The Power of the Narrative

Yesterday I had a very interesting conversation with a longtime friend in Chicago. Personally, she lives a very conservative life and is very successful at her career. But she’s also a lifelong Democrat. We spoke at length about the Jan 6th events at the U.S. Capitol. She informed me about this woman who was fired from a real estate firm in her city for attending the Trump rally.

I listened attentively and she was clearly supportive about this firing.  I then asked her, “Did the woman break into the Capitol building?”

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter,” she responded.

“I’m curious, if you had attended a BLM protest in Chicago last year, which later broke out into a riot and looting, do you think it would have been fair if you were fired for attending the protest?”

No answer.

She then went on to inform me that “something very strange occurred” with the Capitol Police allowing protestors into the building.  She surmised that there must have been some “right-wing collusion” between some officers and some Trump supporters.

I paused for a moment and then shared with her another conspiracy theory which I’ve heard from several people.  The essence of it is that high-level Democrats instructed the heads of the Capitol Police to ensure there were insufficient officers present to handle such a large crowd and to allow anyone posing a threat into the building … knowing fully well how negatively their presence inside the Capitol would be perceived..

I had to explain to my friend, who is a bright woman, three times this alternate theory to hers.  When she finally got it, she was exasperated, saying, “There’s no way that’s remotely possible!  Democrats aren’t possibly that smart to think up such a plan!!!”

In no way am I making any assertion of why all of this actually happened.  It might have been as simple as incompetence and poor training on the part of the Capitol Police officers.  But I was struck by how effective the programming of narratives is into my friend’s mind that it took major effort on my part to get her to process other possibilities.

116 Replies to “The Power of the Narrative”

  1. Just a reminder, Anne Frank was breaking the law and the people who turned her in were following the law. Your friend is a good German.

      1. ….who has never understood, or is willfully ignorant of History and how it often repeats itself.

        1. I thought good old George started out his evil empire by selling out Jews to Nazis. It kind of takes the sting out of the Antisemitism projections done by lefties.

      2. To make it easy to understand for her, you should have told her to google “reichstag fire”

      3. No she isn’t.

        Were she Jewish she would have made aliyah, done her part in the IDF, be living a happy and prosperous life in Israel, and would, correctly, consider President Trump the greatest Righteous Gentile of her lifetime.

  2. The narrative is very effective. My sister-in-law, who watches and believes all the MSM, did not know who Antifa is. Even after I tried to explain it to her.

    1. “… that it took major effort on my part to get her to process other possibilities …”

      – It’s not a bug, it’s a feature. All of my relatives are completely impervious to anything that contradicts “the consensus”.

      “My sister-in-law, who watches and believes all the MSM, did not know who Antifa is.”

      – I recall back in the 2016 election campaign, expressing the pious hope that Hilary would be in jail before election night. One of the other guys in the office responded with sincere – and deep – puzzlement, “… Why?” I don’t bother talking politics with any of them anymore; to quote the guy, “Why?”

      “It can be very difficult convincing somebody of something when his salary depends on his remaining unconvinced.”

    1. The problem is these nutbar politicians really believe the crap that they are shoveling.

      1. Based on the “election results” it would be interesting to see per capita gun crime in red counties versus blue counties.

  3. “Democrats aren’t possibly that smart to think up such a plan”

    That is a tell that the shell is cracking open.

    When someone goes from outright denial to saying the only thing in the way of accepting a theory is that the supposed perps are just not sophisticated enough to do it. Now they have to keep dumbing down their leadership to keep plausible deniability intact.

    Addendum

    They have to dumb down their own perceptions about the democrat leadership.

  4. Today, I totally lost my trust in my doctor looking out for my well being.
    The secretary who I have known for 20 years was insisting that I had to have a colonoscopy.
    No matter what I said about my health or concerns on many areas, they wanted me to have it.
    I am a great believer that if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. And I feel 100% fine.
    I have seen too many times where they add and add and add for new prescriptions, new therapy or in for radiation treatments.
    Too many friends have been more sick from their own doctors than just leave it alone.

    When she was done, I felt more like my doctor’s retirement plan than him looking out for my health.

