Disinterest, Disinformation and Disinterference
“a date which will live in infamy” - F.D. Rooseveldt
First, let me declare my disinterest in the forthcoming election for the US President. I'm not a citizen of the USA and so I probably won't even have a vote.
As the great battle between Democracy and Literally Hitlerism draws to its apocalyptic conclusion on November 5th 2024 we take the opportunity to reflect on the hyperbole, manipulation and stunts that characterise modern politics.
The 'Skeptic Research Center' publishes the results of online opinion polls on contentious topics (like US Presidential candidates!).
In this case they asked about 3000 people if they thought that Donald Trump wanted to ban abortion. We've reproduced the results below. As you can see, the majority over all political hues believed that he did. As it's an online survey we assume that there wasn't a 'don't know' option and that's why the trues and falses add up to exactly 100%.
Mr Trump himself believed differently (and we might consider him an authority on the subject of his own beliefs):
“Everyone knows I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it, because it is up to the states to decide based on the will of their voters (the will of the people!). like Ronald Reagan before me, I fully support the three exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. I do not support the democrats' radical position of late term abortion like, as an example, in the 7th, 8th, or 9th month or, in case there is any question, the possibility of execution of the baby after birth. thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The most obvious point here is that Mr Trump's actual position does not seem to have been taken on board by half the Republican tribe, most of whom might be expected to know what it was.
This leads us to guess that Mr Trump's opponents have indeed been successful in promoting this particular piece of disinformation.
It seems odd in a world where information 'from the horse's mouth' is available at the drop of a hat – and especially given they have online access - that a majority of those polled couldn't even check Mr Trump's actual position. I don't even have a Twitter account and I checked it.
It's a sobering thought that belief trumps actual evidence and one which we have to bear in mind in constructing our panocracy.
Disinformation
Disinformation is apparently information that the originator knows or suspects to be false. It's lying, as opposed to misinformation, which is simply down to laziness.
An Assessment of the Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 Public Health Campaign by The House Committee on Energy and Commerce had this to say on page 42 about disinformation from another government department (my bolding):
“By November 10, 2021, in line with ACIP’s [US CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] recommendation, the [Department of Health and Human Services’ COVID-19 Public Health Campaign] began airing ads targeting parents of children aged 5-11 years. These ads inaccurately suggested children were at high risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19. Many ads were emotionally manipulative and sought to incite fear by exaggerating the risk of severe illness and death among low-risk populations, such as children. This was especially true of ads that targeted parents. At the same time, the ads played down vaccine associated risks.”
Disinterference
While we're talking about the USA, it's quite well-known that the US government is running a $35 trillion(tn) debt. $35tn is about 8 times the annual tax take of the US government (4.5tn Sep'23 to Aug'24). Compare that with your own finances. Would you feel comfortable borrowing 8 times your total annual income for some vague promises of a better future? Would your bank even let you?
Under the Trump administration the federal debt went from about $14.4tn to $21.6tn - rise of $7tn over 4 years! It looks like Trump didn't just fail to drain the swamp but made it 50% deeper.
However, it looks like Biden's lot have added about $13tn in their 4 years, presumably just to outdo Trump. Neither camp has exactly exhibited the virtues of prudence or frugality so the future doesn’t look hopeful.
Kamala's 'more of the same' would seem to be a bad option and yet it seems likely that that's exactly what Americans will get, whoever they elect as their next President.
Perhaps we might humbly suggest that prudent fiscal policy would be preferable to throwing public money at wastrel projects like forever wars both at home (poverty, drugs, terror, racism, white supremacy, communism, … and perhaps, democracy?) and overseas (Iraq, Afghanistan, the entire Middle East.)
The latest domino in the forever conflicts may turn out to be Georgia, as it was Ukraine a decade ago. This time it's started with alleged election fraud where opposition parties are egged on by bad actors to believe they have been cheated. Despite the presence of independent officials which seems to have found no evidence.
Only time and a few billion more dollars will tell.
Rolling back interference in the affairs of ordinary, decent citizens both overseas and at home would go a long way to saving some of those 'tax dollars'.
Rome is burning, to the accompaniment of much fiddling and neither candidate seems to care.
As citizens of the Empire, the oddly-named Pax Americana, we should be concerned about what happens when Rome finally falls.
In the mortal (it's removed now) phrase of the US Federal Drug Administration on the subject of taking Ivermectin, one of the safest and most effective anti-viral drugs ever discovered, “Seriously, y'all, stop it!”.
So let me run the risk of insulting your intelligence and remind you about what happens with our current system of government based on party politics: political parties are led by demagogues who, just like other cult leaders, feed their acolytes the ideology they want them to have.
This modus operandi is the default approach to running our 'democracies' where good citizens are now merely a target for advertisements for party leader obsessions, an impressionable bunch of deplorables or garbage on which to dump the latest delusions of the ruling class.
Our governments are not our 'servants', we have let them become our rulers.
As the BBC tells us (my bolding):
“There are three main types of government: monarchy, democracy and dictatorship. Each of these is ruled by either a monarch, a prime minister or a president, or a dictator.” - BBC Teach
And don’t forget that serfs need overlords just as much as overlords need serfs.
I came across what I thought was a Substack called SwissPolitics (but I can’t find any trace of it now, on Substack or anywhere else) - he makes the important point that Switzerland is almost entirely free of most of the troubles besetting other western democracies - “far right” parties, a migrant crisis, currency manipulation etc. And the reason is, Swiss politicians have no real power (and as a result do not benefit very much from “lobbying” aka bribery). Everyone knows they have no power because anything they propose can be and on important issues, often is, subject to binding referenda of the Swiss electorate. That is not to say that the Swiss are not just as vulnerable to “disinformation”, but arguably at least the source for that is not their own government.
Wayback Machine Twitter archives don't seem to work.
Has the FDA horse "veterinarian" ever been doxxed? What is her experience in treating onchocerciasis? Twatter and the X-rated site still suspend my account for suggesting ivermectin also prevent blindness in humans. That "advocates suicide", doncha know?