Hand me down my foil hat! Conspiracies abound!
It has been said by the religiously inclined that the biggest trick the devil ever pulled off was to make people think he didn’t exist. It allows him to run wild and wreak havoc unchecked. Unaware of the source of evil, people can’t stop him. This is where the best conspiracies live.
Similarly, the greatest ally of a corrupt government is the conspiracy theorist. Often labeled conspiracy freaks, these folks – if they are not too nutty in their appearance – tend to grab some headlines at first. If their complaints don’t pass the smell test, they quickly fade from the public forum. The more outrageous and easily dismissed, the quicker that happens, and the moniker freak is assigned. This is often well-deserved. The most egregious that comes immediately to mind is the video of the twin towers with the second 767 digitally removed. The viewer sees a whole shaped like an aircraft suddenly appear, for no apparent reason, in the side building followed by a fiery explosion. It was quite an effort to promote a silly argument, but sociopaths are often determined people.
The Devils in DC
The problem with having these freaks gaining press is that when real life gets too uncomfortable, we can simply label the speaker a conspiracy freak and feel good about ignoring their complaint. And that is where the real trick lies. In the case of our current government, we have been played for idiots time and time again because when confronted with serious charges, the target would either treat the story as a conspiracy theory or come right out and label the herald a freak. From Fast and Furious to Mrs. William Jefferson Clinton’s emails, legitimate charges have been thwarted by thin straw man arguments and amused dismissal. White House press skank, Josh Earnest does this every single day. And he gets lots of practice because this administration is by far the most corrupt, totalitarian cabal in our history. Earnest doesn’t spin from that podium; he lies from behind a smirk that is utterly contemptuous of criticism or honest discourse. And our pathetic press; they simply record the moment and go for cocktails. The few who do challenge the administration will only go so far for fear of loosing their press passes to the fetid sewer that our executive mansion has become. They are not digging for information, nor for that matter reporting what is occurring right in front of them.
Just look at Mrs. Clinton’s email scam. She erased them. She said so. Her staff said so. The State department said so. The explanations were so childish, so breathtakingly disingenuous that one is left yelling questions at the TV that the press should be asking. Among the questions would be: What charges will the former Secretary be facing? What would the likely sentence be if she were found guilty? What about her lying to congress about Benghazi (the US was running guns to Syria via Turkey, as it turns out, to the wrong people)?
Of course, such questions about that woman being charged with anything would be met with the freak treatment mentioned above – and most of the press would go along with it.
But when the truth is this obvious, a sycophantic press is not the problem. We are. It’s easy to dismiss unpleasantness with dismissive labels, but in the case of this government, it is perilous to do so. We need to stand up. We need to deal with what has happened and is happening to our country.
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