Total Pageviews

Popular Posts

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

BASED ON LIES OR TRUTH? CHOOSE!

"A lie can travel halfway round the world while the truth is still putting its boots on." Mark Twain

Our reactionaries and fascists seem bent on bearing out the truth of this saying to the point of rubbing all our faces in it!
First (and these are only the most recent and egregious cases) the Taney Court 2.0 has 'decided' not one, but two, cases with no actual plaintiffs!! The 'case' which struck down Student Loan Forgiveness was not brought by any actually injured party but by a group with no direct interest in the outcome!! And then, they go and 'decide' an essentially hypothetical case because the supposed 'defendant' in the case of the bigoted web designer is actually straight and has been married to a woman for fifteen years! And, sez I, may they continue as happily for at least another fifteen! But you see the point; the 'plaintiff' actually made up the 'defendant' and yet the Taney Court 2.0 took no notice of this!!!
It seems to me that the Taney Court was preparing pink triangles for same-sex couples. What think you, O Gentle Reader?
Second, a University of Chicago professor named Rebecca Journey was scheduled to offer a seminar this coming fall semester titled The Problem of Whiteness. An apparent young fascist named Daniel Schmidt was so agitated by this that he posted what are probably dishonest rhetorical questions on TikTok and Twitter about it. Professor Journey then received an avalanche of hate messages heavy enough for her to postpone her seminar till next spring semester.
Third and probably most egregious of all, a Louisiana federal court has enjoined the Biden administration against keeping anti-scientific, anti-vaccine cranks from spewing their utter, total, complete ROT on social media!!!
Obviously, much needs to be done to counteract these lies and knock all such liars into history's dustbin!
For starters, I suggest the courts need to be regulated in such a way that only individuals or organizations directly concerned or injured can bring suits. Suits must be real, not hypothetical; at least as real as the suits one can get at any Men's Wearhouse! No more suits by 'interested parties'; the place for them remains in amicus curiae briefs!
But as to Professor Journey's case, any solution needs to involve all of us who believe in multiracial, multiethnic, multi-faith, expanding democracy and in such a democratic republic that human history has not yet seen. All of us who believe in the truth and in justice that really is equal for all!
Many of my fellow liberals, who have been so well-brought up to be such Polite and Good Boys and Girls, won't like what I will say next. But I defy any and all of them to deny the ugly reality which makes this necessary.
 We will have to take time and answer whatever 'questions' from them as we can. We need to be 'battle-ready' in this respect. We also need to be battle-ready in answering their threats. We may need to do a little googling to refresh our memories about the more horrendous punishments of days gone by and use them in our replies to threats, basically daring them to try to carry them out and that no one will find their remains afterward.
The English ancestors of many of us, including me, had a particularly nasty way to deal with traitors (with which, at least verbally, we can threaten vicious liars as well) known as hanging, drawing and quartering. Only thing is, today we wouldn't be exhibiting pieces of their carcasses except electronically.
But my point is, we need to be ready to fight bare-knuckle against the fascists who hate both democracy and the rule of law--verbally and, maybe, otherwise. But let's be peaceable as long as we possibly can. For myself, I fairly itch to loose some verbal counterpart of boiling oil, or some politico-religious fire and brimstone on their dough-faced heads! And don't be afraid to go ad hominem/mulieram. Just keep that truthful, too, and as relevant as possible. Mehdi Hasan agrees with this, so it's not just me talking. Think about this, brothers and sisters, and let's prepare ourselves for a long, hard and sometimes bitter fight for truth, equal justice, and expanded democracy.
Ain't no Superman coming to save us; both George Reeves and Chris Reeve are long gone. It's just all of us who believe in the things I just named and know we must now fight for them. So let's do it!

No comments:

Post a Comment