WHY WHITE EVANGELICALS LOVE TRUMP

Evangelicals, like the rest of the Republicans have had to come up with some rationale for supporting the most vulgar, sexist, moronic, pathologically lying, racist, immoral, biblically illiterate, vindictive thug conceivably on the planet, but definitely to occupy the White House.  They say that while they are uncomfortable with his crude childish boorish behavior, they support him because of his policies.  Apparently, they claim that his policies are in line with Christian values, even of his pussy grabbing isn’t. 

                One has to wonder which policies are so much in line with those of Christ that these truly righteous people can not only overlook Trump’s copious moral lapses, including drooling over his own daughter, but in some cases even deify him.  Could it be his rescinding of environmental safeguards and regulations that protect our water and air?  Perhaps it was his policy of snatching children from their mothers at the border.  Maybe it was his rolling back of regulations to restrict banks from gambling with taxpayer dollars.  Sound Christian?

                I found out why white Evangelicals would support a Trump candidate/president long before Trump entered politics when I lectured on spirituality at a Chicago area Christian college decades ago. I began my lecture with seemingly innocuous statements: The first law of spirituality is that we are all more alike than we are different.  The second law of spiritualty is that our religious persuasions are largely an accident of birth.  Most Muslims are Muslims because they were born into a Muslim society.  Most Christians are Christians because they were born into a Christian society.  Easy-Peasy.  Piece of cake, or so I thought.

                I always left plenty of time following my lectures for discussion, because that was where the real action was.  Yet as I looked out at the classroom all I saw were arms folded, lips pursed, jaws clenched, and I could have sworn, wisps of smoke emanating from their ears.  With some coaxing from their instructor they finally began to express their frustration and anger with me which started as a drizzle but escalated into a downpour.   One young man protested that my message wasn’t true because he had been a Presbyterian, a Methodist, and a Catholic.  I responded that I had not heard Hindu or Muslim, but different branches from the tree of Christianity.  Eventually I came to understand their ire. 

                By saying we were all the same, I was inadvertently attacking the central tenet of their religion; that they were the Chosen People. From the Old Testament in which God orders genocide,  through the Inquisition to the priests who accompanied the vicious New World explorers such as Francisco Pizzaro,  to Manifest Destiny the motif of Chosen People has given cover and justification  to all manner of mayhem.  Furthermore, the Chosen People didn’t get that way by accident.  As the name states, they were chosen.

The longer the class went on, the more the tables were turned as I learned all about them, but they were too invested in their belief system to learn anything from me.  I learned that unlike the sweet, paschal lamb that had been fed to minorities to keep them docile, their Jesus was a rough-and-tumble, take no stuff, tough guy.  And an American.  I knick-named him G. I. Jesus.  I was also curious as to how a class on spirituality could have found my message so foreign.  When I asked what they had been reading, they held up their texts, which were titled, “Fighting Satan.”  Their idea of spirituality was to fight evil spirits.  I realized they would rather curse the darkness than light a candle. 

Chosen people are nothing, by definition, if not tribal.  Who exalts tribalism better than Trump? Religion without spirituality is the religion of exclusion. Trump likes building walls.     Wheaton College just outside Chicago, fired a tenured professor for practicing religious tolerance!  Trump presents himself as their messiah.  Jesus said, “None come to the father but through me.”  Trump says,” I alone can fix it.”

Ultimately, whether Trump is religious or not is irrelevant.  The religion of these white Evangelicals is founded, not on morality, but on identity.  As long as he affirms that identity as the Chosen People (to paraphrase Richard Nixon, if they do it, it isn’t wrong) who must remain pure, he will never lose their support.

                                                                www.williamgriggs.net

               

               

WHAT DO THE GETTYSBURG ADRESS, AND DRUG ADDICTION HAVE TO DO WITH TODAY’S POLITICS IN WASHINGTON?

It’s ironic that the most well-known faux pas in Abraham Lincoln’s outrageously masterful Gettysburg Address, is that he asserts that his most famous speech would quickly be forgotten.  His exact words: “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here…”  Yet there is another hidden, yet more important mistake in his speech

After referencing “a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” Lincoln maintains that the Civil War was really about whether “that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.”  In other words, did this experiment in egalitarianism inexorably lead to the civil war, and was it therefore doomed even before it began?

