PANTS ON FIRE

On January 6, thousands of insurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. They broke through locked doors and windows to gain entrance to the building. The rioters were armed with baseball bats, pipes, flag poles, stun guns, bear spray, pepper spray, and plastic handcuffs, among other things. They attacked the police officers trying to protect the building. The officers suffered bruises, lacerations, concussions, fractured ribs, burns, shattered spinal disks, irritated lungs, brain damage, and stabs from metal fence stakes. One officer lost an eye. Lasers were pointed towards the offices’ eyes. They were maced and trampled and hit multiple times with weapons in the hands of the mob. In the following days 38 officers tested positive for the coronavirus, likely caught from the unmasked invaders. One hundred and forty police officers were injured in the melee.

Five people died in the attack, including Officer Brian Sicknick. He was hit with a fire extinguisher and doused with pepper spray. He died from a stroke the next day. Two other officers who had defended the building committed suicide the following day. There is no doubt about the rioters’ purpose in this attack. They mounted this insurrection, shouting “Fight for Trump!” in order to try to prevent Congress from performing its constitutional duty of confirming the democratic election of Joe Biden to the presidency. They believed that somehow the election should rightly have gone to Donald Trump and was in some way stolen from him.

And the assertion that the election had been stolen was a BIG LIE.

While this chaos was taking place in the halls of the Capitol building, members of Congress were in hiding, some of them rightfully in fear for their lives.

Despite this anarchy, in May a Trump supporter, Congressman Andrew Clyde, a Republican from Georgia, stated that the insurrection had ben nothing but a “normal tourist day.” Another Big Lie.

Where do all this lies come from? A lot of places. Too many places. Of course lying, particularly about political events, is not new. In 1994 a tabloid paper, Weekly World News, published an article which stated that twelve members of the United States Senate were aliens from outer space. The named senators laughed it off, and I doubt that anyone took the article seriously.

There have been many changes since 1994. For one thing the former president of the United States is a notorious liar. According to the Washington Post, which kept track, Trump made over 30,000 false or misleading claims while he was in office. And he was not alone. People like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Alex Jones contributed to the disinformation that saturated the internet. The internet itself helped transmit wild conspiracy theories and other misinformation.

Far right news organizations helped spread the poisonous lies. When Fox News was not extreme enough for the president, he turned to even more dangerous news sites like News Max and OAN (American News Network). Forty percent of people who trust these “news” sources believe that “the government, media, and financial worlds in the US are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global child sex trafficking operation.” Almost half them believe that “there is a storm coming soon that will sweep away the elites in power and restore the rightful leaders.”

For many people Facebook is a better source of news than The New York Times. Yet Facebook is reluctant to eliminate lies from its postings, even though they reported a lot of misinformation posted on their site comes from Russia. For 30 percent of Republicans Trump himself, the Great Prevaricator, is the primary news source. Sixty-one percent of Trump news followers believe that major voter fraud occurred in the 2020 election.

According to a Reuters/lpsos poll 25 percent of Americans believe that Trump is still the true president. Even though there is no evidence that left-wing activists participated in the January 6 riot, 32 percent of Americans agree that it “was led by violent left-wing protestors trying to make Trump look bad.”

Writing in The Atlantic, Peter Wehner said, “political violence will become more acceptable and more prevalent on the American right” if the Republican Party “doesn’t counteract these lies rather than indulge them.”

We are living in dangerous times. The assault on the Capitol building was an assault on democracy itself. Around the country state legislatures are chipping away at democracy by limiting access to voting. All of these anti-democratic actions are motivated by lies which are believed by large numbers of Americans.

I don’t know what can be done about the lies that are sucking people in, but something must be done. Failure to act may cost us our democracy.

THE BELIEVERS

A lot of Americans believe in conspiracy theories, including those put forth by QAnon: that leaders of the Democratic party practice child pornography, and Donald Trump was sent to get rid of those awful people. Further, Donald Trump would have been reelected had it not been for numerous irregularities in the vote. Voting machines had somehow turned votes for Trump into votes for Biden, and election officials had thrown out vast numbers of Trump votes.