    1. If your doctor is in a FOE, then they get money for every procedure. Big money for “health maintenance” procedures.

      This is not to say that having a colonoscopy in middle age is a bad idea. You remember Farrah Fawcett? She died of a bowel cancer that could have been detected and -cured- with colonoscopy. She’s dead because her doctor was in -idiot-.

      If you’re old enough to know who poor old Farrah was, then you’re the right age to get a screening colonoscopy. I’ve had one, it is no big deal. By the time you feel poorly, it is -way- too late to do anything about it.

      Just remember how long doctors go to school for this stuff, and how hard it is to get in. You, non-doctor guy, do -not- know better than your doctor, even if he’s not that great a doctor. You might know better than the secretary.

      This is just FYI, not scolding. Scolding is what Karen does. You’re smart enough to figure this out on your own.

      1. Just remember how long doctors go to school for this stuff, and how hard it is to get in.

        Getting into medical school is the hardest part of becoming a physician. There is truth in the old joke “What do you call the classmate with the lowest GPA? Doctor.”

        I went through several physicians for a certain personal medical issue because most of them handled it badly. One was a head case and couldn’t give me a straight answer as to what was going on. I fired him and the next one turned out to be a money-grubber. The third one was interested only in getting rid of me as fast as possible because I wasn’t part of her regular clientele.

        I finally got someone I could work with after things became rather serious, and even getting to him needed some growling and snarling before I got a response.

        And, yes, I do know better than many of the physicians I have dealt with. I have 4 degrees in 2 engineering disciplines, including a Ph. D. I can read, I can analyze, and I can draw a conclusion. I might not know all the medical details but I can figure out enough to have a pretty good idea of what’s going on. I can also tell when someone is telling me a pack of BS and if they’re dealing with me only because I’m a piggy bank to them.

    2. I had the same situation with a former dentist.

      I had been her client for about 20 years. Towards the end, she started pestering me about my remaining wisdom teeth (“Oh, you don’t really need them. They can be easily removed.”) and suggested several of her professional colleagues who could do the job. I refused, telling her the old industrial adage, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

      Shortly before she sold her practice, something I suspected she was planning to do, she dropped a real zinger on me. Suddenly, I had a mouthful of teeth that needed crowns and, as she went through the x-ray photos, she was close to giggling with delight.

      She recommended a certain fellow practitioner, with the comment “Some people save money for a house. You’ll have to save for your teeth, tee hee hee.” She suggested that I could get the work done at the university dental clinic if I didn’t want to pay street rates. She wasn’t pleased when I told her that I’d take my chances with the students.

      When, a few months later, I received notice that her practice was under new ownership, it all made sense to me. I think she was hoping that I’d go to her colleague and, from that, she’d get a nice–ahem–“gratuity”, based on what had to be done. (Finder’s fee? Perish the thought!)

      I stopped giving dentists my full trust after that. Now that I’ve seen how they’re trained, I have even less faith in them.

      1. B A having a good active brain and critical analysis skills, and being able to think logically puts anyone possessing those skills, not on a par with those who have studied a specific field, but above them intellectually as one can understand everything that they understand and probably much more.

    3. Any history of colon cancer in your family?
      Are you over 55?

      If either, a colonoscopy is an excellent idea.

      I had one at 55 (Family History) and they found precancerous polyps. Snip Snip and they are gone.
      Colon cancer is 100% preventable but not 100% curable.

      1. I’m so old, I used to get my haircut before he pulled a tooth.

        No, I’ve already had a colonoscopy 10 years ago and my butt leaked for close to a year after. I have no signs of any blood wiping. My urine is light orange/yellow. So, I am slightly anemic with low blood pressure.
        I’ve had my tonsils and ouvila(flapper at the back of your throat) for snoring. That too was a bad experience as my tonsils were so inflamed, they burst and they sucked my mouth for some time afraid the infection went into my lungs.
        My lung compatibility is 25% of normal and that is the only medication that I am on at age 64.

