Since last entry (1/5/2021), there were historic events occurred in the US.
One was the Capitol insurrection on 1/6/2021. People gathered to "stop the steal" were incited by Mr. Trump and his people, marched to the Capitol, turned to riots and breached the building with ongoing Congress session to certify Biden's victory. It was a failed coup by Mr. Trump.
The insurrection was a serious offense to American democracy, comparable to 911. There have been consequences, including understandably pissed Congress and Mr. Trump's second impeachment, social platforms (Amazon, Google, Twitter, Apple, Facebook) attempting to stop insurrectionists plotting other violence and domestic terrorism, and tarnished Trump and Republican brand leading to legal battle and reduced money flow to them.
FBI, police and the internet have been working hard to identify the insurrectionists involved. They identified the Trump supporters and insurrectionists as QAnon conspiracy theorists, neo-Nazi, white supremacists, Proud boys, far-right extremists, remnants of Confederate, ... not my kind of people, to be honest.
About 20% of the insurrectionists were former military.
...... these are narratives I agree with as ugly facts.
A trait of the Trump tenure was the rise of (a) fantasy feeders, who tell self-serving non-facts, skewed interpretations, and manipulative lies, and (b) recipients, followers, and supporters of the fantasies ("facts don't matter" people and people who cannot/don't distinguish lies from facts and truths). The mix is toxic. The relationship reminds me of drug dealers and addicts, but in information.
We saw insurrectionists. They looked wacky and duck dynasty. They were violent, killed an officer (makes them cop killers. So much for blue lives matter). But tragically, in their heads, they were "good guys", even while committing insurrection. They were living in alternative realities.
In many cases, war is not fought between good and evil or right and wrong, but between good and good or right and right. By creating alternative realities, the fantasy feeders can manipulate their followers to the war of justice or war of righteous, even if it actually is against US constitution and is totally unpatriotic.
The fact is, Mr. Trump lost the 2020 election by 306-223 electoral college vote (or by 7 million popular vote). Against the fact, he asserted baseless claims (lies) of voter fraud. But even his sympathizers could not find solid evidence for alleged widespread voter fraud. Concede or not, after the insurrection drama, Mr. Trump's time is up. There came the end of Trump presidency. No QAnon day of justice.
Mr. Trump is leaving the official position of power. I am hoping that end of his tenure is going to cut off the lies from the high place and discourage further spreading of his cult.
Fact can be experienced firsthand, or told as hearsay. Fact (and non-fact) is interpreted by the storyteller and by recipients, and given a meaning. It is the meaning that can drive the recipients to action. There are many steps that can go wrong or can be manipulated.
Lies are easy to produce. Usually, trustworthiness is major asset for any business. Liars don't flourish for a long time, because someone call them. If not, bad information drives out good.
As a person, I can and will pay attention to the quality of information. It is somewhat like watch what I eat or watch out for counterfeit money. But for others who don't or can't watch and pay attention, it will be hard to stop themselves from going to "wrong" paths.
I can say, "oh, well, no helping. For now, I'll just find friends and be cautious to others. The Trump era certainly gave us ideas about who are friends, did it not?"
Or, should I develop other measures? Perhaps. I'll figure it out.
Another historic event was inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Harris on 1/20/2021. I am glad to see sanity is back in power.
I liked President Biden's "Unity" speech. Yet, "unity" will not be achieved without managing feeders of misinformation and lies, and the recipients. Otherwise, the war brought by the self-serving and self-righteous will be repeated. In a foreseeable future, war will be fought at information- and platform-level. That will be tough battle.
America is very strong when pissed off, like after 911. I hope the strength is shown soon against fantasy feeders and misinformed domestic terrorists.
