Harvey Spins Fake News

Among the thirteen original colonies, Pennsylvania was going to be a place where religious freedom would be encouraged. "It would be far better to be of no church than to be bitter of any," reasoned William Penn , the idealistic founder of this state. Unfortunately, we are just as intolerant now than we were 400 years ago. This problem is being exacerbated by intentionally false news stories, which prey on prejudice and fear .

On Monday, while going through my Facebook feed, a Republican friend posted a link to a story that slurred Islamic beliefs. The linked story claimed that a Texas mosque was refusing to help Harvey refugees because "Allah forbids helping infidels."

The story is a complete lie. The mosque is nonexistent. A fake name was given to the quoted Imam. The linked "news" source even states, "We present fiction as fact and our sources don’t actually exist. Names that represent actual people and places are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and do not in any way depict reality. ... In other words, if you believe this crap you’re a real dumbass."

The truth? Houston mosques opened their doors to Harvey evacuees, regardless of religious belief, even on one of their holiest days, known as the Eid.

“They are the No. 1 priority. They will not be disturbed, they will not be displaced, they will not be moved,” said M.J. Khan, the president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston, which operates the Champions mosque and several others that are providing shelter. “People who come, if they have to pray in the parking lot, they’ll pray in the parking lot.”

So while Muslims open their doors to one and all, Islamaphobes are circulating a false story to justify their own religious intolerance.

I corrected her. She was even corrected by a former Chair of the Lehigh County GOP who happens to be Jewish. This person is herself a religious minority and should know better than most of us what it's like to be discriminated against because of religious conviction. But the hateful lie still stands. (It's possible she does not know how to delete it).

In addition to the lies about Muslims, there's another lie making the rounds, this one appealing to racists. This one falsely claims that Black Lives Matter protesters were blocking emergency crews from providing aide to those stranded by Hurricane Harvey. The person who posted this link on Facebook is actually a local government official and another Republican friend. He has posted these false stories before. He refuses to take them down, and he knows how.

So Hurricane Harvey has spawned a false news story promoting Islamaphobia, followed by another promoting racism.  And then there's an obviously doctored photograph. It shows Donald Trump tooling around in a lifeboat, picking up survivors. ... In a suit.

He looks as though he's handing out "Make America Great Again" hats.

Why is this happening? Hard to say. Probably someone trying to make money with online clicks. But in every authoritarian form of government, legitimate news sources are first undermined with precisely this kind of disinformation.

Updated Noon:Bill White has coincidentally published a column on this topic, replete with tips on how to avoid being schnookered. Personally,I think you need no tips. Most of you are intelligent enough to know that you should question and multiple source a story that, on its face, is outrageous.

Updated 9/6/17, 10:50am: Comments here have drifted into a discussion of DACA. Those belong on today's post, not here. New comments here are now closed.

Trump, American Authoritarianism and Know-Nothings

A fascinating story in Vox called "The Rise of American Authoritarianism" does much to explain the recent ascendancy of Donald Trump. He's been inaccurately described as a far right conservative and even as a fascist. But what really explains his popularity is his appeal to a group of Americans who are best characterized by a desire for order and fear of outsiders or changes they do not fully understand.

The article concludes by stating we are left with Democrats, the GOP establishment and GOP Authoritarians. I believe that this conclusion is flawed. Authoritarianism is just as attractive to many Democrats and Independents as it is to Republicans. This is why I believe Trump will not only be the GOP nominee, but will be elected president.

Presidential elections usually attract first time voters who are young and usually more progressive than those who vote in other races. But this race is different. There is a real possibility that Trump will bring out many blue collar Democrats and Independents who no longer vote.

The closest thing we have historically to this phenomenon is the Know-Nothing party in the 1850s. As near as I can tell, it fell apart because the only thing holding it together was hate. Abraham Lincoln privately detested the group, but took their votes. In a letter to his best friend Joshua Seed, he explained his disdain:

I am not a Know-Nothing — that is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes and foreigners and Catholics.' When it comes to that I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty — to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.

Unfortunately, we have no Lincolns in our midst.

Or do we?