Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect. Jonathan Swift
‘We must fight the woke in our schools. We must fight the woke in our businesses. We must fight the woke in government agencies …’ American Fascism and the Groomer Panic, DeSantis, Youtube 26.04, Second Thought 2023
For over a year now conservatives have been pushing a familiar narrative. ibid.
2022 was a horrible year for violence against the LGBTQ community. ibid.
Accounts like Libs of Tiktok haven’t stopped. ibid.
It starts by associating LGBTQ people with grooming. ibid.
Now we can bring in the vigilantes … once the groundwork has been laid. ibid.
The war was sold to the American people based on falsehoods and lies.’ War of Lies: How to Sell an Invasion, Joe Wilson, Youtube 51.15, 2022
In the ruins of New York, America vows to defeat terrorism. But this promise is quickly betrayed. George Bush changes enemies. Osama bin Laden is replaced by Saddam Hussein. ibid.
For months this deadly [Iraq] arsenal will by at the heart of the manipulation. ibid.
Saddam Hussein’s arsenal had been destroyed after the Gulf War. ibid.
The collusion between Iraqi exiles and Neo-Conservatives becomes cooperation. ibid.
The machinery of lies runs at full throttle for months. ibid.
It was billed as the defamation trial of the century. Rupert Murdoch, Fox news stars and executives would take the stand to justify why the network broadcast lies about the 2020 presidential election. Four Corners: Fox & the Big Lie (Updated), Youtube 46.03, ABC 2003
For weeks Fox hosts peddled the conspiracy that a communist plot had used voting machines to steal victory from Donald Trump. ibid.
For ninety minutes Trump whipped up the crowd with his own interpretation of the big lie. ibid.
Trump intends to take the big lie all the way to 2024. ibid.
In an effort to win back Trump supporters, key Fox anchors began telling them what they wanted to hear. ibid.
Trump went on air with one of his favourite apologists with a fully fledged conspiracy about how vote-counting machines had been used to steal the election. ibid.
Truth is about to go on trial in America … When the facts didn’t suit Donald Trump he simply made up his own. After 3rd November Trump ramped up his stolen election lies. And Fox News helped him spread them … High-profile Fox anchors peddled the lie that the election had been stolen. Fox & the Big Lie II, Youtube 48.18
Congress has finally begun investigating the actions of the disgraced former president around the January 6th insurrection. ibid.
The role of the powerful Trump news network in the critical period after the 2020 election when Fox News hosts embraces and spread the big lie. ibid.
The simple step for the courageous is not to take part in the lie. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Some people have problems telling the truth. This woman is one of them [Emily Horne] … Emily is just thirty years old and she’s already been married to five different men. But she never bothered to get divorced from any of them. In 2003 after her fourth marriage Emily was jailed for bigamy. She was convicted of the same offence in 2009. Cutting Edge, The Bigamist Bride: My Five Husbands, Channel 4 2009
He who tells a lie is not sensible of how great a task he undertakes; for he must be forced to invent twenty more to maintain that one. Alexander Pope