I want to answer your very important question - please bear with me, and no this is NOT a Russia-Ukraine debate.
I believe Putin and the Russian leadership give snakepits a bad name. I believe Ukraine is a sovereign nation was invaded wrongly, and that Russia is the Bad Guy.
Aside from the immorality of the invasion, I don’t have a horse in this race, and don’t want one dime going to Ukraine or ANY foreign nation. People can Venmo Zelinsky a few bucks from their checking account.
Perhaps 20-30 years ago, most conservatives would see the R-UK war, yawn and go back to work. To wit: nobody got worked up over the Soviet-Afghanistan war. Even during the annexation of the Crimea, people were relatively chill.
But Manischewitz, it boggles the mind to see the quantum of bandwidth wasted on the back and forth between “Zeepers” and “Putinistas.” I mean, I get calling out the hypocrisy of Putin et al and his faux morality. That sombich has the Cross in his hand and the devil in his heart. But for a conflict and a people thousands of miles away, you’d think the R-UK war is right down the street from the posters.
And it CONSUMES them. Why?
I think between the pandemic, the 2020 riots and election, Big Media censorship and lying that anything was happening, the OSHA mandate, and more things than I can list here, a lot of people just lost their touch with reality. I don’t mean they’re clinically insane. They’re functional nutters. In essence, truths and norms and things held dear got dashed to bits.
Into that vacuum ran “alternative media” and the like. I see more people going all-in with sensational news, often pushed by the likes of Gateway Pundit and Slay News, that often fails the most basic of fact checking. But people’s faith in the bedrock elements of America - the rule of law, honesty, integrity - has been replaced with bedrock faith in “the enemy of my enemy.”
I also believe these folks “gave up” on America, and many of them have fallen for the Prince of Lies. That’s why many hoist Putin or Zelinsky on their shoulders….they sort of bypass America.
And if you do any fact-checking, you’re called a deep stater by some low-information troll.
That is my explanation for the behavior in our camp. Over there, it is pretty simple: they think they are The Resistance and Trump is Hitler. There is a popular theoretical question - "would you have killed Hitler in the 1930s if you knew what was to come?" Many people answer "yes."
True, we haven't perfected time travel. But then 2020 came along.
I believe many on the left feel the same way about Trump - AND have a hyper (and delusional) elevated sense of their self. Lacking a time machine, the 2020-equivalent question was "would you steal the election by whatever means, to remove Trump from office? Because, ya know, he's Hitler."
We are seeing their "yes" right now with the assassination attempt. Indeed, we have seen it for years. 2020 was a de facto going back in time to kill Hitler. They high-fived each other and BELIEVED they were The Resistance incarnate.
That’s why we see maniacal pursuit of silencing Trump and anyone to the right of NPR.
Now, for a brief 8-day period, from the assassination attempt on Trump to Biden bowing out of the 2024 race, I saw glimmers of hope. We had legit MSM articles pointing out how awful was the Secret Service - actual acts of journalism. The truth about Biden’s failing faculties was out in the open, no longer being guarded by a complicit media. There was some basic civility. And for a brief, 24-hour period from Sunday into Monday, hatred of Biden was replaced (in part) by concern for this guy’s welfare.
The moment may be lost. I hope not. Ultimately, Clarence Thomas got it right, when he wrote about the protests (threats?) from the Roe leak: "We are becoming addicted to wanting particular outcomes, not living with the outcomes we don't like."
I think what you’re missing is something you said in another of your posts: the difference between a “conspiracy theory” and truth is about 6 months. Except at this point, with the skepticism and the ability to communicate, it’s more like a week now. The things reported on GP initially get pooh-poohed here because it’s GP but with the story out there, people do their checking and usually within about a week we have more information and it supports the initial story. That’s been a pattern that isn’t acknowledged by those who instinctively reject anything because it’s from GP. The same phenomenon seems to exist for Laura Loomer. I haven’t followed her extensively but for the things I have checked out she brings the receipts.
I think Ukraine and Russia come closer to home because the corruption in Ukraine was twice used to impeach Trump and have been a source of money laundering for Biden et al.
