The U.S. will mark the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection on Saturday, a milestone that will confer upon the reality-dwelling citizenry a grim reminder of the potency of propaganda and how quickly it can warp perception when introduced into the public square.
Just three years ago, most of the country watched with dismay and horror as a violent MAGA mob beat back authorities and stormed the country’s citadel of democracy. The Donald Trump-incited crush of disillusioned rioters, fueled by a stream of fantastical lies, believed that the 2020 election had been stolen by sinister forces working to undermine the democratic election.
Of course, not only was their belief flatly incorrect, but evidence later emerged indicating that it was Trump who, in fact, had tried to subvert democracy.
Facts, however, have little bearing on the sentiment inside the Republican Party, which has been fed a steady diet of lies and half-truths by Fox News and the rest of the sprawling right-wing media machine. To wit, the false notion that Joe Biden nefariously stole the 2020 election is now widely shared inside the GOP. A CNN poll conducted over the summer found that nearly 70% of Republicans believe Biden’s win was not legitimate, a number that has continued to tick up.
Point being, they’ll doing it again if given the chance.
My MAGA dad keeps telling me it was an inside job by the Democrats. He’s saying everything was filmed way in advance by actors and everything was peaceful because of this mystical “new evidence” coming out; all the cops were a-part of the FBI, CIA, ect.
QanonCasualties. I’m sorry for your loss.
my parents are like this. i have never taken them seriously regarding anything
My sister was a medical lab tech for over 40 years, in a hospital, and she’s a vaccine denier. I can’t understand that. It’s all Fauci’s fault. But she fills her head with fear and hate from Fox every night.
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It isn’t. Jist the dumb cunts that think trumps so pure. It was aired live on national TV if facts and literal live evidence doesn’t sway them nothing will. Not even Trump fucking Ivanka on live TV would.
They don’t think he’s pure. They just like that he wants to hurt the people they want to hurt. He appeals to the worst of us. And they love it.
Like half of America is basically braindead.
It does seem like it hovers around 50 percent but there are other factors. Some of that 50 percent knows how to manipulate the brain challenged for their own personal or political benefit. Others might have the capacity to use logic and reason but were raised not to. Or are so stubborn and righteous that they seek only validation to confirmation bias.
Like half of America is basically braindead.
Do you belong to that half?
What is the expectancy of you answering “yes” and the trustworthiness of your answer?
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I think people are too literal when trying to understand each other. If someone says they believe in god, it means they identify as someone who believes in god. If someone says they think the election was stolen, it means they identify as someone who thinks the election was stolen. You don’t defeat this with direct education / facts, you give these people an out. They need identities that are constructive and based in reality. Friends, family, culture… it all needs to be rewritten. Then they’ll “believe” in reality.
So why don’t they adopt an identity based in reality like the rest of us?
Is it because they want to hate demographics and the one media that supports that pushes irrational thought because their core components are irrational and it’s easier to control them like that? I’m actually asking, because that’s my best guess.
Unfortunately, yes. Main Street never came back with Wall Street and Hillary never set foot in the rust belt. They’re hurt and afraid. I’m compassion fatigued to give a pass on Nazism but this is their explanation.
Nazis don’t get a pass. People who advocate for violence against people they don’t like don’t get a pass. IDGAF. I’ve tried being open and receptive and all that (this “offramp” idea,) but at least here in the Bible belt all the bigotry and hate is tied directly into the religious suspension of disbelief and they’re not interested in entertaining any ideas that aren’t from their Fox News (or wherever) prophets.
Because reality is a neverending nightmare.
That’s an excellent point and probably why things only continue to get worse
Nobody has the time for that.
Three months after Genocide Joe committing mass murder, all the Democrats are doing is focusing on Trump.
Genocide Joe needs to go to prison for life and rot there. Filthy Zionazi scum.
You stupid bitch, you remember how many us citizens died under trumps watch when covid first hit because he was negligent? I sure as hell do. Fuck you an every son of a bitch like you. What’s sad is I don’t like Joe. But he’s no where near as incompetent as Trump. And all you can do is spout bullshit you know isn’t true because your bitch daddy didn’t get reelected and cried like a fuckin toddler cause he didn’t get a candy bar at Walmart. I’m sick of little bitches like you.
Imagine being so America brained that Genocide Joe committing mass genocide on little children isn’t relevant. Because they are brown of course.
Cultist shit.
You’re the reason this article exists…
Why
For one, thinking that the current president is a mass murderer. His choice in supporting Israël is… Not good. But I value human lives so any choice to join a war or genocide or something is bad in my eyes.
Second … I mean, zionazi? Really? You don’t even know what both words apart mean, clearly.
Third. Even if it was all true, you are still just screaming nonsense. Nobody takes you seriously in that state. What are you trying to prove?
Zionists and Nazis are the same thing.
Genocidal maniacs that believe they are the Ubermensch and want to expand their Lebensraum by committing genocide and any person outside their group.
Or are you denying that israel is committing genocide?
Nazis were cribbing off of Manifest Destiny and the reservation system. Israel is just the 51st state.
