I Didn't Leave Doublethink - Doublethink Left Me

I love a good conspiracy theory. JFK assassination ones are my favorite, but I'm not picky, as long as they're good theories. The previous comment might make you think I'm inclined to buy into one of the (many) of the theories involving the "Clinton body count". You would be wrong.

It's not because I plan to vote for Clinton but rather because the conspiracy theories aren't particularly good. Simply put, the theories I hear about Clinton from the farther-left-than-myself remind me of nothing so much as the many I hear from the far-right about President Obama. 

Certainly, the specifics are different. Where they intersect, though, is that both sets require you to hold thoroughly contradictory views of the individuals in question to be equally valid. President Obama is both a feckless weakling and a Machiavellian tyrant. Similarly, if you believe extremists on both the left and the right, Hilary Clinton is equal parts unaccomplished liar with no record to run on or a master manipulator who'd make both Lady Macbeth and Rasputin supplicants themselves before her. 

Obviously, after eight years or so of disrespect for President Obama, I expect this sort of nonsense from the far-right. Hearing it from the far left, however, is disconcerting. You like to think that people on the same general end of the political spectrum share a similar capacity for critical thought, so it's disappointing to hear the same kind affronts to good sense from fellow liberals.

Of course, as I've learned the past several months, those "fellow liberals" probably don't consider me particularly liberal. "Traitor to democracy" is a term I can imagine one person I know quite well using to describe me. In the book 1984, the main character observes that freedom is the freedom to believe that 2+2=4 even if the Party dictates that he should believe it adds up to 5. Seeing so many people who I feel I should be agreeing with embrace this kind of "doublethink" is both sad and frightening.

Counting Down to 1/20/17

I wonder how all the people who've been complaining about President Obama so venomously are going to feel when he leaves office in January 2017. As much as I'd like to think that most will realize that they've spent the better part of a decade being taken in by the Hannity/Levin/Limbaugh-industrial-complex's brand of scare-mongering, I'm skeptical it will unfold that way. More likely, a large number will proudly assert that their commitment to freedom is the only thing that stopped the weak-willed Muslim socialist tyrant in the White House from taking all their guns and declaring "marshal law" (yes, usually spelled that way) so that he could make himself President for Life. 

There are very valid reasons to criticize any President, because - as any responsible citizen understands - politics is easy but governing is hard. The criticism of President Obama is something different - and fouler. It's fouler not just because of its racial/xenophobic undercurrents but rather because it stems from a substantial portion of Americans taking leave of their senses. 

In some ways, it's reminiscent of George Orwell's concept of "doublethink" from 1984, where being a good party member requires one to believe multiple contradictory ideas. Instead of "2 + 2 = 5", it's believing that a bacon-eating, beer-drinking, gay-marriage supporting smoker is actually a Muslim despite evidence to the contrary (and the irrelevance of their faith to being President). The sad part is that those ignoring all evidence to the contrary in an effort to believe that President Obama somehow isn't "one of us" aren't doing so to survive a totalitarian regime but rather by choice. The fact that they have this choice is, of course, empirical evidence that they do not live in a totalitarian society - evidence all too many of them will doubtless ignore.