In a somewhat perverse way I am sympathetic to those who are
taken in by lies, rumors, and deceptions. There are at the moment probably
dozens of falsehoods making the rounds of the media. I came across one just now
that claims to have proof that Obama is Gay, not only that, he was apparently
once married to a Gay man.
There are also now claims that the Pope resigned because of
a report of a Gay cabal in the Vatican that would be so difficult and
embarrassing to deal with he felt it wise to get out of the situation.
Our new Senator from Texas, Cruz, is reported to have
claimed there were 12 communists on the Harvard Law School Faculty while he was
a student there. And, of course, he has also said President Obama is the most
radical President ever.
Then there is the now famous case of those currently
imprisoned at Gitmo receiving G.I. benefits, an absolutely ridiculous claim
that was apparently taken seriously by one of McConnell’s staff.
There has also been the completely false claim that Hagel
has received support from an organization called “Friends of Hamas,” an
organization that does not even exist, and if it did it would not go by such a
name. This has apparently been believed by at least some of our Senators even
though it is ridiculous on the face of it.
Of course there are also the longstanding claims that Obama
was born in Kenya, is a Muslim, a Socialist, Communist, Fascist, mysterious
intruder from outer space who wants to take away guns, promote abortion, and so
on.
All of these claims are obvious nonsense with no factual
basis whatsoever, but yet t here always seems to be some who accept them, or at
least give them the benefit of the doubt. And for those who believe it is
virtually impossible to convince them otherwise. How can this be? Why are so
many willing to believe what most of us recognize immediately as utter hogwash,
balderdash, claims so far-fetched as to deserve no credibility whatsoever?
It is true, I guess, that in some cases there might at least
be some sliver of truth involved. I suppose it could be true there is some Gay
faction in the Vatican, and depending upon your definition of radical I suppose
one could conceivably argue the point about Obama, but there certainly can be
no question of Obama’s sexuality, his birth, 12 communists on the Harvard
faculty, Gitmo prisoners getting the GI Bill, and whatever. Unfortunately it
has become increasingly difficult to separate the remotely possible from the obviously impossible.
The unfortunate ability for people to believe virtually
anything these days has to do, I think, with the fact that lying has become the
norm rather than the exception in our political system. It is doubtless true
that politicians have lied from time immemorial, at least about certain things,
but I don’t think they lied on the massive scale, and about almost everything,
that has become so commonplace in recent years. The Bush/Cheney administration
made lying the norm rather than the exception. I doubt that anyone, especially
Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, or Rice ever told the truth about anything. This has
created a situation of such massive distrust on the part of the public they are
no longer capable of separating fact from fiction, truth from untruth, and are
thus far more susceptible to accepting even the most outrageous lies as
possible truths. While I obviously don’t know the exact extent of lying in
previous administrations, I seriously doubt that any of them lied so
persistently, glibly, or unconscionably as Bush/Cheney and their gang of loyal
prevaricators. Being a pretty forgiving person I would like to think they might
have believed the lies they fed us on a daily basis, but I know better. They
knew they were lying, and I guess they thought that lying in the pursuit of oil
was no vice. They even outdid Richard
Nixon.
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