        1. They use c02 now for the colonoscopy… no leaking butt!
          I completely agree with you about unnecessary medical procedures, but a colonoscopy is about the least invasive (heh.. I realize that’s not intuitive) procedure I can think of. There’s no cutting.
          But you are 100% correct when it comes to surgery. And I have a personal anecdote to support that: My wife works in the hospitals and when they cancelled all surgeries, ICU admissions hit rock bottom. In other words, hospital ICUs are normally filled with ICU patients who are having “complications” from surgeries that go bad. My dad had a “complication” that almost killed him after… you guess it… colon cancer surgery.

    4. A long time friend had a colonoscopy but due to a hernia they couldn’t get the complete colon. Her second one was just before Christmas and they got by the blockage and discovered a large mass. Further checkup showed spots on her lungs and liver. Due to other medical complications they could not operate to remove the cancer so they told her she has six months to live.

      Get the colonoscopy!

    5. if you are hesitant about a colonoscopy ask for a fecal blood screen. That will pick up most cases of colon cancer early enough to do something and is far less invasive and has less risk compared to a colonoscopy. Then if it comes back negative your chances of having a false negative are much lower than the risk of the colonoscopy surgery itself. If it comes back positive you can then have the colonoscopy. Life is about weighing risks.

    6. A Septuagenarian, had my first colonoscopy about two years ago. A cyst with “altered” (pre-cancerous?) tissue was discovered.
      After 4 subsequent procedures the “altered” tissue was successfully removed. If it hadn’t been I would have had to undergo surgery, which is a big deal and nothing to trifle with.
      Have the colonoscopy.

    7. My wife went in for a ‘script for swimmer’s ear. Doc wanted her to have a COVID test because he thought the infection could have been the “new strain of COVID they have in England”.

    8. I go to the VA and my assigned doc is a far left wing religious nut. After I see him for the annual checkup, I spend the next week bitching about him at home to my wife. In my view I should not even KNOW his political and religious beliefs.

      She doesn’t mind my complaining and tells me to change doc.

      “I don’t think it’s that easy babe. It’s government.”

    9. A colonoscopy I had years ago almost killed me. Dr snipped a few pollups and compromised the colon wall causing an anal fissure and emergency surgery three months prior to my surgical date (14 month process in all). After surgery, two YEARS to recover from the hole they left while self-employed w young family. When it recurred I immediately started sits baths and saved my life for they were all prepped to do the surgery again. Had they told me about sits baths from the very beginning (family doc) I’d have avoided the entire medieval ordeal.

  5. I know intelligent, educated, succesfull liberals, all of them know what they know from tv news such as CNN ( which they love love love ),
    and all of them assure me that Antifa and BLM never ever comited any acts of violence.

    They have never heard of the 5 to 8 hundred buildings set on fire, or the shop owners dragged in the street and some of them beaten to death by BLM or Antifa.

    They have never heard of the time , last summer, when Antifa and BLM tried to set a federal building on fire ( federal court building if memory serves) while there was people inside!

    I could go on with dozens of things they never heard of….and thus denie ever happened.

    The main stream media has the most immense power ever seen in human history, they make Mao, Stalin and Hitler look like schoolchildren. The MSM controls the minds of most humans on this planet.

    1. A big disappointment has been the impact of the internet. 10 years ago I thought big change was coming because access to the internet made everything alternative accessible.

      Instead social media bubbles just got more opaque and the absent minded NPC normies just take their social cues from mainstream media narratives even harder.

      It’s now way worse than it was ten years ago.

      Progressive hegemony is absolute. Interested in what happens next.

      1. Had that not been a tragic incident. Had she only suffered a minor wound and hurt pride.

        I would have asked her, “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?”

        The doors were closed. It was not the same as the barricades being removed and police waving everyone through. Some Antifa thug broke the window in the door, which is not an invite to enter. She should not have started climbing through the door window.
        Unfortunately, what’s done is done and we can’t change it.

    1. “I asked for backup six times!” “Quick, shoot that woman in the head before she overpowers me and single handedly starts hanging Jerry Nadler!”

  6. I am waiting for some type of inquiry as to how the group gained access.

    My kids elementary school can go into lock down when a citizen phones in a suspicious looking person in the area.

    FFS the capital has to be able to be locked. Otherwise me thinks some nut group would have done something already.