Yet the question should have been whether a nation conceived in genocide, (Indians) and dedicated to the proposition that whites had the right to treat African people as less than animals could long endure.

The Civil War was not fought because the country was conceived in liberty.  It was fought because the country was conceived in slavery.  Not only was the country not dedicated to all men of all races being created equal, but it did not allow that even white men let alone women) were created equal, hence the compromise that brought about the electoral college which plagues the political process to this day.  Basically, the founders did not trust the common man to see through subterfuge and vote intelligently, hence the need for an intermediary body to cast the actual vote.  (Once again, slavery played a major role in all this).  And once again the irony is downright exquisite that the two worst presidents in history were elected precisely because of this intermediary.

The point is that there are real reasons why the United Sates is leading the European world in self-cannibalization, just as there are real reasons why recovering addicts (alcohol or drugs) must make amends with all the people they hurt during their addiction. 

The issue is one of growing and becoming as well as the consequences for failure to do so.    As long as the substance abuser clings to the excuses he has made for his horrible behavior during his addiction, he will never be free to outgrow his addiction.  The more egregious the behavior, the more difficult it is to address it but also the sweeter it is to overcome it.   Without reconciliation the addict stagnates and is eventually consumed by his addiction. 

By disavowing his past egregious acts, the addict/sinner embodies the true meaning of being born again; and not the racist garbage espoused by the white supremacist Evangelical community.  America could have/ should have been born again at the end of the Civil War.  African Americans should have received their forty acres and a mule.  A rebirth should have produced a commitment to try to repair the unspeakable harm that had been done.

The exact opposite occurred.  The darkness that produced slavery continued to flourish as it was manifest as riots that destroyed successful black communities while the rioters demanded blacks pull themselves up “by their bootstraps.”  Jim Crow and lynching continued and racism/white supremacy has remained at the heart of the national conversation to this day. 

There have been other opportunities for redemption.  Losing the Vietnam war, like when an alcoholic hits bottom, provided just such an opportunity.  Unfortunately, there came a “hero” riding a mighty steed who would rescue America’s psyche at the cost of her soul: Ronald Reagan.  The darkness that produced slavery, manifest destiny, the genocide of Indians, Imperialism and international hegemony continued to flourish.

Fast forward to today.  As that darkness feels threatened by multi-culturalism-a black president, people of color in traditionally white roles- its desperation produces a willingness to sink to new lows in an ill-fated effort at self-preservation.  The darkness lashes about, injuring those who seek its protection as much as those it seeks to oppress.   It provides the impetus for a childish, malevolent, narcissistic, intellectually challenged pathological liar to occupy the Executive branch and a soulless hypocritical amoral Congress to remove any checks and balances.  Like the plant in the “Little Shop of Horrors,” the darkness grows; its voracious appetite fed by the white supremacy which in turn is fueled by militant, intentional ignorance. 
                                          
                                            www.williamgriggs.net

CAN REPARATIONS SAVE AMERICA?

I just watched Dan Rather AND Lawrence O’Donnell, in separate interviews, trying to assure rational Americans that we are going to be alright.  Both pointed out American resilience in tempestuous times in the past as evidence that America will somehow make it through the Trump presidency.  The problem with such reassurances is that they are essentially and fundamentally self-defeating.  If we weren’t in a world of trouble there would be no need to assure us that we are NOT in a world of trouble! 

The source of this deep deep doggy doo, lies not in the fact that we have a narcissistic, homophobic, racist, misogynistic, barely literate, kleptocratic, pathologically lying, ethically challenged, morally bankrupt, intellectually stunted, thin skinned, dictator wannabe, lazy, immature man-child as president.  No, the source of this trouble lies in the fact that it is self-inflicted.  The aforementioned president, as a candidate, told everyone exactly who and what he was and he still received only three million votes fewer than his rival, Hillary Clinton. Furthermore, as his administration sinks further and further into the quagmire of his incompetence and disposition, his core supporters remain faithful, their devotion unscathed by facts or reality.   

The pundits have pointed to all manner of reason for the political ascendency of Donald Trump:  Hillary Clinton did not campaign in some swing states; there was too much emphasis on what was wrong with Trump instead of developing a positive message with a plan of action attached.  Political pundit Chris Mathews has opined that the Trump victory resulted from the fact that the elitist establishment has either forgotten about or condescended toward the hard-working non-college educated white men.  

