In addition to feeling sick (yesterday morning’s sleepiness may have been the onset of something), I’m experiencing that mild sense of trepidation that I feel when I think about world events – trepidation and powerlessness. I don’t know how to move forward in a post-truth world.
Yesterday was January 6. It should be a day that is burned into the psyche of every American much the same way 9-11 is synonymous with the fateful events of that day. I watched the insurrection in real time. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing – images of gallows being built outside the Capitol building, people scaling the walls and fighting with police, the confederate flag being marched through the halls of the Capitol. In a stunning turn of events – the people who are guilty of participating in an armed insurrection designed to prevent the peaceful transfer of power are now being called patriots by our current president elect. The person responsible for unleashing an angry mob that chanted “Hang Mike Pence” has escaped accountability and is referring to the attempted coup as “a day of love.” We are witnessing the whitewashing and revision of history before our very eyes. For a clear and concise recap of just how all of this has come to pass, read Heather Cox Richardson’s blog from yesterday (Letters from an American).
As Richardson reminds us, in the immediate aftermath of the insurrection, social media platforms banned Tr*mp. Republican politicians condemned him. Corporations swore him off. Now, all of those same people and corporations have done an about face and are donating to his inauguration fund. Political cartoonist Ann Telneas resigned from The Washington Post because they killed her cartoon criticizing/mocking the billionaires bowing down to Tr*mp (including Jeff Bezos who owns the Post). The Post, along with the LA Times, had also killed their endorsement of Kamala Harris just weeks before the election – endorsements that were written, approved, and ready to print. Our mainstream media has been complicit in the erosion of truth in this country and in the world. Their desire to show “both sides” of an issue has normalized lying. The New York Times routinely labels Tr*mps lies as “misstatements” or that he “falsely suggested” this or that. Social media – where most people get their news, has been reluctant, if not outright refusing, to fact check the content on their platforms. Just today, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, scrapped their content moderation program.
We are facing a new world order… one in which AI and misinformation abound… one in which the world’s richest person is wielding his power, wealth, and media platform to push far-right ideologies in Canada, the UK, Italy, and Germany. When truth, facts, and the rule of law cease to matter, the social contract cannot hold. These feel like dangerous times, and on a Tuesday morning when I feel like I’m coming down with a cold or the flu, I don’t feel like worrying about our collapsing social order.