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ALPERN AT LARGE - I’m sure that many, perhaps most of us, wish we could wave our hands in the faces of those whose minds we’re trying to change and say, “You will see things my way…” and then they’d just change their minds.
What’s a more Fascist sentiment, however, is if we’re doing something to hurt or inappropriately control someone else, and then wave our hands in in their faces and say, “This isn’t happening…” when we damn well know it is.
Such as:
Crime is getting better, and the numbers are going down…so we should give George Gascón another four years as L.A. County Attorney General…
Prisons are overcrowded mostly with innocents of color, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and most felons are guilty only of misdemeanors…so George Gascón’s Proposition 47 was and is a good thing…
Proposition 36, which would restore many misdemeanor crimes by the aforementioned Proposition 47 back to felony-class crimes worthy of imprisonment is unnecessary…because Sacramento and Governor Newsom has this whole smash-and-grab, shoplifting flash mob culture under control…
Oakland and Los Angeles are doing fine…so the mayors and political leaders need not be held to task because they’re doing such a great job…
Inflation is under control, and stocks are going up…so those still complaining about the cost of bread, eggs, gas, milk, meat, health care, home/car insurance, rent and the like are taking things way out of proportion and enabling the GOP to lie and distort…
Our economy in California and the rest of the nation is the envy of the nation, so we’ve got lots of money and resources to allow millions here illegally access to subsidized food and housing and health care…so American citizens can rest assured they’re being prioritized, and should stop complaining…
Our money spent on K-12 and universities is being spent well, and the students are among the world’s best-educated and free-thinking…so give us more money because education is being underfunded by evil conservatives…
Our teachers unions and the school boards know best, so when we report that education funds are being spent well and our standardized tests show we’re making progress, you should believe it…so stop talking about school choice…
Businesses, supermarkets, and stores are overreacting with their “lock everything up” approach, because shoplifting and theft aren’t that bad a problem…so crime is not the cause of our lousy shopping experience, and we’ll get used to all the locked-up toiletries and vital items soon, anyway…
Money currently spent on the homeless is a great investment, and we’re making some progress…so pay more taxes in perpetuity to take care of those who clearly can’t be helped by private non-profit organizations…
Housing is becoming ever more so unaffordable, but it’s not the fault of the leaders who’ve been in office for the last few decades…so re-elect them yet again because clearly they’ll get it right this time around…
There is no border problem, and the White House never shirked its role in immigration enforcement between 2021-2024…so any arguments about millions let in here illegally because federal law was thwarted for political purposes is just racist and un-American…
FEMA’s funds were never diverted to illegal aliens, and the cleanup in North Carolina and the adjacent region has been great…so those claiming widespread incompetence and inappropriate operations by FEMA after Hurricane Helene are all lying and enabling right-wing troublemakers…
Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis caused the recent flareups of violence and war in the Middle-East, but they’re really no different than Israel, and their casualties are much greater…so it’s not really Obama and Biden and Harris and Iran who’s causing the problem, it’s Israel and Netanyahu…
…and so on and so on and so on and so on…
Perhaps there are many who actually believe what is being forced upon us as “the truth”, and perhaps many recognize that their livelihoods are ensured by this “indisputable truth”, and perhaps many just know it’s all a cock-and-bull slew of lies (and fear the consequences if enough Americans figure that out)…
…but gaslighting and the “Jedi mind tricks” conjured up by an unholy alliance of a wealthy elite/government bureaucratic/major media establishment, and an alliance which has convinced themselves and the rest of us they’re “correct”, is nothing new.
It’s also not new to promote distortions, false narratives and lies as the truth, and it’s not new to declare any opposition or questioning these “truths” is disloyal…
…because that’s always the way Fascism begins.
And fascism also asserts that to oppose or question these “truths” is, in and of itself, Fascist.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
