Throwing Rocks....

 Long ago, a fellow worker used to say that there were people you trust and people who you know not to trust. He further espoused that the worst people, the most untrustworthy of people, liked to encourage people to create chaos but were not honorable enough to do it from the front. Rather, they were the people in the back of the crowd who would "throw a rock and then hide their hand." This expression stuck with me as I could immediately see the truth it represented. It is bad enough for people to throw rocks in anger or frustration but if you are going to throw rocks at least have the integrity to admit you think it is necessary. There is nothing worse than throwing rocks and then acting like you didn't. 

Recently, we saw a whole group of people who actually believe they are patriots protecting their country and supporting the Constitution breaking into the Capitol of our government and threatening our elected representatives with bodily harm. There is a long list of people responsible for this action. First on the list of course is the people who carried it out. They should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Some of them are now experiencing that much to their surprise. This is the worst part. They are surprised. They believe they were doing the right thing. How it came to pass that such a large number of Americans can act in violence against their own government and yet believe they are protecting the Constitution is too important to pass over. 

Quite simply, these people have been lied to. They have consistently and carefully been fed a pack of lies for many years now. Fox news, talk radio, and all manner of right wing ideologues have been feeding them lies since the time of Reagan. Reagan started a lot of this with the "Welfare Queens" story that basically got him elected. It suited the narrative of a lot of southern conservatives still stuck in the Jim Crow narrative and it suited the narrative of corporate America who were then free to do what they really wanted, to lower taxes on the wealthy and corporate interests and do away with those pesky agencies specifically designed to protect the average consumer from the wealthy and corporate interests. 

We could go back further and find the roots of this movement but I don't have time here. Suffice it to say Reagan was the first one to use populism to work against the best interests of the average American. He was not the last. The Republican party and much of the Democratic party has been dominated by these interests ever since. Meanwhile, the right wing propaganda machine has grown unabated and unchallenged since they did away with the fairness doctrine and the concept that the American public owns the airwaves and they should be protected accordingly. 

All of this leads to the recent troubles at the Capitol. Donald Trump was the inevitable result of this propaganda machine. A populist who pandered to the worst instincts of several groups of bigots and racists while at the same time letting the corporate interest plunder the treasury. Right wing media supported him because he gave them power. Corporate interests supported him because he gave them money and power. The right wing Christian leadership supported him because they support whoever keeps them in their positions of power and influence and have no real honor themselves. There are exceptions to all of these of course. There was the Conservative wing that left voluntarily because they actually had the courage of their convictions. There was the occasional corporate leader who bailed on the Trump Agenda for the same reason and there were a few religious leaders who also couldn't stomach the lies and lack of moral character of Trump himself. 

After the recent insurrectionist chaos at the Capitol a lot of people are rethinking their support for Trump. More especially, even the right wing media who supported him are adjusting their positions. Most of right wing radio is still pushing the narrative of lies that Trump himself took from them. The current talking point is that a large portion of the American population believes the recent election was not fair or properly done. I have no doubt this is true but the simple truth is that they believe that because these same people have been continuously lying to them for many years now and have made them believe something that is plainly not true. These people who push the agenda through their very loud megaphones in the voting public's ear are the ones "hiding their hands" after throwing the rocks that set the recent unrest off. 

They weren't leading the charge that kicked in the doors at the Capitol but they were in the back yelling their encouragement and throwing rocks. Now they want to hide their hands. These are the people we need to take on. No one would believe the election was rigged if the people they trust to tell them the truth hadn't lied to them. The people who do believe this fallacy do so because they have had misinformation drilled into their heads for almost fifty years now by the far right media. 

I don't want to silence the far right media but I do want to require it to be responsible for the truthfulness of what they say. Yelling fire in a crowded theater is NOT protected free speech when there is no fire. At that point is is just a lie that causes great damage and destruction and there is no amendment designed to protect the people who do it. Throwing rocks is bad enough. Throwing rocks and then hiding your hand is much worse.