It’s not like I haven’t been observing a slow snowballing of worrisome incidents over recent time which all seem to point in a really unfortunate direction – I have. But everybody has a tipping point; a point in time where the preponderance of data achieves a certain critical mass and it hits you for real, a sudden clear and certain realization of the gestalt. After that, it’s mostly just about damage control, cause it’s a done deal. I’m sort of an incurable optimist – but really, how depressing.
Someone posing as a reporter from the Washington Post – “Bernie Bernstein” – has been calling Alabama voters via a recording, claiming to be offering $5,000 to 7,000 (or is that 5000 to 7000$, a la Doug Lewis?) for anyone willing to pretend to accuse Roy Moore of sexual assault. The recording leaves a fake WaPo email address. (FakeReporter FakeReporterstein @wapo.etc)
The sole and only purpose of this cheap ploy is to convince people who just pick up the phone, listen, and hang up, that Mr. Moore is indeed the victim of an elaborate setup. After all, it didn’t just happen to some anonymous person quoted thirdhand – it happened to you!
This is, to date, one of the most cynical and disingenuous acts I’ve heard about, undertaken not by petty swindlers nor corporate bad actors but a judge in a political race. I know stuff like this probably went on before now, but somehow this particular thing seems especially egregious and, well, just cynical. Blatant. There’s not even an attempt to cover it up or create a premise.
To me, this means from now on we are going to have to, not just second-guess, but third- and fourth- and fifth-guess every statement; and not just statements, but acts; and not just in press releases and political ads, but in every walk of life. We will be spending that much more time trying to convince gullible people that they have been hoodwinked; as time goes on, this stuff will get more and more sophisticated, and we will get hoodwinked ourselves. It will be exhausting, and we will be tempted to just wave dismissively at it all and say, “I’m done. There’s no way to know what the truth is, and I’m tired of trying to figure it all out.”
But we can’t do that! That’s the whole goal of this kind of deceitful crap, to either fool us or wear us out.
We have to start thinking of ways to verify truth-tellers, as definitively as possible. Maybe we can have a board of impartial fact-checkers monitor news outlets for lies, and institute a system for verifying consistent veracity, like a combination of Twitter’s blue check and Verisign. News sources that report conspiracy theories as fact will not be verified. News sources that grossly misrepresent facts and figures, or make things up, or repeat things that are made up without saying, “There is not evidence whatsoever of this,” will not be verified. Opinion sources will be labeled as such. There can be a cross-linked ongoing database of events and topics so you can look up, say, “Bernie Bernstein” and find out that the whole thing was a sad little ploy perpetrated by those who try to cheat, because they can’t be right the regular way.
I’m sure there are lots of people who can shoot that idea down in a heartbeat. it’s okay; I’m not emotionally attached to that particular idea. But we need to get the conversation started.