From page 64 of the current South African genocide charge against israel.
Israeli Army reservist “motivational speech”: On 11 October 2023, 95-year old Israeli army reservist Ezra Yachin — a veteran of the Deir Yassin massacre during the 1948 Nakba — reportedly called up for reserve duty to “boost morale” amongst Israeli troops ahead of the ground invasion, was broadcast on social media inciting other soldiers to genocide as follows, while being driven around in an Israeli army vehicle, dressed in Israeli army fatigues:
“Be triumphant and finish them off and don’t leave anyone behind. Erase the memory of them. Erase them, their families, mothers and children. These animals can no longer live. . . Every Jew with a weapon should go out and kill them. If you have an Arab neighbour, don’t wait, go to his home and shoot him . . . We want to invade, not like before, we want to enter and destroy what’s in front of us, and destroy houses, then destroy the one after it. With all of our forces, complete destruction, enter and destroy. As you can see, we will witness things we’ve never dreamed of. Let them drop bombs on them and erase them.”
From page 64 of the South African genocide charge against israel.
Sure seems some Nazi shit to me.
I recommend reading American Holocaust, Lies My Teacher Told me, A People’s History of the United States, or any other account of the bloodthirsty freaks that genocided the Natives. The things America did inspired the Nazis, who then inspired the Zionists. It’s all the same.
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Or maybe it was just another glaring reminder that the public are that fucking braindead. Enough to truly buy into said propaganda. I guess it’s just boredom anymore.
Just wait; if a Republican wins the next election, the democrats will be crying about voter fraud and a stolen election. It is the great circle jerk of American Politics.
It’s quite a speculation. Democrats haven’t lost (or won) any 2024 election yet.
That said, let’s try to think how elections are “stolen”. First of all, i define stolen as irregularities in counting votes. People voting twice or on behalf of someone else is unheard in the…human history (why? Because it’s hard, a villain needs to find, one by one, millions of votes for making any meaningful impact on elections)
For counting irregularities it takes two things (1) that the primary system for counting is corrupted and (2) control mechanisms are corrupted and/or ineffective.
Only incumbent can influence (1) because only incumbent has power at the time of election while (2) is even more complex and, by design, neither incumbent (nor opposition parties) have full control of control mechanisms. So, realistically, only incumbent may have a chance to corrupt the system. In 2020, indeed, incumbent (Trump) tried to influence the counting system and failed because of the control mechanisms (e.g. state officials, even republican state officials, refused to comply because they knew their internal control mechanisms would not have allowed them).
Now in 2024 the incumbent is democrats so, if anything, only republicans may speculate irregularities.
But anyone can say anything. I may say that i am billionaire but not for this reason the bank must give me 1B$ cash. I have to demonstrate to be billionaire.
So, to recap, in 2024 onoy republican can reasonably accuse of irregularities and, in that case, they must demonstrate that there were these irregularities.
The article correctly identifies Fox News and right-wing media as spreading propaganda about Jan. 6th. However, we’ve known Fox News is not a legitimate news source since at least 2000 or earlier. For every article like this, I am internally screaming: ok, but how do we do to fix this?
The biggest problems seem to be:
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Fox News and related right-wing media inoculates viewers against non-extremist sources. They explicitly and implicitly, constantly, tell viewers that other news sources are lying to them and cannot be trusted. When the audience is exposed to actual facts by actual objective reporting, the inoculation kicks in and they immediately reject those facts as liberal lies and conspiracy. Right-wing media frequently also accuses democrats of doing what the GOP is in fact doing in bad faith. Even without evidence, that further undermines legitimate complaints about the GOP’s tactics.
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Politicians exploit the audience this propaganda has created, to scapegoat and harden voting habits. The same propaganda outlets constantly find liberal boogeymen - immigrant criminals, “woke” nonsense stories, minor issues with liberal programs in America that they amplify and distort, international stories of left-wing failures of governance. A combination of 1984-style 2-minutes-of-hate, and “but for the grace of God and the GOP go we” fear-mongering.
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The GOP has successfully tied itself to religion for a huge voting population, and religion for most people is non-negotiable. “Gods, guns and Trump” signs are not just an anecdotal type of supporter - that marriage is the core of the GOP. Religion awards value based on faith, and that actually means the less these voters question Trump and accept him as part of their faith, the better they feel about him. That’s a huge problem.
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There is no required critical thinking training or teaching in schools to help kids understand how to form their own opinions in the midst of essentially information warfare. Schools can’t appear partisan, but to call a spade a spade: Kids are growing up bombarded by propaganda, and by the time they have the facilities to decide for themselves what they think, that environment usually has decided for them.
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My best thoughts for fixing:
- For #s 1-2, voters need to keep the senate and presidency and take the house this year (no big deal!), and implement a “news” media fact-checking law. Defamation/libel laws are not enough to stop this type of propaganda. It would be difficult within the First Amendment, but I think a law formalizing what is considered “news” that sets a cap on opinion pieces, unsupported speculation, and reporting of non-verifiable facts would be a start and not unconstitutional. No speech would be prevented, but Fox News’ brand of trash couldn’t be called “news” any longer. The challenge is creating a legal tool that can’t easily be misused to enforce the very authoritarian propaganda it’s trying to prevent.
