Sometimes they are just evil

I had initially thought there would be a third post this week about how primaries need to be changed and how we need to banish our inner racism and misogyny to get to a better place. Then I thought it would be repetitive to other posts I have written, so maybe one post on why you could vote for Biden if he is a rapist, and one on why he might not be a rapist, that those two together could be enough.

Two other things have presented themselves.

First, it appears that Reade had some check fraud issues, and she was allowed to resign instead of being terminated. She may have told her family and friends it was harassment then to save face, and Biden might really have touched her shoulders in an uncomfortable way.

https://twitter.com/ZacAKAMadu/status/1258781555981537281

The initial thread is interesting as well as some of the comments. One person asked why Biden wouldn't have mentioned it in his interview. Someone else suggested confidentiality rules, but I am not even sure he would know that she was let go for that, assuming it happened at least one level below him.  Also there was some input on how finance was being scrutinized then, even if some bounced checks don't seem like a big deal. It's interesting.

Again, you look for corroboration and don't leave it at that, but it is worth looking, and ultimately more respectful to everyone involved.

Then this happened:


https://www.rawstory.com/2020/05/woman-who-accused-fauci-of-sex-assault-now-says-trump-supporters-paid-her-to-lie/

I had not heard these allegations at all - which seems fair given that they are false - but I wonder if they are being touted on Fox News or talk radio or something.

It would be easy to ignore, but there are several points that can be illustrative.

First of all, if you don't know who Jacob Wohl is, I first came to know of him as someone who frequently tweeted about things he heard in coffee shops frequented by hipsters. They rarely seemed true, but if that was all he did, it would not matter much.

Here is a little bit more about whom he tries to be:

https://www.thecut.com/2020/05/who-is-jacob-wohl-failed-smears.html


The weird thing is that he is so bad at it, and doesn't get any better. Except, maybe he is competent enough for the intended audience. If people are eager to believe something, maybe you don't have to work very hard on the lie. Just remember, some of those lies get people killed.

Dr. Fauci was targeted because of the Coronavirus, and his recommendations based on it.

From Wohl collaborator Jack Burkman: "“This guy shut the country down. He put 40 million people out of work. In a situation like that, you have to make up whatever you have to make up to stop that train and that’s the way life works, okay? That’s the way it goes.”

I recently read Crash Override by Zoë Quinn about their experiences with an internet hate mob's attempts to destroy them. It was very interesting and well-written and I recommend it. One of the things that has stayed with me is that they pointed out that the mobs feel like they are the good guys. They can only do it by dehumanizing the target, but it works for them.

So speaking of de-humanization, let's look at the continuation of the conversation quoted, when Andrade was not sure about Fauci being wrong, because the virus was really dangerous:

“Mother Nature has to clean the barn every so often. How real is it? Who knows? So what if 1 percent of the population goes? So what if you lose 400,000 people? 200,000 were elderly, the other 200,000 are the bottom of society. You got to clean out the barn. If it’s real, it’s a positive thing, for God’s sake.”

Of course the death rate is still climbing, but as long as it's just old people and the bottom of society, you know, like first responders (and their children) and restaurant workers and meat packing plant workers and grocery store employees. We know we don't need them because we don't make them keep working. Wait.

When I posted the article on my Facebook I referred to Wohl as a cartoon supervillain made real, because it sounds so over the top evil. It wouldn't matter if there weren't so many others who ate it up.

You know one of the details that really bugged me? They used Andrade because she had been assaulted once, and so she had details. She just needed to change the attacker. I mean, paying people to lie and trying to sabotage someone so there are fewer people arguing for preventing deaths is a lot; maybe at that point exploiting an old wound doesn't even matter. I only know that it's times like these when I feel like I really I hate people.

And then I know I don't actually hate people, and so I write or talk or post an article.

Anything to try and stop the banal, stupid, hateful little evils, that still seem to be far more effective than anything I do.