Walter Rhein Podcast
As We fight the Big Lies, the Little Lies Slip in Unnoticed
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Thanks for supporting the resistance! Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] America is a nation of lies. It is not a “great” nation or a “free” nation or a “world leader.” This is a country built on slavery and bent on global domination. Every enterprise is meant to feed the rich and starve the poor. It’s a dog eat dog country and 99% of the population lives in perpetual terror of a very small pack of huge and ferocious beasts. We’re controlled by lies. For every lie we stand up to fight, ten more smaller lies slip through our defenses. Decent people find themselves constantly occupied with the labor of dismantling the endless false paradigms which spring up like weeds. We’re so busy in this pursuit that we have no time left over to indulge in productive action. The small lies are like a virus, and by the time we bring down one of the big ones, the smaller ones have grown large enough to occupy the vacant space. It’s a constant shell game of lies, and we’re the eternal losers. As a large lie expels its lingering death rattle, our opponents always try to coerce us into acknowledging, as if in concession, the inherent truth of a small lie. Exhausted from the fight, we capitulate. But we can’t afford to be generous in victory, that’s exactly what gives the small lies their strength. The big lie Most people are familiar with the concept of the big lie [https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/joseph-goebbels-on-the-quot-big-lie-quot]. As much as Americans profess to hate the nazis, they certainly have proven adept at applying the propaganda techniques employed by Joesph Goebbels. Indeed, modern American culture uses a complex system of social control that even the members of the third reich might find innovative. The big lie is alive and well in the United States, in fact, it’s thriving. Part of the reason is that radical right wing politicians have learned how to supplement and support their big lies with an endless series of little lies. In America, the truth isn’t struck down by a single blow. Instead, it’s death by a million cuts. Small lies are cultivated and become the basis of how the general population thinks. People who are too stupid to think for themselves are brainwashed into believing a steady stream of false soundbites. They arrange these soundbites to give themselves the approximation of an independent personality. These people are thereby coerced into acting as unknowing foot soldiers who propagate a message of blatantly false propaganda which can infiltrate areas the state cannot reach through the power of public broadcasting. They spread their lies over dinner tables and at social gatherings. They create a background static that becomes a fertile ground for the next mass brainwashing campaign. Here are some examples. It’s a lie to say the media is liberal This is the kind of statement people make without any concern that it might be contested. They say that the media is liberal not as an opinion, but as an indisputable fact. However, the reality is that there is no actual evidence to support this absurd claim. The argument will often be made that the media is liberal because the majority of journalists lean liberal. However, even if the writers are liberal, in the end, the media outlets always get to decide what stories are published. In recent times, conservative groups have been consolidating [https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/11/consolidation-is-killing-the-myth-of-the-liberal-media] media groups exactly for the purpose of controlling the news. Billionaires own our media, not liberals, and it’s billionaires who perpetuate the lie that the media is against them. People often find they don’t have the energy to fight the claim that the media is liberal, but it’s a foundational argument for further attacks on our freedoms. Establishing the small lie that the media is liberal, helps prop up the larger lie that the media can’t be trusted. It’s a lie to say that prayer is prohibited in schools The radical right loves to perpetuate the false claim that their religion is somehow oppressed even though there is absolutely no evidence to make that case. You’ll often see people repeat the lie that prayer is prohibited in schools and use this as a basis for an argument that all of our social problems could be resolved if we’d only return to traditional values. However, the statement that prayer is prohibited at schools is blatantly untrue [https://www.freedomforum.org/#:~:text=Yes.,upon%20the%20rights%20of%20others.]. There is nothing more offensive than when a bunch of entitled Christians throw themselves a pity party over some non-existent attack on their “rights.” The only thing that’s prohibited is forcing kids to participate in some prayer that has nothing to do with their own personal religion. The Supreme Court’s decision actually protects Christians along with the members of every other religion practiced in this country. The small lie that prayer is prohibited is used to prop up the larger lie that there is an ongoing war on Christianity. This lie is then leveraged to create the artificial impression of a massive effort to attack Constitutional rights and freedoms which is based on a complete fabrication. It’s a lie to say that wealthy people are job creators People assume that because wealthy people have the money, the whole economy starts and finishes with them. However, the truth about wealthy people is that they aren’t inclined to use their money. They just hoard it like a dragon and indifferently watch the people and society around them wither and die. This belief represents yet another way where uneducated, juvenile thought can be molded into a weapon which is then used to attack the middle class. The uncontested lie [https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/09/rich-americans-arent-the-real-job-creators/262833/] that rich people are somehow “necessary” is used to prop up the larger lies of massive tax breaks for the elites, and also leads to the massive taxpayer funded bail outs which seem to happen every decade or so. The bail outs themselves disprove the hypothesis. If rich people are such great job creators, why do they perpetually need bail outs and subsidies to stay in business? Don’t ever concede a lie out of exhaustion or convenience In any argument you have to examine the validity of every assumption. The problem with attempting to engage in honest philosophical discussion with members of the radical right is that they hit you with such a rapid succession of lies that it’s difficult to know where to respond. Decent people always attempt to be courteous, even in an argument. Indecent people always opt for a no holds barred, take no prisoners form of attack. If they can slip their lies into public record and have them go unchallenged, they take the moment as a victory even if they lose the debate in question. Good people have to be more willing to call out lies, both big and small, when they are carelessly tossed into public discourse. The more a small lie is repeated, the more the general population begins to accept it as true. Once a lie is widely believed, it becomes very difficult to dispel the notion. Our society has deteriorated to the point where we can no longer afford to be mindful of the feelings of the members of the radical right. They can’t be allowed to spew lie after lie and continue on making public statements unopposed. If challenging them on a lie humiliates them, then so be it. If it causes you to lose friends, that’s something you have to tolerate as well. Lies have no place in polite discourse, and failing to challenge small lies leaves you exposed to getting buried later as they are widely adopted and weaponized. Thanks for your support: 30% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/b66e5c2e] 💙 40% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/01f1b0e8] 💙 50% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/0d3e6643] 💙 60% off [https://walterrhein.substack.com/6a8f4788] I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]
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