Can someone tell Marjorie Taylor Greene that this story was made up?
There are several voting blocs that Kamala Harris must try win over: Black American men, Latinos, the uncommitted, and more. But there is one with which she need not concern herself: the terminally ignorant conspiracist.
As someone ignorant of many things myself (string theory, never read Harry Potter, crypto-what?) I can comprehend the frustration of people trying to grasp somewhat complicated facets of governing and just blindly choosing a candidate. But I cannot abide the almost overwhelming ignorance of the anti-science, anti-empiricism, and anti-common sense crowd that constitutes a considerable share of Trump supporters. They're not just conspiracy nuts hanging out in the dark where they can't hurt anybody; now they're guests of honor in the new Republican party where their foolishness and ignorance are not only welcomed but nurtured. Worse, their foolishness is espoused by the two men who lead the party's ticket.
And now, recent hurricanes have empowered these fantasists even further; they can add to their usual idiocy the belief that Democrats are "steering" hurricanes toward Republican strongholds as part of a broader plan to reduce Republican voters. (It would be divine justice, what with all the Republican attempts to restrict voting.)
But let's back up a bit. Attempts at controlling or influencing the weather are nothing new. Native Americans in the American Southwest performed elaborate rain dances; so-called rainmakers traveled from town to town promising to relieve droughts. (Some of them understood wind currents and weather patterns and timed their visits accordingly); religious types have prayed for rain—in April 2011, Texas governor Rick Perry proclaimed "Days of Prayer for Rain." It did rain—168 days later(!) after an exceptional drought had ravaged the state throughout the summer. Apparently, you can believe in a God who controls the weather but not in a politician who controls that God. (Incidentally, we have few, if any, rainmakers today for two reasons: meteorology and laws against fraud.)
And yet, when an ignoramus who managed to get herself elected to Congress claims that Democrats are manipulating the weather, the rest of the clueless jump on board. Remember Trump's suggestion that we nuke hurricanes to destroy them? He repeated it often during his term in office and brought it up at meetings in the Oval Office. The patently absurd and dangerous idea would spread radiation everywhere at a furious clip and do nothing to mitigate the hurricane. It would be akin to dousing a grease fire by "smothering" it with more grease. Trump's ignorance and disdain for science (remember his "redrawing" of a hurricane chart?) were blunted by advisors who knew better, but those cooler heads are no longer in the mix. And though it's unlikely that Trump himself will ever follow this link, I add it here in case you ever need to refute the "nuke the hurricane" crowd.
The problems and strengths of a democracy overlap. No citizens need to pass an IQ test to vote, nor do good grades in school, in and of themselves, produce good citizens. We don't have to know every policy from every candidate to make an informed decision. But deliberate ignorance—the denial of obvious truth—has been the ally of every authoritarian leader in modern history. Hitler never convinced every German that the Jews were the enemy, but he convinced enough of them. Pol Pot's ethnic cleansing killed two million Cambodians and mirrored an event from earlier last century—the Armenian genocide. Through the transparent lens of history, we view all these events as horrific and unforgivable; yet today's autocrat-du-jour, Donald Trump, he of the "peaceful protest" of January 6, 2021, is emulating those authoritarian thugs every time he claims that immigrants are poisoning America. In spirit, Trump's ethnic cleansing is no different from that of his predecessors, and the ignorant in their red hats are goose-stepping along right behind him.
Conspiracy theories are nothing new and nothing to fear—until they are given credence by people presumed to know better, And ignorance itself is nothing new. Our personal and individual passages from childhood to maturity have been a systematic subjugation of ignorance. As children, we were learners. Sadly, many of us have now shut down, refusing to accept the truth that our senses provide or that simple logic dictates. There's nothing wrong with skepticism, but democracy cannot survive where the unfettered rantings of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump are given credence and Pecos Bill becomes a historical figure.
Kamala Harris will never change these people's minds, but she can, as president, refuse to give them oxygen. That would be a start.
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