- For #s 1-2 and 4, state governments could introduce a comprehensive critical thinking curriculum for kids. It’s objectively non-partisan to help kids critically assess information in the internet/social media age, so this seems sellable as long as it isn’t politicized.
- For #3, I don’t know the best way. I think at least introducing cognitive dissonance showing how different religion tells us to act versus how Trump and company act would be a start, but it’s probably impossible to untangle politics and religion to most on the right.
For point 1, that’s absolutely not getting past the 1st amendment, and it really doesn’t matter that it’s called news. People treat their crazy uncle’s conspiracy Facebook posts as “news” and labeling doesn’t really do much if anything to discourage this behavior.
For the idea of critical thinking and education, this is something that democrats should be campaigning on and promising, although obliquely. It should probably come in the form of increasing funding for schools (MASSIVELY) and then add in media literacy courses and such to the curriculum. Although, that said, there are already schools that do this in some form or fashion, but the problem is that far too many school boards are overrun with nuts, and this ties into point 3…
Religion being tied to governance is a real, real problem. Teaching kids critical thinking is going to teach a lot of them, especially Republicans and Evangelicals, that they are being fed a steady stream of bullshit. We still have enough religious association that even getting this across to Democrats and left leaning in a major way is going to be tricky.
On a hopeful note, the most zealous of this population is dying out. Levels of religion have been steadily dropping for a while now. I think as more of this magical thinking dies out, we’re more likely to see positive improvement. Of course, we have to not become a fascist state in the meantime.
I enjoyed reading your take on this.
As for point #3, is there not already a separation of church and law in the US?
To continue upon others threads. In theory, on paper. You are correct. In practice, that was left behind decades ago. Back in the 1940s the Christian Right began to coalesce. In the 70s it became a prominent voting bloc. Cut to present day and you have preachers telling their congregation who to vote for because they have a wink and a smile contract. Hurt the people we hate and we will give you power.
It’s more than that - you have none other than the Church of Scientology to blame, partially. Thanks to their Operation Snow White back in the 70s, where Scientologists obtained key positions within the IRS and effectively doxxed thousands of IRS members (with the implicit threat of violence), they managed to maintain tax-free status despite operating as a political entity, and killed an entire investigation into their organization in one fell swoop. This spooked the IRS so goddamn much that it changed their entire approach to dealing with religious organizations entirely, and led to the hands-off approach that got us the Moral Majority in the 80s, and the marriage of the GOP to the American religious right.
There is, but that only prevents the government from acting as a religious organization. It doesn’t prevent a group of private citizens from deciding to vote only for religious extremists, thereby filling all the lower offices with theocrats who slowly work their way up the chain until until they control the federal government. All the way they pay lip service to religious freedom until they have the numbers and authority to do away with it.
Unfortunately, “separation of church and state” is a nice goal but leaves a lot to be desired.
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from establishing a particular religion (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”). However, even that relatively narrow prohibition has been interpreted even more narrowly by conservative Supreme Court justices who only thinly veil, if at all, their favoritism to their particular religion.
Additionally, non-profit orgs are technically prohibited from endorsing candidates and campaigning. However, conservative churches and their pastors frequently give (again) thinly-veiled instructions to vote for Trump or the GOP, without repercussions.
In fact the whole “parents choice” movement is very openly and explicitly about making sure that children are not taught critical thinking or exposed to ideological diversity in school.
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You have to drink the poison willingly.
Not necessarily.
Look for Republicans to make a holiday of January 6th. It’s only a matter of time.
Just like they won’t let go of the Confederate Memorial Holiday.
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They have Civil War re-enactments in the confederate states. They also fly the confederate flag and say since it was just a battle flag and not the actual confederate flag it isn’t anti American. Refusing to acknowledge that it was a battle flag… against the U.S.
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They didn’t lose. They got beat but they haven’t lost. They’ve just changed tactics and are taking the long game. Really long but starting to pay off. The ideas survived because America failed to provide the education and opportunities that prevent that type of extremism from flourishing…
Need to start dealing with these people like nazis
Give them good jobs at NASA and other government agencies?
They aren’t that smart sadly. At least the SS officers were insanely smart. Though they should have been gassed or shot.
I think we’d have enough bullets to just shoot them all, we wouldn’t need to use gas chambers for them, that would be much less convenient.
The dude who ran the SS was what is basically a D&D nerd with the right connections and subservient personality.
You know, the First Amendment was created to make sure the average citizen would have protection against speaking out against the government with reasonable confidence they couldn’t be persectued. Like when kings or The Church could have you imprisoned or executed on a whim, not long before The Founders drafted The Constituiton. But now, bad actors acting in bad faith use it as a weapon to spread fear and hate propaganda.
I think a new Amendment is needed to stop blatant and obvious seditiuous and hateful speech. But they’ll figure out a way to pervert that too, and corrupt the officials who enforce such laws.
Wdym 3 years? Is it currently not 2022?
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