Some of these arguments may have some merit (with the notable exception of the Chris Mathews’ argument, but that is for another day) yet none deal with what I believe is the core of the American political/spiritual dilemma: the profound need for confession/absolution/redemption.  The American soul/psyche has never come to grips with having committed two of the greatest sins/crimes in the history of the world: the genocide of American Indians and the brutal chattel enslavement of African people.  The racism used to justify these horrific acts, as expressed as Manifest Destiny back then and American exceptionalism today, remains a powerful contradiction to the so-called American Ideal as well as a formidable tool by which the elite control the white masses by keeping them in conflict with African Americans. 

America is so comfortable with her crimes that Andrew Jackson, the president personally responsible for the genocide of thousands of Indians remains on the twenty dollar bill, and monuments to the Confederacy are defended as history!  (Wonder how many statues of Hitler remain in public in Germany as “history”?)  

Put in Christian theological terms, at the end of formal, legal slavery, America had a chance to wash its sins away by being reborn the through confession and acknowledgement, not only of its sins, but also of the profound need for atonement.  Former slaves should have received the forty acres and a mule, as well as any needed assistance in education or any other area, along with the deepest and most profound regrets conceivable.  Rather than wash the stench of slavery, America chose to cover it with the cologne and deodorant of denial (then Fox news personality Bill O’Reilly proclaiming that the slaves who built Washington D.C. were “well fed” as an example) self-fulfilling prophecies, Jim Crow, mass incarceration, propaganda masquerading as history, the destruction of successful black communities, and the list goes on and on and on.   The stench of slavery, of benefitting, whether one’s progenitors, owned slaves or not, from the incalculable free labor resulting from it, grows as the insane rationales that surround that legacy grows.

To keep working class white folks voting against their own best interests, we now have right wing radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones, along with a major propaganda outlet, Fox News, masquerading as a news network, stirring discontent and lying to the point of challenging reality.  

This acceptance/denial cover=up has been unintentionally (at least regarding U.S. History) personified as metaphor in the unrepentant and tragic characters of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Arthur Dimmesdale, in the “Scarlet Letter,” and the killer in Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart.”

Evil, when left unaddressed, will destroy itself.  The devotees of American exceptionalism have elected the most unexceptional smallest man on the planet to fill the most exceptional, biggest job on the planet.  Reparations for slavery could have benefited everyone; the perpetrators far more than the victims.

 

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There were lines in Seth McFarlane’s film, “A Million Ways To Die In The West.” that had me questioning his attitudes on race.  Since I’ve been watching “The Orville” his new Sci-Fi “dramedy” I’m no longer questioning.  The only black woman on the program actually had a sexual encounter with a blob! Blatant and disgusting!

WHAT COLIN KAEPERNICK AND DONALD TRUMP HAVE IN COMMON

Colin Kaepernick and Donald Trump are both guilty of the same sin, but only one has lost his job for it.  Their sin?  In completely opposite ways, they both have exposed the American Matrix.  The American Matrix has been in existence since before the United States of America was even born.  It is difficult to imagine Crispus Attucks giving his life in a cause that he knew would brutalize and dehumanize his people for the next couple of centuries. 

Of course, the ultimate expression of the Matrix came when slave holder, Thomas Jefferson, wrote that “all men are created equal.”  I’ve said many times that the more untenable the position, the greater the lie, the more preposterous the position; the greater the commitment and the more Herculean the effort to maintain that position.  Conceptually, we can see that effort in place as Vice President Mike Pence struggles to utter pure unadulterated, unmitigated nonsense/lies to support his boss, and in doing so, defend the indefensible.

The American Matrix maintains that the United States is the model of freedom, democracy and equal opportunity for the rest of the world to emulate. (If conspiracy theorists understood this, they would realize that our votes do count.  Why else would the forces of darkness fight so hard to keep us from voting when allowing meaningless votes would represent the greatest propaganda in the history of the world.  Inexorably, I have digressed).   Ostensibly the president should personify those ideals. On many levels, the presidency represents the nexus of the American Matrix and the American reality.  He represents both white supremacy and “liberty and justice for all.” The racism he exudes must be tactful.  Richard Nixon harnessed the power of racism with his, “Southern Strategy” that involved targeting white folks whom he dubbed, “The Silent Majority.”  Everyone knew it was racist, but it was acceptable because it was just ambiguous enough to allow for deniability.

