Mike Lindell, founder of My[Fascist]Pillow and funder of the so-called Stop the Steal movement and an array of right-wing media, posted a video on his FrankTV platform Thursday presenting his alleged “evidence” that the Chinese government hijacked the 2020 presidential election by hacking Dominion Voting System machines and other voting machines. Lindell titled the video “Absolutely 9-0,” reflecting his prediction that when his “evidence” gets before the U.S. Supreme Court, it will result in a unanimous decision “to pull this election down.”
The sad thing is that there are tens of millions of people who buy into this insanity.
I have little doubt that the lawyers for those suing Lindell for defamation are dry-washing their hands with glee. His defense team is probably ordering cases of Weller 12 and Johnny Walker Blue and putting it on his tab.
It is impossible to distinguish between those who believe and those who pretend to believe -- which raises these further thoughts.
ReplyDeleteIf someone enjoys reading fairy tales -- I mean, really enjoys, to an extent that is difficult to imagine and therefore alarming -- does that mean they believe them?
I think "believe" is the wrong frame. Lindell (like the many others) is not engaging in rational discourse, even with transgressive intent. He is telling stories. He is performing. Stories are neither true nor false; they do not live on that dimension. They either resonate with their audience or they do not. If they resonate, they live and grow. If they do not, they are forgotten, unless they are revised (probably out of recognition) so that they do resonate.
lindell uses a weak inference of which there is little proof.
ReplyDeleteThen follows with a testimonial that he alleges his is the truth.
5. TESTIMONIAL: When some respected celebrity (or alternatively someone generally hated) claims that an idea or product is good (or bad). This technique is used to convince us without examining the facts more carefully.
15. WEAK INFERENCE (or False Cause): Weak inference is when a judgment is made with insufficient evidence, or that the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the evidence given. For example: Ducks and geese migrate south for the winter, therefore all waterfowl migrate south for the winter.
He is going down the path to Propaganda. In some case substituting one
truth for another reality while creating false truths to support it.
Yes, fairy tales seem innocent but most of them are true horror.
Eck!