As all politicians know, language is a powerful thing, and there is no law that says that the meaning of words can’t be twisted so as to favor a certain person, party, etc.
Aristotle wrote his book “On Rhetoric” on the art of persuasion, somewhere during the 4th century BCE. We’ve been at this for a long time.
When the phrase “fake news” was coined soon after Trump was elected in 2016, it originally applied to the torrent of lies that were spewing forth from the president. Unfortunately, Trump was able to subvert this to mean the precise opposite, i.e., everything that was coming from the mainstream media.
As expressed in the meme here, Republicans have redefined the word “radical” to apply to everyone with even moderately progressive ideas: common-sense gun laws, a woman’s right to an abortion, quality public education, etc.
What kind of people are the celebrities in music and digital media as a whole? Not an easy question to answer.
Obviously, they’re talented. Most are well educated and many have the good looks that come from good genetics.
And yes, most of these people have the intelligence to see that Donald Trump is a criminal sociopath on target to destroy the U.S. while enriching himself beyond measure.
For every Jon Voight (see left) that are perhaps 1000 Robert Deniros, Bruce Springteens, and Leonardo Dicaprios.
But why are there any Jon Voights at all? The answer is unclear.
I once met a Princeton grad to whom I explained that a guy from my prep school in Philadelphia went to Princeton, and now is all over social media shouting, “Close the Borders!” and “English Only!”
My new acquaintance laughed hysterically, and said with a smile, “Yes, we have grads like this, perhaps one in a few thousand. What a waste of hundreds of thousands of dollars. You can get that level of education by dropping out of high school and driving a truck.”
At left we see an example of a phenomenon that seems to be happening with increasing frequency: a life-long Republican saying “enough” and refusing vote for the current version of the GOP.
I applaud people who have both:
a) the intelligence to see where a party has crossed a moral line, and is now operating as a criminal enterprise.
b) the inner courage to do this, as it is hard for most people to admit they were wrong after a lifetime of kneejerk reactions, especially on a topic of such importance.
Someone commented on the meme here: “Don’t forget your jihadi prayer group meeting.”
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