No one in the modern era handled the racial contradiction more adroitly than Ronald Reagan.  He earned the endorsement of the KKK by kicking off his campaign with a speech on State’s Rights (code for what we do with our nigras is our business). He delivered that speech in Philadelphia Ms., a tiny town known only for killing Civil Rights workers.  He went on to blame all of America’s economic woes on imaginary lazy black folks who cheated on welfare.  He, along with Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, was one of the only major leaders who supported the racist apartheid regime in South Africa.  He signed the King Holiday under duress, praising racist Jesse Helms as he did so.

Despite his utilization of racism as a political tool, Reagan, unlike Trump, at least had enough sense to denounce the Klan when they endorsed him.  By speaking forcefully against overt racism, he protected the Matrix.  When Trump defended the Klan, he struck a blow against the Matrix.

Another tenet on which the matrix rests is that people of color are just happy to serve it. If the guardians of the matrix have the unmitigated gall to state that slaves were happy and well fed (a la Bill O’Reilly) one can only imagine their ire when a person of color, professional athlete (who makes more money than a whole bunch of white folks) demands to be seen as a fully functioning human being with a sense of justice.  The NFL can forgive domestic violence, obstruction of justice in a murder case, dog fighting and any myriad of offenses, so long as they in no way endanger the Matrix!

Kaepernick and Trump:  both chinks in the armor of the matrix. 

www.williamgriggs.net  

SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW RACISM

“Americans at the present time suffer from severe feelings of alienation, identity insecurity, individual uselessness, and impotence within an authoritarian system which manipulates and controls all aspects of human behavior.  The causes of tensions in society are vastly more complex than any individual can comprehend, leading to the need for a scapegoat.

                The Negro has often been forced to assume the role of scapegoat in American history.”

                I can’t say that I’ve ever run across a quote that more aptly describes what is going on in contemporary American society.  The battle cry, “Make America Great Again,” presumably from having been contaminated by a black president, rings out throughout the land, as hate crimes escalate.  There is only one problem: This quote is from a book, “White Racism” by Barry Schwartz and Robert Disch, that was written almost fifty years ago! The intransigence of the feelings of helplessness and scapegoating of black folks represent one major thread in the apparently indestructible fabric of American racism.

                There is no more pernicious force (with the possible exception of religion without spirituality, which correlates highly with racism, but is grist for another discussion) and none less understood than racism.  Wikipedia defines it as: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior: But racism is both simple and complex, nuanced and grotesque  and  often confused with other issues.  While we can hardly exhaust the subject here, perhaps sharing a few categories (some well-established, some identified by yours truly) may be of some value.  Perhaps the best known racial dichotomy is:

INSTITUITIONAL VS. INDIVIDUAL

 Once again, according to Wikipedia: “Institutional racism (also known as institutionalised racism) is a form of racism expressed in the practice of social and political institutions, as distinct from racism by individuals or informal social groups. It is reflected in disparities regarding criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, political power and education, among other things.”

            Institutionial racism is, by far, the more dangerous of the two.  Yet the dichotomy is never clean cut.  After all, institutions are comprised of individuals.  Furthermore, the more power an individual wields, the closer his/her racism comes to being institutional.  A racist cop with a gun is far more serious than a racist janitor with a mop.  But when the States Attorney, the judges, and the city administration all join together to protect that cop, we then have a serious case of institutional racism! 

                                                            PURVEYORS AND CONSUMERS

            Then there are what I call the purveyors and consumers of racism.  The purveyors are primarily politicians, and media types.  Politicians use racism to get elected to office, to stay in power once in office, and to divert working class whites’ attention away from political facts that negatively impact them.  None was more adroit at manipulating white folks through racism than the “Gipper,” himself, the anointed one who would be on Mount Rushmore were there room for his likeness, the exalted Ronald Reagan.  The truth is that like Trump, Reagan went from catastrophe to catastrophe but remained so popular he was called the “Teflon president” because nothing could stick to him.  (Even our first black president, Barak Obama, could not resist singing his praises!)  Yet this pro-South African Apartheid president did one thing remarkably well; he made white folks feel good about being white, and for that, a large percentage of them will always revere and adore him.

