Baghdad Bob America
Cognitive dissonance is a way of life for many now, especially in their politics. It is why things seem to be insane.
My wife and I were talking this morning about how little concern is being shown that a former president and three-time candidate for the office has faced not one, but two assassination attempts.
The “ho-hum” attitude of the media in the face of such important incidents is impressive – in an extremely bad way.
We all know had a Democrat been targeted – twice – the nation would be in virtual lockdown and the FBI would be pulled off their search for septuagenarian grandmothers who walked through the Capitol on J6, cruising social media for memes Democrats don’t like, and locking down the threat of Christians praying outside abortion clinics, to kick down a few Republican doors in search of the real criminals.
Cognitive dissonance is a tool used to wash these events from the public consciousness.
The leftist media punditry and government officials calmly and without any semblance of truth or conscience say it is all Trump’s fault. “I mean, he spews hateful rhetoric!” they say, all the while continuing to use phrases like Gina Raimondo did yesterday, saying they needed to “extinguish” Trump. Biden is still calling him a Nazi and a “threat to democracy” while Harris and Walz, the Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee of 2024 politics, recycle hoaxes (the “good people on both sides” and “suckers and losers” lies) that have been disproven (even by outlets on the left) for years.
Obamabuddy Rahm Emmanuel said never let a crisis go to waste, I guess the same goes for a good slur.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Somehow eliminationist rhetoric isn’t a crime when Democrats do it.
At this point being amazed at how little the “free press” doesn’t care should be impossible, but I still am nonetheless rendered breathless at times by the sheer dismissal of Democrat threats while never missing a Republican comment – even if they must take it out of context or simply make it up.
The don’t care anymore. They have picked their team, and they don’t care who knows it. The media might as well be wearing face paint with their team logo and colors and waving one of those huge foam “Dems Are #1!” fingers.
When Critical Race Theory was gaining public awareness a decade or so ago, the left was all atwitter about “othering.”
"Othering" is a concept used in sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies to describe the process of perceiving or portraying individuals or groups as fundamentally different or alien from oneself. It involves categorizing people into "us" and "them" by emphasizing differences (such as race, gender, class, nationality, religion) in ways that reinforce power dynamics and exclusion.
The concept of “othering” consists of three main aspects:
Dehumanization: Often, "the other" is seen as lesser or inferior, which can lead to stereotypes, discrimination, or even violence.
Identity Formation: It can be used to strengthen one's own identity by contrasting it against "the other."
Cultural and Social Divides: Othering can deepen divides between groups, leading to social marginalization.
Othering is a term commonly discussed in contexts like colonialism, racism, and other forms of social and cultural exclusion but othering also occurs in politics, and it was elevated to a capital crime by Democrats and their race huckster allies.
“Othering” is what has been done to Trump – and to any of his supporters.
Trump and his supporters are generally treated as less than human (contrast and compare the lack of concern for the people killed and injured during the first assassination attempt on Trump with the reaction to the deaths of Michael Brown or George Floyd), the complete insanity of casting Kamala Harris as some sort of intellectual giant compared to Trump, and the stark divisions the Democrat Party as a whole draw between their supporters and the knuckle dragging man-apes that constitute Trump’s support.
They are of no concern because they aren’t real people and the politicos know they are in a friendly media environment, so they feel free to say anything - no matter how putridly false.
All this is the base for the Harris-Walz Baghdad Bob campaign. It is a “fiery but mostly peaceful” /Baghdad Bob/Comical Ali level of cognitive dissonance.
Michael, all that you describe in this excellent analysis of the legacy and MSM is on point. I read many other services like yours -- my sense is so do many many others who seek accurate and truthful news and commentary that does no 'othering'. There many more of us methinks. This election cycle will be the reveal.