When Stephen Colbert’s “truthiness” entered the lexicon in 2005, conservatives had been marinating in Rush Limbaugh for nearly 20 years. There was a separate reality under construction in the U.S. in plain sight. Facts (reality) became contingent on their political utility. For the daily purveyors of grievance, what mattered was what “feels right” in your gut. Besides, grievance sold soap. After Barack Obama won the presidency, implacable liberal enemies proliferated in this parallel-dystopia, as did its residents: T-partiers, Birthers, Deathers, Glenn Beck, town hall shouters, etc. Ask Ginni Thomas. Maybe she’ll give you the tour.
On this rock, Donald Trump built his church.
Perhaps the decades-long dissolving of external reality on this side of the Atlantic always bore some Soviet/Russian influence. Orwell described its utility for the totalitarian state in 1949. “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities,” Voltaire wrote (roughly) in 1765. Rep. Jamie Raskin quoted that at the close of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial one year ago. Trump convinced millions to believe his absurdities. Countless thousands from his separate reality died believing them before his presidency culminated in atrocity.
Russia simply has more practice at convincing its populace to commit them.
Atop the Twitter feed this morning is this brief thread from NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley:
well we’re here to help the Russian speakers snd he said 95% of us speak Russian and we’re fine. They said they heard that the World War II veterans of the town had been beaten in the patriot day and he said au contraire they’re venerated and there’s not very many of them left.
It seems these Russian soldiers truly thought that. This entire war is being fought on propaganda – for false pretenses. Its not only Putin who doesn’t know what’s going on. This mayor, Ivan Fedorov, said the soldiers were completely unprepared and clueless.
James Fallows this morning reflects on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s message to the Russian people. It was the right message at the right time by the right person, an appeal to return to the universe in which the rest of us live:
What makes this so notable? I think it is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s clear-eyed understanding of what he, as a messenger, could uniquely bring to this, as a message. That is, he recognized the thoughts a broadcast by him would convey, without his having to say them.
Schwarzenegger’s audience was the Russian public, especially its soldiers. And its explicit, spelled-out message was: You are better than this. You Russians have a spirit and culture and character that I admire. You Russian soldiers pride yourselves on defending the motherland, not on being on the attack.
So I am here to warn you: You’re being tricked and misled into actions you will always regret.
Trust me, I know. [I’m still paraphrasing.] My own father was a Nazi soldier, and he was tricked and misled in just the same way. Learn from his shame and failure. Live up to the greatness of your culture and your nation. I know you well enough to be sure that you’d never do the things you’re doing now, if you knew the real facts. Which I’m about to share.
“This is not a war to defend Russia like your grandfathers and your great-grandfathers fought,” he says near the end. “This is an illegal war. Your lives, your limbs, and your futures are being sacrificed for a senseless war, condemned by the entire world.”
That was the out-loud part of the message—the text, if you will. The subtext was: and Arnold Schwarzenegger is telling you these things. Which mattered because of the overlapping identities that go with whatever he says or does.
What is Russian for “military target”?
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
For The Win, 4th Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free, countywide get-out-the-vote planning guide for county committees at ForTheWin.us. This is what winning looks like.