1ºWashington post
Opinion: What the ‘Freedom Phone’ and the right’s anti-vax campaign have in common
Opinion by
Paul Waldman
Columnist
July 16, 2021
It can be hard to keep up with all the grifts targeting the conservative masses, but this one truly stands out. An entrepreneurial young man named Erik Finman created the Freedom Phone, a MAGA-friendly smartphone that won’t “censor” you and comes preloaded with conservative apps such as Parler and Newsmax, saving you entire seconds of downloading time as you stick it to the libs in Silicon Valley.
Though the Freedom Phone costs $499.99, the Daily Beast reports that the phone appears to be a rebranded version of a cheap Chinese phone that you can buy online for $120. But C-list conservative celebrities such as Candace Owens have endorsed this handset of liberty, no doubt for a taste of the action.
There’s no telling how many Donald Trump superfans will fall for it, but they’re a nearly infinitely minable resource, whether the goals of the elite conservatives targeting them are economic, political, or both.
That’s also the way to understand the sweeping campaign against covid-19 vaccination that has overtaken the right. While conservative politicians and media figures are causing increased death and suffering among their own supporters, they’re doing so because it serves their most important goal: Keep the machine running.
There’s no shortage of hands reaching into the pockets of the conservative rank-and-file, whether it’s scammy pro-Trump PACs making billions of robocalls to sweep up “donations” from the faithful or Trump and Bill O’Reilly mounting a stadium tour so you can see two of America’s most famous alleged sexual harassers in person: “While most seats are priced between $100 and $300, a ‘VIP Meet & Greet Package’ goes for more than $8,500.”
And while some Republicans are disgusted by the anti-vaccine campaign, the attacks against coronavirus vaccines on Fox News have been relentless, with all of the network’s prime-time stars using their programs to cast doubt on their effectiveness and safety. Meanwhile, conservative politicians such as Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) have either stoked fear of the vaccines themselves or promoted resistance to Biden administration efforts to vaccinate more people.
The results have been predictably horrifying. As cases rise and rates of vaccination remain low in conservative areas, health officials are meeting stubborn resistance from people convinced that it’s all a conspiracy, even when the pandemic reaches right into their families. As this heartbreaking Post story reports, one woman in Missouri “said that her daughter was hospitalized in an intensive care unit with covid-19 but that she thinks the numbers are exaggerated.”
The conservative elites who view their supporters as easily manipulated rubes know exactly what they’re doing. It’s the same formula, applied again and again.
Keeping the machine running means outrage, anger, distrust, fear and conspiracy thinking, all wrapped up in a spinning turbine of hysteria where emotion is turned into action. The action might be small-dollar donations, or it might be tuning in to Fox News and Newsmax and OAN night after night, and at the right times it means turning out to vote.
But the fuel of the machine doesn’t really matter; it’s whatever will get people worked up today, even if it might get them killed tomorrow.
The vaccines are a perfect example. Does anyone doubt that if Trump was still president, the conservative media would be promoting covid vaccination as his personal triumph and encouraging it so normal life could resume as quickly as possible? Of course they would.
Today, on the other hand, there remains a political incentive to discourage vaccination: Fewer vaccinations extends the pandemic, which means more misery, more death, a constrained economy, and an increase in the feeling that things just aren’t going well in America, which in turn makes it more likely that Republicans will win at the polls in 2022 and 2024.
But that may not be the main goal of those discouraging vaccination. They just want to keep the machine running, and if the fact that there’s a Democratic president means vaccines can be divisive enough, they become a terrific vehicle for outrage.
Here’s the extraordinary thing Trump showed everyone about the nature of the con: There’s no risk that your scamming of conservative masses will be discovered when your victims have convinced themselves that their own victimization is something to be proud of.
They’re in on the joke, they’re part of the act, it’s all a big show and nothing matters as long as they’re owning the libs. When Trump tells a crowd that when it comes to polls, “If it’s bad, I just say it’s fake. If it’s good, I say, ‘That’s the most accurate poll, perhaps, ever,’” they cheer his admission that he constantly lies to them.
Being truly savvy doesn’t mean not getting scammed. It means being an enthusiastic partner in your own bamboozlement.
As long as the machine keeps running, the money comes in and the Republican voters stay angry. Everybody on the right wins — except for the people running up their credit cards and risking their own and their families’ lives.
