They are an infected, festering pustule on the pimpled ass of the body politic:
WASHINGTON ― Authorities are still trying to figure out why a man shot at least 26 people to death in a Texas church on Sunday.
But the lack of a specific motive has not stopped right-wing conspiracy theorists from blaming their opponents — including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), atheists, social justice warriors, communists, the Islamic State, liberals and anti-fascist protesters — for the slaughter.
The speed at which these theories spread shows how propagandists take advantage of the information vacuum after a shooting to serve their own ends.
The shooting was not racially motivated or caused by religious beliefs, authorities said Monday, though they noted there was a “domestic situation.” (The suspect, Devin Patrick Kelley, was previously convicted for domestic assault.) But in the hours after the shooting, the public didn’t know that. Instead, conspiracy theorists took what shreds of information were available to peddle plausible-sounding theories — or simply make up lies.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/texas-shooter-conspiracy-theories_us_5a01ed2be4b092053058499e?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
The right wing media loons (the aforementioned festering pustules) were breathlessly proclaiming that this past weekend Antifa was going to stage nation-wide, violent demonstrations as the beginning of their effort to overthrow Trump (of course it didn't happen).
They were also peddling assertions that the person who beat up Kentucky GOP senator Rand Paul in his residential yard was a liberal, Antifa sympathizer and the attack politically motivated (he wasn't - and it wasn't). Paul and his neighbor - another doctor - had been feuding for years over shrubbery and leaves on each other's lawns -- but why let the truth interfere with a good fear-mongering lie right?
And before we go any further -- no! . . this is not a dirty fucking liberal hippie defense of Antifa. They are not the point of this post goddammit!
The Gadfly's point here is about who the right wing media is. Well here's who they are -- they're all fucking fraudulent nut jobs and ethically challenged people who in reality are the prime contributors to this disturbing national illness of proud and belligerent stupidity that presently plagues our society. They've created their own sheltered world of "alternative facts" and "fake news" and manufactured enemies, and they are gleefully wallowing in it. They are anti-facts, anti-reality, anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-reason, and anti-humanity -- and as long as being that way annoys the dirty fucking hippie liberals, they are genuinely happy about it - completely failing to acknowledge, of course, the presumption that being all of those aforementioned anti-bots also makes for being a pretty fucking lousy human being.
Is it any wonder that America's long-standing democratic allies are pulling back from us and wondering out loud as to whether America is even a reliable partner anymore in the quest to expand western democracy? Are Trump, Breitbart, Fox & Friends and George Papadopolous truly the best that the United States of America has to give to the world?
What our allies are beginning to see is a country that has abdicated it's role as the strongest and most trusted democracy on the planet by permitting the lunatics to take over the asylum. We even installed a hopelessly corrupt, narcissistic reality tv show ignoramus and sex pervert with a Russia fetish as our leader. That's what our allies are starting to see. What America's enemies see, on the other hand, is opportunity, and The Gadfly should not have to explain to you what that opportunity could be. Nonetheless - what could possibly go wrong with all that - right?
And social media has been and still is the drug delivery method-of-choice for the right-wing conservative bullshit machine to spread their mad-cow diseased ideological propaganda. The Gadfly sees it all the time -- even among some friends and family members. The incessant sharing on Facebook of these absurd internet "news" stories, and fact-free political memes and black helicopter, gobble-dee-gook YouTube videos. And they are all completely clueless or uncaring about the likelihood of the garbage that they are sharing having been created by some Russian or Eastern European troll farm. And before you know it, it's getting distributed via conservative, carnival barking "news" outlets like AM talk radio, Breitbart, the insipid InfoWars and yes - even Fox "News." And they pass this toxic misinformation and lies around like it's a meth pipe. It's just downright disheartening to see some times.
Anyhow -- this is why it is maddening as hell for The Gadfly to see all of this occurring because he knows that at present there is neither sufficient courage, or a majority will of the citizenry to seriously confront and effectively combat it. But The Gadfly gets it -- he knows -- hell, there isn't a magic pill made that you can give someone that will fix dumb and gullible -- or cruel and hateful -- the history of mankind has demonstrated that to us very clearly over and over again.
Quite honestly though, what is really keeping The Gadfly awake some nights is the obvious question -- will dumb and gullible ultimately triumph over informed and rational and if it does - what becomes of not only the informed and rational people, but the nation's and democracy's futures as well?
Things to think about.
----TFG
**P.S. -- The Gadfly was tired when he posted this, so if you want web links to sources for any of The Gadfly's statements contained therein, just ask in the comments section.
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