Don's Tuesday Column

THE WAY I SEE IT   by Don Polson Red Bluff Daily News   9/28/2021

Would you believe…lies, all lies?

One person’s truth and lies may simply be the reverse of someone else’s, but the very concept that there is no objective truth is itself a convenient falsehood. My first college philosophy class book, “Situation Ethics: The New Morality” (by Joseph Fletcher), was a late 60s version of the “truth is what you make it” philosophy, undermining concepts of right and wrong.

Look up “Serpentine Logic,” by Jim Erwin (Oct. 2, 2014, patheos.com) or just consider the role of lies both subtle and bold in the undermining of social harmony, civic order, political sincerity and trust, and religious faith and fulfillment.

A towering historical abolitionist, Frederick Douglas: “Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.”

We must acknowledge the diabolical role of lies by those who know they are lying. Likewise, the way falsehoods become the mental, ideological and policy currency in the minds of those—without any real malice or sense of being grossly misled—who simply rely on the veracity of liars.

Examples: It should have been obvious to anyone with observation or familiarity with equestrian practices that there were no “whipping” or “strapping” or other abuses of illegal Haitian migrants by horse-mounted Border Patrol agents attempting to stop such border-crossers. Anyone unfamiliar with horse handling had an obligation to reach out to more knowledgeable sources before opining harshly and falsely.

Anyone who mischaracterized the normal use of reins to steer the horses, as has been done for decades of crowd control—comparing it to whipping slaves or other such abominable lies—has no shred of honesty. Even worse, such “thought leaders” in media or politics—from MSNBCNN, the networks, congress-critters, and Presidential office-holder Joe Biden and his Veep, Cacklin’ Kamala Harris—betray their positions of responsibility to the public when they so lie.

In a related class of fabulists, I.N.S. head Mayorkas boldly insisted that the border is “closed”—Who you gonna believe, him or your lying eyes? “Baghdad Bob,” anyone? Some duplicitously try to shift blame for the Southern border “invasion,” if you will, onto then-President Trump, in spite of anecdotal statements from Haitians and others that Joe Biden’s own words encouraged them to think they were welcome.

Slimy Lyin’ Chuck Schumer castigated Trump for stemming illegal immigration because our economy now lacks those immigrant workers. Is Schumer intentionally ignoring the millions of former workers induced by government largesse and pandemic business shutdowns to rely on “money for nothin’ and the rents are free” (apologies to Dire Straits)?

What kind of falsehood is it for Biden, his mouthpieces and media toadies to quietly ignore the thousands of American Legal Permanent Residents (“green card holders,” citizens but for naturalization); hundreds of actual American citizens and countless allies, interpreters and S.I.V.s in Afghanistan? Look up “Reporter Discovers 'Thousands' in Kabul Still Attempting to Flee, Including U.S. Citizens and Green Card Holders,” by Dillon Burroughs (westernjournal.com). Listen to “Blood on my (Biden’s) hands” by John Ondrasik (5 for fighting).

Set aside the pro or con on that war, it is to America’s credit that 20 years there produced successful human, and women’s, rights advances which could have been maintained without losing American lives.

The political analysis (realclearpolitics.com): “President Biden’s supporters are hewing to one message since the disastrous Afghan exit: ‘Voters won’t remember it.’ That analysis—or hope, really—could well be wrong because the evacuation left Biden with so many problems. None are going away soon. The most consequential is that many independent voters are deciding that Joe Biden is simply incompetent.”

Biden sits at the head of an advanced class on hypocrisy: He might owe around $500,000 in taxes, reports the New York Post, based on a Congressional Research Service draft report. $13 million of his and Jill’s income was routed through an S corporation. No 3.8 % Medicare tax paid. Fair share? Or evasion?

“White House Whoppers” (by Hugo Gurdon, 9/23), mentions Hillary Clinton’s cynical dismissal of “deplorables” that wouldn’t vote for her. “The same contempt is glaringly clear in the administration’s daily denial of obvious truths, many of which are on video played on TV while Dems are spinning at full throttle. They seem to think lumpen proles can be persuaded by flat denials to disbelieve what they see with their lying eyes.”

“What does it mean to lie ‘with impunity’? It means to lie with no bad consequences, with ‘freedom from punishment, harm, or loss.’” The lies from Biden et al are blatant, almost absurd, and not meant to convince. They are meant to give the already-convinced Democrat voters ready-made excuses for not paying attention to arguments and objections from those on the right; as well as allay their concerns in shallow ways.

Moreover, the lies provide pundits, talking heads and columnists on the left, talking points; these they hammer home, in the “bubble chamber” tactic of flooding the informational battle space with their consistent, though horribly false, narratives. (thenewneo.com) It’s the “1984” thought control process: “The man” holds up four fingers, and browbeats and punishes “Winston Smith” until he agrees that he is seeing five fingers, not four.

Trump supporters will accept that a hand recount (part of the Arizona election audit) found a difference of some hundred or so votes to Biden’s benefit in Maricopa County’s 2.1 million ballots—if the Trump haters will accept that Biden’s roughly 10,500 vote margin included 53,305 possibly fraudulent ballots whose votes cannot be ascertained. If those ballots heavily favored Biden, Trump won Arizona.