What would lead large numbers of people to believe things that others see as irrational and obviously ridiculous? Studies have shown that people who believe such lies have some personality traits in common that lead them to accept these theories. They believe that nothing happens by coincidence. Everything is controlled by secret cabals that permeate all levels of society. These cabals might be Jews or Catholics or liberals or just the rich people who control everything. Believers tend to have feelings of anxiety and uncertainty because they feel they are not in control of their own lives.

Thousands of believers descended on Washington on January 6 to prevent the Congress from formally certifying the Electoral College vote that named Joe Biden president. Many of the rioters were professional people, business owners, off-duty police officers, and even one state legislator. Yet many of these middle class people had reason to feel that their lives were out of control. Sixty percent of them had a history of financial problems. Sixty percent!

One of these, for example, was Jenna Ryan, a real estate agent from Texas. She was paying a $37,000 lien on unpaid federal taxes. She had nearly lost her home to foreclosure, and filed for bankruptcy in 2012, and had faced an IRS lien in 2010.

Jacob Chansley, the man who called himself the “QAnon Shaman,” is another whose life seemed out of control. He has been described as a failed actor. He’s 32-years old, and he lives with his mother.

Both Ryan and Chansley expressed regret for their actions and disillusion with the conspiracy theories had bought them to Washington. Ryan said, “I bought into a lie...and it’s embarrassing. I regret everything.” Chansley said, “I am sorry for raising fear in the hearts of others. That was wrong. Period.” He also said he was “deeply disappointed in former President Trump. He was not honorable.”

Roy Watkins, founder of 8chan, a website that has been linked to white supremacy, Neo-Nazism, and antisemitism, told his supporters, “to go back to their own lives.” One of the followers said, “We all got played.”

Many believers thought that on January 20, Trump would somehow ride to the rescue and arrest members of the “deep state.” Instead they saw Biden get inaugurated. As one of the former believers said, “He [Trump] sold us out.”

One false story that is floating around the internet is that on March 4, Trump will be inaugurated. (Inauguration Day used to be on March 4, but the last time it was on that date was 1933.) When the inauguration of Donald Trump doesn’t happen on March 4, more of the believers will lose their delusions.

The attack on The Capitol on January 6 occurred because thousands of people believed the lies about the government. We cannot allow this to happen again. Even without the attack on the attack on the Capitol, misinformation that has spread through the internet has done terrible damage to the country. People who are willing to lie to move people to illegal action must be made to pay for spreading false information through the internet. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects web sites from paying for damage caused by anything posted on their sites by a third party. Section 230 must be repealed. If someone posts a dangerous message on the internet, the website where it was posted as well as the poster must be held responsible. If someone is damaged by an irresponsible statement on the internet or anyplace else, the person making the statement must be subject to suit for damages. The web site that posts the misinformation must be held responsible too.

Voting machine companies sued those who had made false statements about them. Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell were sued. So was Fox News and news personnel who told lies about the voting machines. Lou Dobbs lost his job. We must see more of this. Liars who damage others must be made to pay for their lies.

THE FUTURE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

The riot at the Capitol building on January 6 damaged many elements of American life. Perhaps the greatest damage was to the Republican party itself. In every state of the union, horrified by the attack on Congress, tens of thousands of Republicans have withdrawn from the party.

Prominent individual Republicans have been hurt by their own actions in recent months. Rudy Giuliani, dubbed “America’s mayor” after 9/11, has since made a fool of himself. No one takes him seriously any more. He has been sued for $1.3 billion by Dominion Voting Systems. Giuliani’s colleague in lying about the election, Sidney Powell, has also been sued.

Fox news commentator Lou Dobbs, under threat of a suit, was forced to make an on-air retraction of some of the lies he had made about the election. Now he and the network are being sued by another company. The network fired him.

CEO of My Pillow Mike Lindell has been a rabid supporter of Donald Trump and made numerous false statements about the election, insisting that Biden won only because of voter fraud. His statements were so extreme that an anchor on conservative Newsmax walked out of an interview with Lindell. Twitter closed his account. A boycott My Pillow has been started, and major retailers have stopped selling the product.