2ºWhy don’t we just be honest and admit that many of those people who carry guns and badges for a living either need to rotate out of patrol every other year, have mandatory psychological counseling from someone outside of the network of the department, and need serious civilian oversight. Getting rid of the police makes no sense BUT when they find problem cops, don’t let them get away with it. They shouldn’t be able to do things like this or worse, and escape with their pension and go down the highway to the next town and get another job in law enforcement.
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4ºGoing after animals to stalk and kill for no reason.I think they need help.Whats been going on lately I could see PTSD happening with them.Fear of facing death everyday.Being put in middle of people arguments.I know this is just opinion but I feel they should have a Pyschologist that they could talk too.At any time.Some review every few months.Their not being able to discern safe and unsafe situations.One time looks safe and it isnt.They get hurt or partner gets killed.And this killing people while running away.Thats not acceptable getting shot in back and they dont have a gun.Something has to change.In the South their finding at homes of cops KKK crap.Time to weed those people out and can never be cops.NEVER. there cops for one reason.America is worse then wild wild West.Somehow we need civility back.
5ºI don't see the problem, and hope that they're released with no charges.
A porcupine is a wild animal that poses a health hazard to people and pets that are difficult to trap and relocate, and might have specific county provisions requiring that they be killed as pest animals like groundhogs. There are only a couple tools at your disposal to deal with a pest animal, and they amount to poison, drowning, bludgeoning, spearing, and shooting. Calling animal control would not have resulted in any kind of different outcome.
It's like you ninnies have never had to dispatch an animal before. Bludgeoning is a perfectly acceptable way of doing so, in my book, and I've done it myself in neighborhoods where you're not allowed to fire guns. I don't enjoy it in any way, but the first hit stuns, the 2nd knocks them out, and then you just keep hitting until you're certain they're gone. It's among the most humane ways to kill an animal.
6ºMake sure to comb through every moment of their lives, this is how serial killers start... Wouldn't surprise me one bit. Why animal cruelty isn't a felony with mandatory minimum sentences nationwide is beyond me. I'm sorry but they deserve the same fate as those innocent fur babies. Every breathing creature deserves decency...
If this country did "An eye for an eye" on 100% guilty criminals I bet others would think twice and YES I mean no doubt they did it types, not a witness saying so or fabricated evidence. Admission of guilt or video evidence... Jail isn't a real punishment that fits this crime. 3 hots and a cot in protective custody probably at club fed...
7ºThey are now "victims" who are "suffering" from PTSD. And that's now an excuse for animal cruelty. Wonderful.
"A correlation has now been established between animal abuse, family violence, and other forms of community violence. A growing body of research indicates that people who commit acts of cruelty towards animals rarely stop there. Murderers and people who abuse their spouse or children had frequently harmed animals in the past. People who abuse animals may also be dangerous to people."
They should never again be in any position of power over another person--not as a spouse, a parent, an elder caregiver, nor as a police officer.
8ºFor all of the people commenting how disgusting this “animal cruelty” is, I encourage you to watch the documentary Dominion. The meat, fish and dairy industries inflict horrible torture, violence and cruelty on innocent and sentient victims every second of every day so that you can unnecessarily consume their flesh in a sandwich. If you are morally and ethically against animal cruelty, you need to understand that your food choices are supporting and demanding animal cruelty. A cow, chicken, pig, sheep or fish are no different from a porcupine as well as a human in the ways that truly matter-their capability to suffer and their sentience. https://www.dominionmovement.com/
9ºConfession: One time when I was a small kid I launched one of my pet hamsters to the sky in a water pressure rocket When it came back down to earth my little sweet hamster was motionless and wouldn’t wake up. I prayed and cried and just kept praying and crying until suddenly the hamster started to move and came to. Needless to say I never did anything like that to an animal again. I didn’t think it would harm the little guy, but it was still a dumb thing to do. That to me says I’m normal because I felt so sorry for the hamster…He lived until old age. They don’t have a long lifespan anyway. What is it…2 or 3 years.
10ºAnimal cruelty doesn’t stem from PTSD they’re very bad people slandering mental health!!! Lying, manipulation and animal cruelty are all classic signs of people who’ve gone on to be very bad people and serial killers. And both of these nut jobs were officers…. this is why mental health is so important. And why we need to screen those that are allowed to carry weapons and wear the uniform with more and more scrutiny. There should also be severe consequences for anyone trying to use mental illness as a cope out for their crimes. Because it damages all the progress we’ve made in de-stigmatizing mental health. Make them suffer like those defenseless animals suffered by putting them in jail and the world seeing these heartless creeps for what they are.