The purveyors may or may not believe the racism they spew.  The late Alabama governor, George Wallace, for example, achieved national prominence with his fierce support of segregation when he blocked the doorway of the University of Alabama to prevent black students from entering and declared his infamous credo, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!”  We know that Wallace knew better because at the end of his life he tried to repent, asking African Americans to forgive him his transgression.  Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, believes his own propaganda so much that even when it meant losing a high-profile job providing football commentary on network television  he could not refrain from spewing his racist bile.

WHITE MAN’S BURDEN/ MANIFEST DESTINY

These two ideas represent different manifestations of the same concept:  White supremacy bestowed by the Creator/ Jesus as the natural order. .  The poem, “White Man’s Burden” by Rudyard Kipling is a call for colonialism and imperialism by the United States as the duty of the white man to save the rest of the world from itself.   Manifest destiny is straight out of the Old Testament.  It declares that all land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were destined by God to be the territory of the white man! While the examples I have given have been from the past, this virulent brand of racism still thrives.  Congressman Steve King (R. Iowa) has made a career out of making racist white supremacist statements, that somehow never interfere with his being re-elected.

                                                UNCONSCIOUS RACISM

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the single most popular brand of racism in America.  People honestly don’t know that they are racist.  Talking about unconscious racism always brings out the skepticism in black folks.  “They know,” is the usual response.  Or “How could they not know?”  The answer:  racism is so pervasive and ubiquitous in American society that the only way these people might know that they are racist would be for them to somehow be transported to a magical land where it does not exist.  The most fascinating example of this racism, at least for me, came in the form of an anecdote offered by a woman who works to ensure that racists aren’t picked for juries. This particular case involved Indians.   When the prospective juror was asked if she had had any contact with Indians, she responded affirmatively.  She said she let them stay in her barn when they got caught in sever rain storms.  The questioner then asked if this woman would have had them stand in the barn had they been white.  The prospective juror burst into tears.  Obviously, she would have invited white folks into her home! 

I have barely touched the tip of the ice berg regarding the genres/categories of racism.  But if any dialogue results from this work, I will be satisfied.

 

 

www. Williamgriggs,net

 

CLEOPHUS JONES RANTS AND RAVES AGAINST EDUCATIONAL EXPLOITATION!

I hurried  to the soul food restaurant as fast  as my  little legs would carry me. I was going to meet my mentor, that greatest of ghetto philosophers, Cleophus Leroy Jones.  Normally, I seek him out whenever life becomes too puzzling, which, in the Trump era, has been all the time.  But this time he summoned me!  He seemed super perturbed and I couldn’t wait to see what was on his mind.

“I’m glad you could make it College Boy,” (his term of mock derision for me).  “ What’s goin’ on out here is a real  travesty.  It makes me sick to my stomach, and somebody has got to say  somethin’ about it!  Somebody’s got to do somethin’ about it!”

“I’m confused,” I sighed. “ I thought we had covered every major issue known to man; especially black folks.”

“This has just recently come to my attention and it is really serious and disgraceful.  I’m talkin’ about how these major educational institutions are takin’ advantage of these young folks, robbin’ them blind, then leavin ‘em wit no education to speak of.  They leave these schools with undisciplined minds, can’t think clearly or analytically, no skills to do nothin’ and they wind up bein’ a drag on society, not contributin’ nothin,  except hustlin’ and anxiety!  It’s disgustin’.”

“A smile crossed my lips as I finally understood where he was coming from.  But I was still a bit perplexed: “I hear you Cleo.  But we’ve been discussing how these schools use up our black kids, especially out athletes, for years now.  You’re probably thinking about Kyrie Irving saying the Earth is flat, right?”

“

That’s the problem with some of you Negroes.  Soon as  somebody say somebody was victimized, y’all think they talkin’ ‘bout black folks.  I aint talkin’ ‘bout no black folks.  Kyrie Irving is just a basketball player.  The most he gone mess up is a layup or a fast break.  I’m talkin’ ‘bout them folks without a education who go out and tear up everything in sight!      I’m talkin’ ‘bout them overprivileged white folks whose folks pay good money for them to attend fancy high falutin’ schools where they don’t get no education at all!”

“Like who?” I could np longer  contain myself.

