I wrote recently about how cynicism is killing our beloved freedom movement. Today I want to use a real world example. This is important, because cynicism dictates our reality. That’s why a cynic will always say, “I’m not a cynic, It’s just reality”. The only reality we have, is the one we create for ourselves, and the cynic’s reality is a dark one.
Donald Trump was at a Veterans meeting yesterday and was doing a Q&A. He was asked if he would do anything to support vets suffering mental health issues that were leading so many to suicide. His answer was full of empathy. He spoke with compassion and affirmed the questioner’s claims that there was a problem that needed to be fixed, that vets indeed needed greater support.
That’s not what the propaganda machine produced though. DailyBeast contributor Tim Mak appeared to kick it off with his piece entitled, “Draft-Dodger Donald Trump Implies PTSD Sufferers Are Weak”. Mak has a love for creating news and has upset both sides of the aisle with his spin tactics. The others quickly followed and ran with it. I wonder if any of them actually watched the video. Wait, there’s video? Yes, there’s video.
So where is this supposed implication? I see a man responding in humility and empathy, addressing the terrors of war and how strong and resilient veterans are. I don’t see any slight here at all.
We can take his response, ignore all intuition, ignore the context of the question, ignore his tone, ignore his body language that shows genuine empathy, and pick apart the semantics. That is, if we wish to be intellectually dishonest. Ignoring all evidence to the contrary while attempting to exaggerate that which isn’t there, that is the how the cynic’s mind works.
As libertarians, I want to believe that we are above this kind of spin, yet even a libertarian news site posted an article chiming in with this spin, whipping the Liberty Movement into a frenzied attack on Trump. I saw the posts flowing all over my Facebook newsfeed. Aren’t we the ones in the pursuit of objective truth? Aren’t we the ones that believe we can see through the propaganda? Why then are we so cynical?
I think our cynicism is causing us to see a distorted reality, and waste a ton of energy that could be more wisely spent on promoting the cause of liberty. We can’t spread liberty while being part of the propaganda machine.
I’m currently doing research for a long piece on Donald Trump. What I am finding is disturbing. I’m getting very very concerned with what I’m uncovering. Look out for my thorough investigation of Donald J Trump in a week or so.