CommentsVIEW FROM HERE--People tend to believe what they want to believe and few people want to believe facts which upset them.
Also, the first information in organizes subsequent information even when the original data is totally wrong and the latter data is absolutely correct. That is how the human mind has evolved.
A very unfortunate corollary is the huge divide which can occur in a population when two significant segments passionately believe mutually exclusive Alt Facts. As the Trump made famous, Alt facts are considered valid if they support Trump’s viewpoint, and it is equally true that the Dems accept Alt Facts which support their viewpoint.
There is a characteristic pattern how Trump embraces his Alt Facts. Trump boldly, loudly and incessantly proclaims falsity to be true. He began with the size of the inaugural crowd going so far as to present a doctored photo of the crowd on national TV. The Dems Alt Facts take a stealth approach of omission. The Dems simply ignore the horrible electoral defeat the nation just gave Nancy Pelosi in the House. Dems similarly ignore that there is no such group as Latinos even if you call them Hispanics or Latinx.
Alt Facts Combined with a Mission Are Deadly
When Alt Facts are combined with a sense of mission, people become zealots. We see this situation with cults. David Koresh’s followers died because they believed the Alt Fact that he was a messiah. Heaven’s Gate followers committed suicide to hitch a ride on spaceship hidden behind the Hale-Bobb comet. The Rev Jim Jones’ followers not only murdered US House of Representative Leo Ryn and four others, while over 900 of his followers committed suicide. Hence the saying, “Don’t drink the Kool Aid.” to warn people not to buy into the Alt Facts of charlatans.
The sense of being on a mission floods the brain’s neurology so that both mass murder and suicide become not only acceptable but are elevated to holy goals. Germany’s Nazism showed how decent people infused with Alt Facts combined with a Mission can destroy civilization.
Alt Facts on a Mission Are Not New to Western Civilization
After Martin Luther began The Protestant Reformation on October 31, 1517 by posting his 95 Thesis to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, hundreds of years of religious wars ravaged Europe. As closer examination shows, a host of secular goals were advanced under the guise of the holy religious missions. The faithful seemed unconcerned with the death and destruction which their side inflicted but found the other side’s minor transgressions to be the mark of Satan. Their sense of mission highjacked their minds not unlike how the Evangelicals are blind to Trump’s decades of sinful behavior and the Dems cannot comprehend how Nancy Pelosi has ginned up the Alt Right with her prolonged attack on blue collar whites. When a populace is convinced it is on a holy crusade, it can do no wrong and the opponent can do no good.
Presently, the world is witnessing how difficult is it for Trump and many of his followers to accept what is obvious – the majority of Americans are tired of Donald Trump, personally. At the same time, Pelosi Dems are similarly unable to accept the fact that their mission to “Make America Socialist Again” [MASA] has likewise been rejected.
Biden Stands Between Two Populations on Opposing Missions
Biden rejected both Trumpism and Pelosism when he said during the last debate, “This is not about his family and it is not about my family, but about your family.” There was no Black-White divide, no Gay-Straight divide, no Dem-GOP divide, there was no dividing of any type. E Pluribus Unum was in charge once again.
The Lurking Economic Disaster
A nation divided by opposing missions is not prepared to deal with real threats. The Pandemic Infection rate is like successive tsunamis inundating the shore while much of the GOP urges people to flock to the beaches. They are on a mission to prove that no masks and social crowding will bring us to herd immunity ASAP and the virus will thus magically vanish.
The Dems have their own folly, i.e. the lack of money cannot be solved by funneling cash to the bottom of the economic ladder. Trump is correct about one thing – Pelosi has made certain no more funds reach Americans by proposing legislation which she knows GOP have to oppose.
Here’s What’s Happening
Millions of Americans are trying to financially survive by doing a lot of things which endanger the entire economy. People are borrowing huge sums from the life insurance policies. If Pelosi had allowed biweekly or monthly payments to everyone as Munchin proposed, people would not be depleting cash reserves. People are beginning to live off credit cards. People who paid off their cards each month are paying off maybe 80% and then 70% and then they get down to paying the minimum. Credit card companies will have to reduce credit limits. People are slashing their coverage on auto insurance and increasing their deductibles to reduce premiums. The hurricanes will result in underlayment of claims and the raising of premiums in addition to carriers’ exiting certain markets. As Americans cut corners to protect themselves, they harm someone else. If Pelosi Dems had allowed cash to flow to the bottom, it would have flowed upwards and everyone would have benefited.
Both Pelosi Dems and GOP Business Practice Trickle Down Economics
We know about the GOP trickle down fallacy, but we never hear about the Pelosi’s form of trickle down. Pelosi’s demand that money go to cities is trickle down. The Dems want to save the Dem cities with corrupt mayors like LA’s Eric Garcetti. For purposes of trickle down, there is no difference between GOP corporations and Dem cities
Trickle Up Works for All Americans
When a family gets cash, it pays rent and then the landlord pays his mortgage. With cash, people pay off their credit card each month and they need not borrow from the life insurance. It was Pelosi who reduced Munchin’s $1,000.00 twice a month to only $1,200.00 once and then the Dems, aping Trump, proclaimed that they had raised the amount by 20% while ignoring the fact that they had wiped out 100% of the second round. Also, Munchin favored more direct payments directly to people and not funneling all the money through hands of politicos where billions of dollars were stolen.
There is nothing more dangerous than people on a mission armed with Alt Facts -- except a nation divided by conflicting missions both of which are based on their own Alt Facts.
(Richard Lee Abrams is a Los Angeles attorney and a CityWatch contributor. He can be reached at: [email protected]. Abrams’ views are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.)
-cw
