So That's Life?

​It’s been something like 5 weeks since the election but it seems more like 15. Every day, there’s some new appointment, tweet, or Electoral College dust-up that sets social media on its ear. Mercifully, today the EC had their state meetings and officially declared Mr. Trump president. While the rumblings over abolishing the EC will continue, at least the fairy tale dreaming that electors will defect and muck up the process have been quashed. 

Since 11/8, there’s been a debate brewing over how to best respond to a Trump presidency (precedentcy?). Basically, you have two camps that can be summed up as 1) If they go low, we go high and 2) If they go low, get down there with them because you can’t fight unless you fight as dirty as they do. I prefer one of these:

If they go low…

• Move your feet out of the way
• They’re visiting relatives down there, stay away
• Wear steel toed shoes
• Drop something heavy on them from above

Really. If you’re so insecure that you have to succumb to their tactics, how can you justify your opposition to their position? This isn’t about being sanctimonious or holier-than-thou, it’s about keeping your back straight and holding you head up while you clearly explain why you are right and prove they are wrong. Will this lead to ridicule and allegations of weakness from the thugs on all sides of the spectrum? Probably. Does it make your point any less salient? Absolutely not. Is a point made from the high moral ground more effective or memorable? It absolutely is. We cannot pretend to speak from authority if we let loose our grip on the standards that got us to where were are .

When you see something like this:

https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/videos/10154356755756939/

You might be tempted to reply in kind but trust me, you can never beat a bully by adopting their tactics. While that might work in some 70’s sitcom, reality is that the bully usually comes back with reinforcements. What you need to do is have a clear message and rally people to your point of view.

So, for all those out there plotting their own fake news campaigns, creating provocative memes, developing left versions of GOP tactics, and using insults in an attempt to goad the opposition into verbal (and oftentimes real-life) confrontations, get over yourselves. If you want to defeat Trump and his band of merry white men, do some real work. Organize, recruit, research, and write. Arm yourselves with the gear that actually wins battles and stop thinking there’s an easy way out. 

If you’re looking for an easy way to be a part of the resistance, send me links to outrageous fake news you see and share these posts. Nothing makes the opposition crazier than to have us talking to each other.

My Uncle Bob is, to put it bluntly, gullible. When he isn’t sending me emails about chemtrails, he’s sharing HAARP theories on FaceBook about how the government is creating hurricanes. If you’re lucky, you have no clue what those are, but I’m betting you haven’t been able to avoid the topic of fake news that has grabbed the attention of so many people this year.

2016 has indeed been a turbulent year, but it wasn’t the worst. If you’re reading this, you are at least alive which testifies to my statement. If you’re still moping over the results of the election, gloating over the victory, or pining for some fallen TV/movie/music idol, you really need to lift your head up and look at the world around you. I said 2016 wasn’t the worst year ever but there’s a lot of crap going on that needs to change. Regardless of your personal or political beliefs, change is a’coming and if you can’t tell fact from fiction, it’s gonna run you over.

I’ve heard the Declaration of Independence referred to as merely a declaration of war whereas the Constitution is the collection of laws our country is founded on. But really, they should be taken together because neither was written in a vacuum and both were ratified by basically the same people. The concepts in each can, and should, be embraced as the originally American ideals. Two key phrases from each begin with “we”, “we the people” and “we hold these truths”. This country wasn’t created for the benefit of a few, and the ideals and principles espoused by them in the later half of the 18th century were meant to apply to all citizens until that form of government was ended.

Instead of looking at the world of opinions in the traditional left and right paradigms with all manner of shades on either side of what is subjectively called the middle, how about we look at it as an ever-widening set of concentric circles. At the center are the core values that Americans hold and the associated “truths” like equality, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the other basic rights specifically detailed in the Constitution. The farther opinions get from the center of this circle, the more dangerous the people holding them are. I think the center of this circle is really quite large and can hold the majority of Americans. It’s when you get farther out where you encounter the extremist whose views (like white supremacists and anarchists) threaten our very existence.

High on my list of the things that ail us is fake news. You can call it dis-information, mis-information, propaganda, or just outright lies, but it all boils down to manipulating perceptions. It was used to during the election by members of all parties and continues to be used in the post-election period as both scare tactics from the Democrats and fear mongering by the GOP. Some are blaming the Russians, some the alt-right, and some blame FaceBook for allowing it to proliferate. It really doesn’t make a difference. It’s here, it’s bad, and it needs to be dealt with.

Unlike my Uncle Bob, most of the people I know online can think for themselves and don’t want to be taken advantage of by the hucksters peddling their conspiracy theories and social theories. The problem is that this issue cannot be solved by just one person crusading on social media. It requires a network of people who keep their eyes open looking for suspicious material. Basically, I need your help.

This is the first post in what I hope becomes a regular series of commentary on with an eye towards debunking the malicious stupidity that is masquerading as news. Writing the posts is difficult enough and there’s now way any one person could have enough time to monitor and evaluate all the garbage floating around.

Here’s what I’m asking:

1. Share this post and sign up for email updates when new material is posted.
2. PM, email me, or post comments here about any links you think are fake.
3. Help me to recruit others and ask to them send me the links or (better yet) collect them for me and send me what you deem relevant.

In return, I will be writing about this problem and I promise to hit all sides with equal vigor because I just can’t stand the BS any longer. I can’t do it by myself; nobody can. Together, we can be the eyes and ears.