one of these things
16 October 2020 07:06![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
For the President of the United States to say on national television that he knows "nothing" about QAnon is one of these things:
(1) A lie
(2) Willful ignorance
(3) Incompetence
Because as President and Commander-in-Chief he's receiving regular national security and FBI briefings on QAnon, because QAnon is considered a domestic terrorism threat.
He then revised his remarks to say he knows "little" about QAnon, with that "little" being that "they're against pedophilia".
As though they were merely a Concerned Parents church group or whatever.
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If you have the time to invest, a documentary by Adam Curtis called HyperNormalisation explains why Trump does what he does. It's not a Trump documentary, per se. It's a documentary about how modern propaganda works. If I were a teacher of 6th grade kids or above, I'd have them watch this as a way to prepare them for citizenship in the world of social media and fake news.
And if you have zero time to invest, here's the summary text from the link:
HyperNormalisation wades through the culmination of forces that have driven this culture into mass uncertainty, confusion, spectacle and simulation. Where events keep happening that seem crazy, inexplicable and out of control—from Donald Trump to Brexit, to the War in Syria, mass immigration, extreme disparity in wealth, and increasing bomb attacks in the West—this film shows a basis to not only why these chaotic events are happening, but also why we, as well as those in power, may not understand them. We have retreated into a simplified, and often completely fake version of the world. And because it is reflected all around us, ubiquitous, we accept it as normal. This epic narrative of how we got here spans over 40 years, with an extraordinary cast of characters—the Assad dynasty, Donald Trump, Henry Kissinger, Patti Smith, early performance artists in New York, President Putin, Japanese gangsters, suicide bombers, Colonel Gaddafi and the Internet. HyperNormalisation weaves these historical narratives back together to show how today’s fake and hollow world was created and is sustained. This shows that a new kind of resistance must be imagined and actioned, as well as an unprecedented reawakening in a time where it matters like never before.
(1) A lie
(2) Willful ignorance
(3) Incompetence
Because as President and Commander-in-Chief he's receiving regular national security and FBI briefings on QAnon, because QAnon is considered a domestic terrorism threat.
He then revised his remarks to say he knows "little" about QAnon, with that "little" being that "they're against pedophilia".
As though they were merely a Concerned Parents church group or whatever.
-----
If you have the time to invest, a documentary by Adam Curtis called HyperNormalisation explains why Trump does what he does. It's not a Trump documentary, per se. It's a documentary about how modern propaganda works. If I were a teacher of 6th grade kids or above, I'd have them watch this as a way to prepare them for citizenship in the world of social media and fake news.
And if you have zero time to invest, here's the summary text from the link:
HyperNormalisation wades through the culmination of forces that have driven this culture into mass uncertainty, confusion, spectacle and simulation. Where events keep happening that seem crazy, inexplicable and out of control—from Donald Trump to Brexit, to the War in Syria, mass immigration, extreme disparity in wealth, and increasing bomb attacks in the West—this film shows a basis to not only why these chaotic events are happening, but also why we, as well as those in power, may not understand them. We have retreated into a simplified, and often completely fake version of the world. And because it is reflected all around us, ubiquitous, we accept it as normal. This epic narrative of how we got here spans over 40 years, with an extraordinary cast of characters—the Assad dynasty, Donald Trump, Henry Kissinger, Patti Smith, early performance artists in New York, President Putin, Japanese gangsters, suicide bombers, Colonel Gaddafi and the Internet. HyperNormalisation weaves these historical narratives back together to show how today’s fake and hollow world was created and is sustained. This shows that a new kind of resistance must be imagined and actioned, as well as an unprecedented reawakening in a time where it matters like never before.