One Huge Hidden Danger of Trump
How a Biden Facebook ad shows that Fascism might win either way
The most difficult conversation to have in 2020 is the one where you point out anything wrong coming from any direction other than Trump. There is an excellent and obvious reason for this, of course. But I’m about to criticize Joe Biden so let me make absolutely clear what direction I’m coming from: Trump is the worst person we’ve ever had occupying our top office. The amount of damage he’s done to our nation, our economy, our international position, our reputation, and our Thanksgiving dinners is truly incalculable. His unfitness for the presidency cannot be exaggerated.
But he is not going to be president forever. Even if he “wins” this election despite the overwhelming opposition of the American people, he still won’t be president forever.
Which brings us to the great hidden danger of Trump as President of the United States - the insidious, cancerous effect of being so awful of a choice that all other choices look great in comparison.
The fact that we must vote for anyone or anything other than Trump (and we really must) is being taken advantage of by the same corporate interests and top 0.01 percent of wealth holders that led enough people to throw up their hands in despair and vote for Trump in the first place.
These powers, which control the DNC with their money just as much as they control the RNC, are getting very, very fascist lately. And, because of Trump and our intense desire to get rid of him at all costs, we are nodding our heads and smiling in agreement. “At all costs” is becoming a high, high price.
To be more blunt - How much damage are we going to do to ourselves to cure our cancer? And will we sink so low we can never recover?
This is an ad I saw this morning on Facebook for Joe Biden. No, I don’t think that Joe Biden is evil or in any way as bad as Trump on any issues, but I suspect Joe didn’t write this ad, either. Either way, whoever did write it, and whoever they wrote it for… this ad is quietly fascist as hell. And you or I getting excited to follow through on what it’s asking us to do is about as Orwellian as it gets.
Now you might be saying, “what’s so bad about this?” And at first glance, I agree… I mean Facebook is basically a bulletin board where we hold a giant conversation, right? And wouldn't it be nice if our giant conversation were free of liars, racists, dicks, and people who wish us harm in some way? And wouldn’t America be a better place if politicians weren’t free to lie, if foreign actors trying to sow discord among us, and aggrieved white supremacists were simply edited out of our national conversation?
The answer to all those questions is, surprisingly enough, “no.” Actually, “hell no!”
Why? Because shutting down the voices of assholes can not be done without gutting everyone else’s basic right to speak freely. And the slope is very, very slippery.
Sure, obvious racists and liars are easy to pick out of a crowd. But how quickly does the question of what’s “wrong” and deserving of censorship simply become a matter of opinion? In this case, we’re talking about the opinion of some unknown and unaccountable person who works for Facebook.
Does it really matter “how quickly” that train goes off the rails? Because it will already be too late before it gets that far.
This Biden ad looks like it is asking for common sense. It looks like it is trying to counter genuinely bad things, like lying with impunity, racism, etc… And it is. But it’s solution — and again, I’m not exaggerating here — is fascist. It gives the power to supersede our most basic rights as American citizens to an unaccountable corporation.
And it’s not just giving them that power, mind you, but asking them on bended knee to “please take this power and use it over us for the good of us all.”
Why is this “fascist?”
The word has a lot of definitions, including this one…
“…a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.” — Merriam-Webster Dictionary
But what I mean when I say fascist in this particular case is closer to this one…
“Benito Mussolini created the word ‘fascism.’ He defined it as ‘the merging of the state and the corporation.’ He also said a more accurate word would be ‘corporatism.’ This was the definition in Webster’s up until 1987 when a corporation bought Webster’s and changed it to exclude any mention of corporations.” — Adam McKay
Why is this “Orwellian?”
“Orwellian” is an adjective derived from George Orwell’s famous novel of an authoritarian dystopia, 1984, in which the people were manipulated into a state of constant confusion through language and propaganda that tells them what they perceive is really the opposite of the truth. So, War is Peace. Captivity is Freedom, etc. It is similar to the term “gaslighting,” derived from an old movie, Gaslight, which explores a similar phenomenon when a man nearly drives his wife insane by insisting that what she is seeing is not happening. It’s also like the old expression, “Who are you going to believe? Me or your lyin’ eyes?”
And the warning embedded in all three of those examples is that the lies often work, at least for a while, at least long enough to do permanent harm.
On the Facebook post that showed up in my feed this morning, Biden offers these personal words before the ad itself…
Did you know we can say anything we want in this ad?
Ice cream is bad. The sky is green. 2+2=5!
These lies are harmless, but Donald Trump’s lies aren’t — and they can damage our democracy. But Facebook has decided that politicians can say anything in content and ads, even if it’s already been debunked elsewhere.
It’s kind of a neat trick. An Orwellian ad using warnings about Orwellianism to tell us that we should relinquish our freedom to a corporation so people will stop lying to us. Wow.
I really don't think Biden wrote any of this, but whoever did is pretty damn clever in an insidious, Orwellian sense.
But of course, “Facebook” has not “decided that (people) can say anything.” We did. It’s the first amendment of our Constitution. Lying and being a dick with words is protected speech for good reason. When it becomes fraud or libel or hate speech or other things criminal, WE THE PEOPLE have created laws for that.
If there was ever a case where we needed to be very careful about not letting the solution be worse than the problem, this is definitely one.
It’s not Facebook’s job to decide any of this. And making it Facebook’s job would be a disaster for our democracy worse than Trump.
As far as politicians lying with impunity, we could make a law at any time, but for some reason, our politicians seem to be against the idea. I wonder why.
To sum up: Facebook is a platform for speech. Free speech is the most basic right that the democratic experiment we call the United States was founded on. Lose that and the experiment is over. And it failed.
We don’t need our own form of fascism to fight fascism
So what’s the solution to all the lying and racism and fake news?
We’re already doing it. We are having a national debate on all these things. The solution is not to silence our opponents, but to continue to use our voices to call out problems where we see them and offer solutions where we can.
The solution to racism is sunlight. When you see a roach in your kitchen do you put it back behind the wall where you can’t see what it’s doing or how many more there are? Or do you hit it with a shoe? When you see racism, call it out. That’s what “bulletin boards” like Facebook and Twitter are really good for.
There are more of us than there are of them. We don't have to become them to beat them. And we don't have to ask Facebook or anybody else to do our work for us. We just have to know we are strong.
The solution to lying politicians is sunlight. And also maybe making a campaign finance law that makes the use of demonstrable lies in a political campaign illegal — what a novel idea. Maybe we should vote for people who want to do that.
The solution to fake news is sunlight. There is plenty of accurate information about our world out there. Take the time to learn the difference, know who’s lying, and if your angry uncle is still going on about some bullshit he read on Facebook… fight him. Just go ahead and ruin Thanksgiving again just like last year. That’s what families do.
Sorting all this out is our job, not Facebook’s. Because in the end, if you don’t think racists are right, then win the argument. But if you take away their speech, you also take away your own. And also, in their eyes at least, you lose the argument.
We’ve got tools to fight all of these battles. But WE the people have to sort out what ideas are helpful, what ideas are toxic, and why exactly we need a new president.
On the last one, it’s not because people are lying on Facebook.