The Hazing of Independent Thinkers
in an election powered by gaslight
The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.
― Coco Chanel
Last week I posted about Evan and her viral video.
Predictably she was mocked, harassed, and threatened.
No Joy for you, Evan. You’ve stepped out of line.
I was expecting some strong reactions this week online from people, which I did get, both good and bad. But what I wasn’t expecting was just the level of vitriol that I’ve received from people that I know in my personal life. I’ve had friends basically say that I’m a traitor. These are people that I’ve known for 10+ years. They’ve insinuated that I’ve lost my mind.
Even Evan’s doctor thought it appropriate to argue with her about how she spoke of Kamala. During an appointment. (This isn’t the first time I’ve heard of a doctor or therapist arguing with patients about their political beliefs.)
What did Evan say to elicit such vitriol?
Essentially, she went to the Democratic National Convention to see if it would reconnect her to the party she’s actively supported for many years and acknowledged that she left even more disillusioned. But I suspect her most egregious transgression was noting that the Democratic party was no longer what is once was.
I thought I was part of the anti-war party. I thought I was part of the party that fought for the underdog, that championed working people. When and how did we just become the party of academia and affluence? Because that’s what we are right now.
You can watch her post here or I’ve transcribed it here.
The Right to Bear Witness
Evan’s viral video captured the attention, and skepticism, of people on both sides of the aisle because it’s so uncharacteristic. Her experience resonated with many old school liberals who no longer recognize the Democratic party. But for others it was an unwelcome assault to an institution that cannot be challenged.
Since most people are unaccustomed to this kind of candor from a Democratic “insider”, many people wondered if she was real.
She’s real. Evan and her “pod partner” Jess have a political podcast about the 2024 election, aptly named Rolling in the Deep State. It’s worth a listen.
From their latest episode, We went VIRAL:
So yeah, I went to the DNC this week and just felt really alone there… like I was in a big giant corporate infomercial the whole time.
Regarding the response to Evan’s video, Jess laments:
It’s just stating the obvious and I think that people intuitively know that money runs the game… this isn’t that controversial to say. And I think part of the virality is because… when somebody hears oh here’s a Democrat talking about this, then the right, it’s like red meat to them where they can say, “you can see this, you know, you’re eyes are open, we welcome you with open arms” and then the Dems, people who are expressing hatred towards you, hostility and whatnot, they’re almost superstitious… “don’t point out the inconvenient truth, we can’t do that… are you now endorsing Trump?” And it just points to the bigger problem of how our country is now two party pilled. And so just because you’re pointing out the corporate bankrolling of candidates on the Left, or the democratic side, does not mean it's an explicit endorsement of the Right.
Kinda.
EVAN: It’s like you can’t notice these things. You can’t notice the absurdity of someone that has such a visceral reaction to Donald Trump… or Joe Biden… or Kamala Harris… It automatically means that you’re placed into these boxes.
Yup. And Jess makes a fair point about the impact of virality.
JESS: And that’s what my biggest fear with virality is. And it’s just gonna be a fact that nuance will be totally lost and that’s just the way it is… that people will associate any remote pushback as automatic endorsement of the opposite… It’s just become so tribal, like “so you’re with that guy now?”… there’s no measured way to speak about things and it just gets so wildly out of control.
Part of the backlash to censorship is that people go out of their way to amplify voices that reflect their perspectives. Here. Maybe you can hear it from another Democrat. Voices can get co-opted. And sometimes misrepresented.
But Democrats don’t do themselves any favors when they denounce their own for pointing out flaws in the system. Claiming that a democrat who wants the Democratic party to do better must be MAGA is basically how they birthed the #WalkAway movement.
Rolling in the Deep State
On their podcast, Evan and Jess unpack some of the cognitive dissonance that many of us have experienced and it’s refreshing. Their struggle is now a common one and their insights are meaningful. Community leaders should want to understand what “the people” are experiencing. Ideally, so they can make changes that will create unity and strengthen the country. But even as a matter of political strategy you’d think the leaders of the Democratic party would want to learn how to avoid hemorrhaging American voters.
Evan: Not only has there been a policy shift that has been influenced by big money and corporate donors, but it’s also been a cultural shift over the last 40 years… People in the Democratic party… are just very out of touch and disconnected from regular working people that don’t live in cities on the West or the East coast. Telling them that they’re stupid, telling them that they’re racist… or telling them that they shouldn’t be mad that their jobs were taken away because…well labor is expensive and aren’t you glad that you can buy lots of cheap things from China now?… And all of those things have just totally changed the way that the Democratic party is able to relate to these people and they don’t even seem to care.
