The Tau of Rose Colored Glasses.
A thread about the pros and cons of truth.
A thread about the pros and cons of truth.
Yesterday, psychopath and war crimer Edward Gallagher put out a video doxxing fellow SEALS by name, face and in one case, unit. He concluded with the tag line "the truth is coming."
Ponder that use of the word "truth." It is probably literally accurate, but it is deeply cynical and morally/legally wrong. Gallagher was roundly condemned - but not for lying. (3 cheers to twitter that I did not see a single person repost the vid that contained the dox!).
There are many other kinds of truths that can be damaging. The one that bugs me the worst is the constant erosion of energy caused by pessimism. It reminds me of the character Wormtongue from the Lord of the Rings.
Wormtongue had the ear of the King of Rohan and spoke a constant whisper of "we are too weak; we are too few; we have lost too many; they are too strong" until those words became a self-fulfilling prophesy. Perhaps *true*, but also designed to weaken the will.
Voter suppression works in part like Wormtongue: "we are too weak; we are too few; we have lost too many; they are too strong; they will change the votes; we cannot stop them" But it only works if we listen. If we vote in mass, we win.
Political smear campaigns also focus on a limited *truth* and use that truth as a weapon until everyone believes a falsehood. Benghazi happened and it was a real tragedy; the HRC email server existed and was improper - both of those truths were weaponized beyond all recognition
The tweet lies told by Trump all day or the tweet lie told by Dershowitz this morning -- invite a push back with TRUTH AND FACT -- and use that pushback to advance the falsehood.
This brings me to the Rose Colored Glasses. I'm mostly a positive person - but I can roll pretty dark too. But I TRY to find the positive parts in this vast soup of competing and conflicting truths. I try to write about them. I try to amplify them. I TRY.
This oftentimes leaves me swimming against the vast rush of negativity, rage tweets, and hot takes in the twitters. BUT I TRY. (I sometimes fail, of course).
To keep rosier, I have stopped EVER retweeting or commenting on Trump tweets (and many other R provacateurs). My rage doesn't stop him. It feeds him; it feeds the trolls; it amplifies him; it puts his BS on my timeline. No positives.
To keep rosier, I RARELY tweet on headlines without reading the story, especially if they feed an instinct to attack a Dem. If the story contradicts the negative headline, I point that out. Dems aren't perfect, BUT THIS IS FOR THE REPUBLIC.
To keep rosier, I try to affirmatively boost thoughtful accounts; thought leaders; Dem leaders and positive patriots wherever I find them. I also try to post art and music and #pamfam. I try to explain why things are good.
Sometimes I see a real positive trend in the twitterverse and I let people know that it is a Rose Colored Glasses situation so they don't think I'm just insane. IT HELPS US ALL TO LOOK FROM A HARD POSITIVE PERSPECTIVE SOMETIMES.
Bottom Line: Rose Colored Glasses are a choice. Everyone has Rose Colored Glasses and they can just choose to put them on. We all should at least a lot of the time.
Bottom Line 2: Not every *truth* is equal. Wormtongue may have been right, but he was still wrong. WE HAVE OVERWHELMING NUMBERS AND WE JUST HAVE TO USE THEM.
Bottom Line 3: there's just a few months to go. Support local and national dems; contact local voting precincts and volunteer; go door to door; mail postcards. WE CAN DO THIS. Dirk out.
