Faster than the speed of blight
In the pantheon of whores of fascistic fear porn one must not forget Glenn Beck. And speaking of whores of fascistic fear porn, Beck recently appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” to promote his new book, called — and no, I’m not making this up — “The Great Reset: Joe Biden and the Rise of 21st Century Fascism.”
Nothing quite sells like fear. Even so, I was shocked to learn that the book is number one in all relevant categories in the United States. (In the United Kingdom it’s selling somewhat less well.) Apparently the Kindle version is badly formatted and that’s the only thing rescuing the book from a perfect five star rating in both countries. The fact that the book is being promoted on the back of its most outrageous lie — that the state of Washington is setting up internment camps for the unvaccinated — plays no apparent role in its less than perfect rating.
In an afterward comment, coward and liar Tucker (or ‘Tuckums’ as Joy Reid hilariously calls Tucker Carlson) credulously allowed Beck to rattle on about Washington internment camps, while confessing afterward that he was unable to confirm their existence. Even Tuckums Carlson sometimes knows a blatant lie when he hears it, so he made sure he had a generous helping of plausible deniability. Are there many things more revolting than two bloated millionaires spinning lies calculated to enrage their viewers to violent action?
Meanwhile the Washington State Board of Health is beset by angry protesters and threatening phone calls demanding they cease and desist from a practice they never began. Nothing, it would appear, travels faster than the speed of blight on the greased highway of ignorance. And of course the lie is given new wings by Tuckums, who had nothing to offer in contradiction to Beck’s fantasies except his trademark look of baffled consternation.
That I am a former denizen of the great state of Washington (I attended kindergarten through sixth grade there as a fortuitous acclimation to English weather) gives me the credentials to take Beck’s slanders personally. But personal effrontery aside, how does one combat a lie when those who spread the lie won’t believe anything that contradicts it?
It’s a lie that’s easy to disprove, but if you mistrust everything you hear on the internet except those things that agree with the premise you began with (an unrivalled convenience for those who “do their own research”) then it goes without saying that it will continue to be believed. Until, of course, believers find some new shiny object to believe in. It’s a soul-destroying task to confront such ignorance, wholly without hope of success.
All I can say is there are no internment camps for the unvaccinated in Washington or anywhere else. Moreover, the only danger from fascism that America faces right now are from the likes of Glenn Beck, Tuckums Carlson and the Republican Party. But how do you tell that to a people devoted to ignorance? You don’t. You just hope you can outvote them until ignorance of that depth is removed by the painfully slow process of attrition by education. Until then, hang on for dear life. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.