Businesses that have long contributed to Republican campaigns in the past are now saying that they will not contribute to members of Congress who voted against accepting the Electoral College votes electing Joe Biden to the Presidency.

Large numbers of the Capitol rioters have been arrested and charged with various crimes. It seems likely that many of these people will get some jail time.

Trump himself has threatened to start a new political party. Perhaps he recognizes that the traditional Republican party would never nominate him again, and if nominated, he could not win the election. If he goes ahead with his threat, what effect would a third party have on the Republicans? Democrats must be hoping that Trump will form his Patriot party. It would mean a sure win for the Democrats. There is a split in the party over the impeachment. When Congresswoman Liz Cheney voted for impeachment, some Republicans wanted to remove her from her leadership position in the party. Her colleagues voted to keep her leadership role, but the Republican party in her home state of Oklahoma censured her action.

Typically in the election after the presidential election, the party in power loses seats in Congress. In 2022 it seems highly likely that the Democrats will increase their numbers in Congress.

LYING LAWYERS

In trying to support the outrageous claim that the election had been stolen from Donald Trump, lawyer Rudy Giuliani made some charges against voting machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems. He claimed that they were manufactured in Venezuela. Since Venezuela has a Socialist government, the place of manufacture would make them seem less trustworthy. Actually, the machines were made in Canada. Trump also claimed that the machines had been programmed to flip votes. Not only that, but according to Giuliani, in one Michigan county, they had flipped 6,000 votes from Trump to Biden. The charges had been backed up by an expert. As it turned out, Giuliani’s “expert” had a grave misunderstanding of the county’s voting system and a lack of knowledge of election technology.

Everything about Giuliani’s charge was false, but the lies were harmful to Dominion Voting Systems, so they sued the lawyer for $1.3 billion. Another lawyer, Sydney Powell, worked with Giuliani. She made essentially the same false charges against Dominion Voting Systems. The company sued her too, also for $1.3 billion. Lies create damage, so it is appropriate that liars pay for the damage they create.

Suing merchants of misinformation seems a better way to deal with them than passing laws. Unfortunately governments can’t be trusted. For the past four years Republican politicians have gone along with Trump’s lies, either through fear or cynical desire to use him to accomplish their goals at any cost. A few good lawsuits would make these people stop and think before they spout their poison.

Still more needs to be done. A lot of political misstatements have ben published in the social media. Apple CEO Tim Cook referred to the social media as “Purveyors of fake news.” These purveyors of fake news don’t have to worry because they are protected by Section 230 of the Communications Act. Section 230 protects media from damages caused by misinformation posted by users on their sites.

It is time to end that protection. If social media sites were held responsible for toxic posts that they allow on their sites, there would not be so many venomous lies spread over the internet.

OPEN LETTER TO THE VICE PRESIDENT

The attack on the United States Capitol by a frenzied mob, orchestrated by the president is unprecedented in our history. It is an attack on the country, the constitution, on democracy itself.

The president must not be allowed to do further damage to the country and all that it stands for. It is imperative that the president be prevented from committing any further harm to the nation. The quickest way to protect the country from further destructive acts by the president is to invoke the 25th Amendment.

Frankly, Mr. Pence, your performance as vice president under Donald Trump has not been admirable. You can reclaim some of the credit you have lost by acting to curtail Trump’s destructive power. At the same time, you will be saving the country, the constitution, and democracy itself from a man who is so demonstrably unfit to be president.

LIES

On December 19 Fox opinion host Lou Dobbs shot down various claims of fraud in the recent election. Specifically the show refuted false claims made against voting machines manufactured by Smartmatic. The surprising thing about the December 18 show was that the false claims had been made by Dobbs himself.

Did Dobbs have an attack of conscience that forced him to recant his lies? No. It was the threat of a lawsuit by Smartmatic against Dobbs and several other Fox opinion hosts.

