people of our country.

The Democrats have one solution to gun violence – more gun regulation.   While that was one of the points included in Trump’s plan [and, one must note here that Trump’s administration has done more than others to tighten gun laws as well as ban bump stocks], Trump astutely noted that "Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun."  This statement (which underscores the reasons for the other points in the President’s plan of attack), seems to be especially offensive to the Democrats.  Sen. Amy Klobuchar said it was Mr. Trump’s attempt “to avoid truth.”

Apparently, for the Democrats it is easier to banish the means rather than to actually address the problem of causation.  Those that do consider causation at all are content to conclude that Trump is the sole cause; they seem to have forgotten the mass shootings and violence that occurred pre-2016, not to mention the hatred and gun violence that occurs daily all across America.   

The Democrats love to virtue signal that it is not them but the hated conservatives who foment hatred in this country. But the Democrats and their supporters call for hatred and violence daily.  They turn everything into a political weapon against Donald Trump.  The President is correct that beyond gun ownership there is a cultural problem, a social media/internet problem, a mental health problem, and a lack of unity or ability to address issues in a bi-partisan way for the good of the country. 

The Democrats do not want to work together to try to solve underlying social problems that lead to tragic violence such as we saw this past weekend.  They would rather use the violence to condemn a president they do not like; it simply becomes another weapon in their arsenal in their war to remove him from office. 

The President’s address this morning raised some valid points, issues and questions that deserve serious thought and consideration.  He is right that the country needs to come together and work bi-partisanly to address the hatred and violence.  But, when the reaction of the Democrats is to immediately begin spewing more hatred, then one wonders why even bother?