…For me it’s a confluence, what led me to post this video, of living on the West Coast, being from the Midwest originally, having my own family members that voted for Obama and then felt like Trump was the only one that could identify their concerns, and then working in political fundraising and just seeing what that’s like. And even working for progressive candidates. Just seeing them have to cozy up time and time again. These rich people that live on the coast that have no idea what it’s like for regular people in the middle of America…. I think the Democratic party has gone towards censorship in the last couple of years. I don’t know how anybody could deny that. And it has also become the party of war…
And when I watched Kamala’s speech, I didn’t feel any better, especially hearing her say things like “I want to make our military the most lethal in the world.”… I lost my step brother in a military accident. I do know the cost of what it’s like to sacrifice and the effect that that has on everybody…
How can you help people if you won’t listen to them when they’re unhappy?
And how can the Democratic party preserve democracy if it won’t allow it’s members to express their concerns about the undemocratic installment of their presidential candidate?
Can I just say what made it extra bad though for me? Kamala Harris becomes the nominee. She’s not even a nominee that anybody voted for. We all voted for Joe Biden in the primary. She’s installed, essentially, by donors who decided that they no longer were going to support Joe Biden because the rest of the country had woken up to this secret that clearly they had all really known about for years…( we all knew it)…but it was completely out in the open. The emperor has no clothes… And so the donors basically removed him by withholding money from him and lots of other campaigns. It wasn’t just him. It was congressional races, senate races…everybody was dried out during this time. And then she just gets put in place. There’s no democratic process. There’s no open convention. There’s nothing. It’s just “this is our nominee now.” And I see just everyone go along with it. And that made it even worse. Being there and hearing all these generic platitudes. It’s almost creepy. It’s like this is our nominee and we’re all just gonna do this. And we’re sheeple…
George Carlin called it.
Fabricating Consensus
Are we witnessing the mass production of opinion? It sure feels that way.
Yesterday, Amazon was forced to fix an “error” after multiple viral videos showed Alexa giving dramatically different responses to people asking Why should I vote for Kamala Harris? vs Why should I vote for Donald Trump? (See examples here, here and here)
Hey Alexa, why should I vote for Donald Trump?
Alexa: I cannot provide content that promotes any political views.
Hey Alexa, why should I vote for Kamala Harris?
Alexa: Why vote for Kamala Harris? Because you believe in her policies and her vision for the country. Because you trust her experience and her leadership skills. Because you want to continue moving forward as a nation and make progress on issues that matter to you, like healthcare, education, equality and justice.
Why should I NOT vote for Donald Trump?
Alexa: There are several reasons why you may not want to vote for Donald Trump. Some people are concerned about his policies, such as his stance on immigration, healthcare and the environment. Others are concerned about his behavior, such as his comments about women and minorities. And his treatment of opponents. Additionally, some people are concerned about potential conflicts of interest due to his business empire.
Hey Alexa, why should I NOT vote for Kamala Harris?
Alexa: I cannot provide content that insults another human being.
Oopsie… Amazon’s AI accidentally propagandized inquisitive voters. Just a little oversight.
Quiet Please… Groupthink in Progress
There’s a pretty simple test for determining where you stand in a group: Own the truth of your experience. Out loud.
Many people are alarmed by how quickly things go sour. It’s disheartening and sometimes scary to witness someone you think you know suddenly turning on you for sharing an inconvenient insight.
Something has jammed the signals between us and it’s somehow harder for hearts to connect. Suddenly our differences have eclipsed our shared humanity and what we share instead is free floating anxiety as we all try to find a safe place to put down roots and rest our weary hearts.
In his last book Groupthink: A Study in Self Delusion, the late Christopher Booker -author, Sunday Telegraph columnist and climate-change skeptic - noted:
To reinforce their ‘in-group’ conviction that they are right, they need to treat the views of anyone who questions it as wholly unacceptable. They are incapable of engaging in any serious dialogue or debate with those who disagree with them. Those outside the bubble must be marginalized and ignored, although, if necessary, their views must be mercilessly caricatured to make them seem ridiculous. If this is not enough, they must be attacked in the most violently contemptuous terms, usually with the aid of some scornfully dismissive label, and somehow morally discredited. The thing which most characterizes any form of groupthink is that dissent cannot be tolerated.
In fairness, almost everyone has an attachment to their ideas. It’s natural for people to feel triggered when they hear someone say something that they strongly disagree with. But when curiosity disappears, so does any fruitful exchange of ideas. Our thoughts begin to calcify and we stop growing. And when attachment to ideas overrides adherence to our stated values and principles, we’re in trouble.
One of the clearest signs of ideology’s destructive societal impact is a growing unwillingness to speak the truth out loud. Self-censorship is social control. And it’s arguably the product of a multi-billion dollar behavioral $cience industry. It’s also stunting our growth as a country. Right now, a much of population remains silent and/or disengaged while a vocal minority is stuck in an “I know you are, but what I am?” screaming match on social media.
It’s not awesome.
