Tom Sullivan titles this blog post Ministry of Lies, which is somewhat doofy since Orwell's point is that the so-called Ministry of Truth is actually the Ministry of Lies, but the substance is entirely correct. We have entered a political reality in which the issues are not configured around competing interest groups, values, or policy analyses, but around the fundamental nature of reality. One political party constructs an entire universe out of lies, while the other struggles to convince the news media to distinguish between truth and fantasy. Sullivan quotes Greg Sargent:
[T]he whole point of all the lying is to assert the power to manufacture an alternate story in the face of easily demonstrable facts and outraged condemnation — and, importantly, to assert that power unabashedly and defiantly.
I can’t prove this is what’s driving the response. But prominent right-wing personalities have blithely asserted that the media is spreading misinformation about the attack [on Paul Pelosi], trumped up absurd “false flag” theories about it, spewed truly vicious mockery and even turned the hammer into an online meme.
Watching all those figures, it’s hard not to conclude that the key act here is a political faction unshackling itself from even the most minimal standards of public conduct. The louder the shaming and the fact-checking get, the greater the assertion of power in defiance of them becomes.
Precisely. I seriously doubt that any but a very few Republican politicians who claim that the great orange turd actually won the 2020 election actually believe that; and their cult followers don't really care if it's true. Same with all the other lies. Being able to get away with making absurd claims is a demonstration of brute force, of impunity.
Actually the Republican party does have a platform: they want to do away with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, eliminate all environmental and public safety regulations, and ensure that rich people don't pay taxes. But they obviously can't talk out loud about that and expect people to vote for them, so instead they lay down a smokescreen of lies. And their voters don't care if they are lying, they're just enjoying the power rush.
2 comments:
And all of the lying should be illegal.
There are libel laws, and they are not being applied. And the mainstream media isn't doing its job of baldly stating that the Republican party is lying its ass off in order to fleece all Americans except the ultra-richest.
In other words, reality is not being acknowledged and reinforced. The mainstream media outlets are just trumpeting all of the lies, so to speak, perhaps so that they can merely increase their advertising revenue.
So, in effect, they have joined the "screw reality" cult.
To Don Quijote, I would say that the libel laws are not being taken advantage of. Wikipedia tells us that “Truth is an absolute defense against defamation in the United States”. Huffington Post appended a candid editor’s note to the bottom of articles on Donald Trump, up to November 2016. It stated, “Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar” etc. No legal action ensued, as far as I know. Likewise, a UK politician described Boris Johnson as “a fraud, a con artist, a charlatan and a liar” without any legal action being taken. A little courage is required by all.
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