And also because we know there WERE secret bioweapons labs run by the US (another “conspiracy theory” that followed the classic pattern of the Deep State denying it, then saying it was to get rid of old toxins, and then eventually admitting it was more than that). Russia says they gave the UN evidence that these biolabs were developing biological weapons, and as we see how the Wu-Flu that Fauci DELIBERATELY DEVELOPED was used to push the “vaccines” which truly ARE a biological weapon, what Putin was saying rang true. We also saw how the Wu-Flu was used to steal the 2020 election through ballots being mailed to all registered voters - many of whom are not real people - thus allowing massive cheating. That same playbook now leaves most conservatives wondering if campaigns even matter, when millions of illegals in the country can easily register and their ballots used for massive cheating.
Right now nothing is “normal”. The USA is in an existential battle. because those saying that Trump will end democracy are themselves working very hard to end democracy through election stealing. Those who say he would be a tyrant are not even trying to hide their own tyranny. Both dems and reps in Congress are pointing out the failure of the Secret Service, and the issue at stake for a lot of people is whether our own government was politicized to the point that the Secret Service was in on a plot to assassinate Donald Trump. We already know that the govt has been politicized, but now the very public question is whether it is politicized to the point of openly assassinating the current regime’s political enemy. We have no reason to believe that Biden is any different than Putin or that our systems of law enforcement and accountability are any different than Hitler’s SS.
I think that people are actually MORE checked into reality now than ever before. The media has been exposed as propaganda and people are seeing what is actually going on. And the other side perceives that they are very close to overthrowing this country and also that Trump is the first President who would actually threaten the cabal that runs everything in DC and elsewhere.
I believe AI is being used to sense what people want to hear and to direct only those things to that person’s social media, which radicalizes people who aren’t as apt to fact-check or process evidence - on either side, as you say.
Back when Michael Brown was killed one of my work colleagues brought up some issues that the left was raising that I hadn’t even heard. I don’t visit leftist sites. And I realized that neither side is being heard by the other. The news media is leftist. Alternative/independent media is conservative. The two supposedly confront each other via social media accounts but actually what mostly happens is each side throws their own boilerplate at the other and no real engagement/cross-examination actually happens. The only place real engagement happens is in Congress if the R’s are in control. It doesn’t happen in court; note Merchan, Engoron, etc which don’t allow the cross-examination principles of first-world nations to happen. It doesn’t happen in Congress when Dems are in control; note the J6 Committee which allowed no non Trump haters on it. It didn’t happen on any of the 2020 Election lawsuits or in the counting of the electoral votes; note how the Fedsurrection altered the normal rules so that MTG and others who had prepared evidence were not allowed to present that evidence. Note also the Mayorkas impeachment that Chuck Schumer refuses to try in the Senate even though the Constitution demands it. Open defiance of the Constitution for partisan purposes, and nobody can or will do anything about it. I believe that is treason, done boldly without any fear of consequences.
It has been good to see both dems and reps work to find out what really happened with the Trump assassination attempt. I hope they all realize how close this country is to falling apart. When the people have nobody that they can believe and no checks and balances they can trust, there are no non-violent solutions possible.
Very well said; and Thank You.
I’ve seen enough of the other belligerents in this national political fratricide to know they suffer similar internal squabbles. Political fights often become bloodbaths, and where politics exists, fights are inevitable. Free Republic is a living example. Unfortunately, where politics exists, unquestionable truth is never realized. It is why many people check out; to accept willful ignorance in exchange for a piece of “solid” ground to stand upon, regardless of true stability, is more than enough for many.
Which is the greatest reason why knowing whom this woman is and what she has to say about her actions will do little to resolve this minor conspiracy theory. For all we know, she’s dumped her horrified take of newfound stardom in some undiscovered Facebook message. It wouldn’t matter—people will question even that if it fails their view of what should be a “solid” excuse for her (not so bizarre*) actions. “We are becoming addicted to wanting particular outcomes, not living with the outcomes we don’t like.” Indeed!
Thomas’ sage words do not address the greater problem, however. Sadly, the truth cannot save us for aforementioned reasons. There is genuine strife in this world, and we must address it.
* Not bizarre at all, how many stories have you read about some hapless hiker accidentally self-deleting off a cliff while attempting to selfie? Some people are just oblivious. Other deer souls get caught in the headlights.