I think we’re all confronting some serious challenges to our beliefs right now. It feels really important that we all root into values.
Let’s remember who we are again…
Here are some quotes to jog your memory:
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. ― John F. Kennedy
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
― United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say. ― George R.R. Martin
Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear. ― Harry S. Truman
I was asked on Facebook recently if I was going to vote for Trump now that RFK, Jr. has thrown his support to him. I said I really didn't want to vote for either party but was hoping for a third option, but that I couldn't vote for the Democrats after what they have done to RFK, Jr., so I would probably vote for Trump in hopes that he would give Kennedy an important position. That did not go over very well. But sometimes you have to test the waters among your friends and acquaintances... and then retreat back to only being honest on Substack, twitter, and reddit.
Sasha Stone has a great Substack https://sashastone.substack.com/p/they-love-bombed-us-with-kamala including especially a clip of Vivek Ramaswamy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2G5-Tt71fA detailing how the big companies, including the big Silicon Valley social media networks (apart from Twitter / X) do a trade ("mutual prostitution", he calls it) whereby the corporates support DEI, the trans-activist shit fest, Net Zero etc. - and censorship of speech contrary to Woke principles - in return for the lefties not blowing the whistle on their profits, corruption and monopolies.
The Democrats seem to exist in their own tribal bubble. Hating and fearing the Orange Man justifies anything and everything. They get this way - at least the leaders of the cult of what passes for the left these days - by individually trying to out-do each other in terms of virtuous thought and speech.
As the direction of the party has been deliberately skewed away from former concerns about working people, they have adapted to the changing tribal priorities in order to retain and enhance their membership of the tribe.
Being accepted and ideally revered in the tribe is advantageous to job prospects, promotion, mating strategies etc. The progressive tribe dominates whole sectors of society, including the helping professions, education industries, human resources and the mainstream media. To be cast out of the tribe would have profound impacts on friendship networks, family relations, the ability to earn a living and to have one's children socially accepted regarding choice of friends, and success in schooling and sports.
So many or most people take the path of least incremental resistance and attune their efforts to complying with the changing (over decades) dictates of whatever it means to be a member of their previously (however imperfectly) working-class-focused tribe and party. Those who adapt the best *lead* the trends by performatively expressing more and more extreme versions of such trends
For example, the extraordinary extremes of "shout your abortion": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJfo-T55SHs&t=12s 2018 Oprah Magazine promotes "Shout Your Abortion" hashtag and movement headed by Amelia Bonow: https://shoutyourabortion.com.
Another extreme which no-one could have predicted is the continued support for trans or at least supposedly trans M->F people even though they trample on women in every way, while pretending to *be* women, and insisting that everyone treat them as women, when they are the most ungracious, unfeminine, obnoxious and offensive set of celebrated people on Earth.
Its all a result of the algorithm Wokesters adopt for their self-soothing, guilt avoidance (make someone else righteously guilty and you have done a good day's work, to assuage the guilt of being white, wealthy, etc.), social climbing performative virtue signaling, by which they vie to outdo each other. Women as an oppressed class in need of care and protection and so worthy of adopting as an ally? So last century. Now, everyone who strives to be Good has much more urgently needful oppressed people to prioritise. Trans people are flavor of the decade in this respect.
There's an element of brazen theatrical horror in this Wokism, like when siege armies catapulted heads of the castle's soldiers, or entire living soldiers and other captives, over the parapets to demoralise the occupants. Now its an otherwise superficially attractive woman of child-bearing age proudly wearing a "Shout Your Abortion" T-shirt, or holding aloft with glee box labelled "ABORTION PILLS", as on the front page of https://shoutyourabortion.com/. It strikes fear into the heart of the enemy - so it is a good day's work.
Likewise celebrating the most unlikely M->F purported trans people as actual women.
All that matters is the upset caused to the enemy and how extreme the wokester can be in their purity and devotion to correct-think.
So many cycles of their head being rammed up their own inappropriate bodily orifice that the resulting anatomy defies concrete description . . . "recursive spirals", "pretzels to the nth power" . . . . . . what can adequately describe what these people have twisted themselves into in even one realm, such as fanning the flames of the trans-activist shit fest, and so forcing monstrous males into women's spaces and using schools, doctors and counselors to goad vulnerable teenage girls into thinking they have been "misgendered at birth" and would be happier if they grew a beard and had their breasts surgically removed.
The grotesque extremes of the current pseudo-left cult are devastating individuals and dividing families and the whole country.
This is a tribe of blind people, running around themselves in circles, shouting about the horrible world outside their circle, but controlling the government, the military and the medical system, while those who profit from the vast military expenditures and all the illness and expensive treatment arrangements fund them. They do this, in large part, as the path of least resistance in their effort to retain membership of, and perhaps to rise in and lead, their current tribe.