“How ‘bout good ole Donald J Trump?  His wealthy daddy paid big bucks to get him an education at a Ivy League school-the University of Pennsylvania!  And what good did it do him?  He can’t spell “tap,” got no idea why we fought the Civil War, caint tell the difference between Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson, in terms of who was president at the time, caint pronounce “acumen” and thinks Frederick Douglass is still alive.  Like I said, a real drain of society,”

“Uh, Cleo, the man is a billionaire who just happens to be president.  I’d say that would constitute success in anybody’s book.”

“College Boy, I been teachin’ but you aint been listenin’.  In the first place his daddy gave him a million dollars back when a million meant you were really rich!  And in the second place, even you could be rich if you never had to pay for your supplies on account a filing for bankruptcy every time your bills came due. That aint a businessman, tha’s a thug!  Only thing he good at is runnin’ for president; and in his case that ain’t nothin’ but lyin;’ like he told all those contractors he was gone pay ‘em before filing for bankruptcy or settin’ up a fake university to rip people off, or tellin’ folks he gone build a wall and make another country pay for it!  That aint contributin’ to society.  It’s a form of high class welfare.  Yeah, tha’s what it is:  High class welfare!  They must a had affirmative action for the wealthy for him to get into a Ivy League school, cause I’m pretty sure he didn’t play no ball.  I’m sick of it and I’m gone do somethin’ about it.  I am formally announcing that I am founding the brand new NAAURWP!  Wanna join?”

“What do the letters stand for?”

“National Association for the Advancement of Uneducated Rich White People.  I’ma call George W. Bush right after Trump.”

www.williamgriggs.net

MOMMY, WHERE DO ALTERNATIVE FACTS COME FROM?

“Mommy, where do alternative facts come from?” the wide eyed little boy wanted to know after listening to Kelly Anne Conway.

The mother sighed thoughtfully before deciding it was time to tell the tyke the truth about alternative birds and bees.    “Alternative facts come from an alternative universe’” she replied.

“What’s an alternative universe and where did it come from?” the child persisted.

“An alternative universe is one where powerful people decide what is real and what isn’t real.  If the truth isn’t pleasant, or if it in some way impedes their ability to rule the world or to make fantastic sums of money-sometimes more than even their great- great- great- grandchildren would be able to spend, they just make stuff up and substitute it for reality. 

“There has always been an alternative universe, but it didn’t really become as powerful-sometimes even more powerful-than the real universe, until the United States of America was born.  That was when Thomas Jefferson wrote that “all men are created equal,” while owning slaves. 

“When people saw that Thomas Jefferson was a hypocrite, they must have despised him, right?”

“No, baby, they made him president.  It happens all the time, especially today, but I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.

You see, America has done a lot of very bad things, like destroying the people who were here before them and stealing their land.  They created an alternative reality by making movies where the victims –the Indians- were portrayed as bad guys.  Some people buy into the alternative reality because they are evil and they know better.  Others buy into it because they don’t know any better. 

More recently, George Bush, for example, told the public that the Iranians hated them because they hated their freedom.  Not knowing any better, they believed him.  The truth was that the Iranians hated America because the American government overthrew their elected government and installed a brutal dictator named the Shah.  When alternative facts are used in the real world, you get a real mess, which is what happened in the Middle East. “

“Wow!” the child responded.  “So, alternative facts are based on false history?”

“Not all the time.  Sometimes it’s based on what’s happening right in front of people.  Like the alternative facts about how many people came to the Trump inauguration.  Or how he stacked his meeting with the CIA with supporters cheering him.  People watch Fox news and believe these alternative facts. ”  

“But how can people believe alternative facts when the truth is staring them in the face?” the kid found this absolutely incredulous.

“Sometimes people find comfort in alternative facts.  Abusive people often create alternative facts in which the abuser is the victim.  Sometimes the truth is complicated and the alternative fact gives them an easy answer so they don’t have to think too much.  When people, whether it’s individuals or societies, don’t believe they have done anything wrong, they can continue to do wrong and still feel justified.  Alternative facts can often provide comfort for those who buy into them.

Remember in the movie, “The Matrix” how the man betrayed his colleagues because he wanted the comfort of the Matrix, even though he knew it was a lie?  Well, America had a choice of which pill to take-reality or the Matrix- and a very large minority chose the pill to stay in the Matrix.”

“They did?  What happened?”

“Donald Trump got elected.  Now we may have a reality no one can escape, no matter how much Fox News they watch.”

                                                                                www.williamgriggs.net