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Janet Shapiro's avatar

I needed this post today as my brain has been on the verge of exploding all week. From when I was very young, my Dad, a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge in WW II, 1 of the greatest generation who rarely talked about his service in WW II. He was humble and as he said, there was no question that he would take a hiatus from college and enlist. He had to help his generation make the world sage for Democracy. And you have included the quote that my Dad would tell me when he did talk about the war.], the statement from Third Reich propagandist Joseph Goebbels: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

As you note, we’ve seen the truth of that on a shocking scale in America since Trump lost the 2020 election and tens of millions of Americans—fueled by their hero’s anger, marinating in feelings of grievance, priding themselves on their skepticism of what is knowable—have refused to believe that Joe Biden was legitimately elected president.

45 and the woman who lost in AZ (I can't use their names because I get headaches and I get filled with rage ) are destroying our Democracy with their lies, their election denialism, their constant actions to bring the cult along with them and destroy faith in America's election system. Then, of course, I would be remiss if I didn't also mention that state tv (you know the channel) is not a news channel. It is a propaganda machine, established to perpetuate the lies of 45 and the AZ loser woman and to spread election denialism. Yes, state tv is also trying to destroy our Democracy.

How do we undo the damage that the liars have done, for the purpose of stealing their elections and maintaining their hold on power? I go back to the Goebbels quote that my Dad often mentioned to me. It seems that so many have already assumed those lies to be the truth because they have herd those lies so often. Let's follow the instructions and guidance that witnesses are given in court, to paraphrase: tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The truth will set us free. The truth will restore our Democracy. Telling the truth is the correct thing to do; and we must do it. And, in the words of Hillel: if not now, when. Let it be NOW. Happy weekend, everyone.

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Sarah Swenson LMHC's avatar

The psychology of naked

deception coupled with a lack of shame is deeply troubling. When repeated in the closed circuits of conspiratorial media, lies develop the patina of truth. They become revered as dogma and all reasonable discourse is rendered impossible. The solution in psychotherapy is systematic deprogramming, but extending those principles to the culture at large feels Sisyphean. I don’t know what the antidote is for this strangling political climate.

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