Lies create harm. People who worked for voting machine companies as well as election officials who followed the rules have been threatened. Some have gone into hiding because of fear. The harm caused by people who lie about major issues cannot be ignored. These liars must face the consequence of damage done by their false statements.

One way to make liars accountable is to bring legal action against them. It is good when that is done. But it is not enough. Some people will still be taken in by these lies which are a threat to democracy itself.

People must be educated so they are less likely to believe the falsehoods that are spread over the internet. One of the reasons that democratic countries offer free schooling is that an educated public is more likely to make wise choices in elections. When personal computers became widespread, schools took up the task of teaching people how to use them.

The internet gives people access to infinite information. Unfortunately, much of that information is not true. Schools must now rise to the task of teaching people how to evaluate information and separate the valid from the invalid.

There are several programs that teach people how to evaluate data. Two professors at the University of Washington have a course named Calling Bullshit. Google has a media literacy program. What these courses do is show how to recognize a credible source. They teach students to check for multiple sources of verification ands to test every link in an argument’s chain. In short, these courses teach critical thinking.

Disinformation does irreparable damage. Foreign propaganda machines spread their lies through social media; Misinformation about Covid-19 has caused many deaths. False ideas about environmental damage harm all of us.

Liars must be made to face the consequences of their falsehoods, and we all need to educate ourselves so that we won’t be taken by their deceptions.

INFOWARS

From Alex Jones’s InfoWars we can learn about the involvement of the U S government in 9/11. The Sandy Hook shootings never happened. The survivors of the Stoneham Douglas High School shootings were crisis actors. The government has programs that can control weather. Prominent Democrats are involved in a child pornography ring, located in the basement of a Washington, DC, pizza restaurant. Where does Jones get his information? Some of it he just makes up. He also gathers stories from sources like RT, a Russian state-sponsored propaganda broadcast.

While you are perusing this misinformation, you can buy products from InfoWars, everything dietary supplements, including a medicine for Covid-19, T-shirts, hats, and coffee cups. You can even get food supplies to keep in store for the coming revolution. I don’t know whether Jones actually believes the ideas that he peddles, but he certainly pulls in a lot of followers. InfoWars attracts 10 million visitors a month, a lot more than a straight news site would attract. People who believe in Jones’s misinformation have made him a wealthy man.

QAnon is an anonymous website that also spreads false information. According to them North Korea’s Kim Jon Un was installed and is controlled by the CIA. Germany’s leader, Angela Merkel, is Hitler’s granddaughter. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and George Soros were involved in a plot to overthrow President Trump. They were also involved in a child sex-trafficking ring. The Rothschild family leads a satanic cult.

QAnon is anonymous, though it supposedly is run by a deep member of the CIA with the highest security clearance. Margorie Taylor Greene believes the QAnon stories. In the last election she was elected to represent Georgia in Congress. Donald Trump’s lies are too numerous to list. According to the Washington Post, which has been keeping track, Trump had made over 20,000 false or misleading statements in the first three and a half years in his administration.

All three of these have had their lies picked up and further spread by the social media. Trump notoriously releases some of his misinformation on twitter. Rather than conduct government business through official channels, he often makes his announcements by a tweet.

One has to wonder whether Trump’s false statements are delusional or a cynical disregard for the truth when he thinks a lie will serve his purposes better. Either way, these misstatements, along with his incompetence, demonstrate how unfit he is for the office he holds. At any rate, over 700 million people voted for him in the recent election and vast numbers of citizens are convinced that the election was somehow stolen from him.

What have we come to? That so many people have fallen for the lies of these charlatans? Unfortunately, it is not just these malignant forces that have captured the minds of Americans. The social media echoes the lies and false conspiration that Alex Jones et al project. From time to time Facebook or Twitter will temporarily suspend Alex Jones or label Donald Trump’s accounts as less than accurate. But it is usually too little, too late. Millions of people depend on sources like Facebook rather than traditional sources for their news.

It is not enough to try to reform the social media. The answer lies elsewhere. In a future post we will look at how we can minimize the damage done by these malevolent forces.