Disinfecting sunlight
The era of, “My ignorance is as good as knowledge,” and “My lies are as good as the truth,” is thankfully coming to an end. But the problem is far from over. Trump, for all his egregiousness, still got 70 million votes. This number of legitimate votes can be dismissed as a combination of ignorance, propaganda and simply that people love permission to be evil – which the Trump era gave in spades. But it’s still a fact: there were 70 million Trump voters out there.
The antidote to lies is always the truth. It worked to turn around Nazification in Germany; it worked in South Africa; and it will work here. If we have to appoint our own truth and reconciliation commission, we should do it. The liars need to be labeled. They include people like Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham, and outlets like the Fox News Channel and OANN. We also have to make sure not to conflate a few thousand nutjobs who invaded the Capitol with 70 million voters. But we still have to deal with the fact that 70 million people thought Trump was a better choice over our Constitution and Democracy.
This is not a call for censorship. This is a call for disinfecting sunlight. This is a call for iron-clad facts, stubborn, insistent truth, and perhaps even a little sympathy. Because when the heart is empty it will eat lies. And 70 million Americans have been having a four-year-long feast of them. We now have to give them a buffet of the truth and hope the majority of them partake.
TR Kenneth is the author of the thriller, A ROOM FULL OF NIGHT. You can read all about her at trkenneth.com and on Twitter