    All the news anchors read out about the far right rioters without asking how? Just going along with narrative. Mistakes had to have been made. Why are we not calling for head of security to be fired?

    Here is another question. Let’s say my buddies and me wanted to storm the Capital. How?

    1. The inquiry will produce a report right after Durham’s, which is right around the corner. Just be patient a decade or two.

  7. Alas, all too true. The same blind adherence to the narrative, be it the Wuhan Coronavirus, the Liberals, President Trump, BLM permeates my extended family, often along generational lines. The younger ones do not seem to know modern history so they cannot contextualize.

    1. Yes, but once you are heavily invested with a brokerage there is a large amount of fixed/sunk costs associated with switching to a new one. Also, depending on local laws she may be loosing commission on all contracts signed prior to firing but not concluded at the time of firing. In any case, it is about the principle.

  8. Excitement will arrive on Wednesday, January 20th. Maybe even earlier if Pelosi and Schumer can get The Drumph impeached before then.
    Healthcare will finally be FREE! The borders will be open! All guns will be confiscated!
    And, best of all, Global Warming will be a thing of the past as all industry, all business, all *spit* Capitalism *spit* in the new USSA will be shut down!
    No one will have a job, and you will own nothing, and you’ll be happy! Because if you aren’t, you’ll be sent to Re-Education Camp.
    Be prepared to denounce and turn in any neighbors, parents, anyone who has ever supported The Drumph monster!!

    1. Bet you Canada will beat you to this race!
      We already have incentive plans for different skin color.

    2. You forgot how the wind and sun are going to provide ample energy for the world, even at the same time America’s population swells thanks to no-longer-illegal immigration! When you have no economy, you don’t need much energy! Yay! My God this is good fentanyl!

  9. A week ago, out of the blue, I had a phone call from a former co-worker / friend that I hadn’t talked to for at least 5 years. She (unlike me) hated retirement and at age 66 went back to work at a high pressure job that she loves. We had a great “catch up” for 2 hours. Then she asked me if I was following the USA political situation. That’s where the SHTF.

    She listens exclusively to MSM, especially CNN, and believes every word. When I dared to point out that Trump has done a lot of good, she sneered “I suppose you listen to Fox News”. I said I don’t listen to / watch any MSM if I can help it, but get my “news” from a variety of sources via the internet, trying to get a balance. I’m a big fan of Scott Adams’ daily periscopes, and although he’s not perfect, I think he gets a lot right, and it’s not all just about politics.

    My friend said the “stolen” election is complete right-wing nonsense. I asked if she’d seen any of the Georgia hearings, some of which seemed pretty compelling to me. She’d never even heard of them, and suggested I send her a link to them. Which I did, along with one of Scott Adams’ recent periscopes, plus 2 links to the “Fine People” hoax and the “Drinking Bleach” hoax.

    I haven’t heard back from her. I guess she can’t have a friendship with a Deplorable like me. I’m okay with that.

  10. How many of these self-styled intellectuals (IYI imho) bothered to read the transcript of Trump’s 6 Jan.21 speech at the Capitol?

    That would have to be zero who thought this was in any way a call to arms, an incitement or any violent exhortation.

    Unlike the clear incitements of Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, AOC and a legion of other Democrats unhappy as losing power.

    Twitter and other “bans” are a tell for what’s really going on. The real issue is them wielding political power, which is all they know how to do. Lead by example, make sacrifices for the good of the nation, putting it first? Never going to happen.

    Courtesy of Al Jazeerra, here is the transcript. I challenge Trump haters to pull quotes that are direct incitements to violence.

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/11/full-transcript-donald-trump-january-6-incendiary-speech

    1. Rush made a great point today. He asked why, if this speech was SO dangerous, is it not being played over and over on CNN or MSNBC. In fact there isn’t even one line that they can use to play forever because there is none. And lets not listen to… they don’t want to do further harm to the sensitive ears of their listeners when Morning Joe is dropping F bombs on tv and saying things like… if black people were broaching the Capital they’d be “shot in the face”.

    1. The Kanuckistanian Pravda outdid itself in spreading bullsshit propaganda as news.
      Direct quote form that piece: “Proud Boys are a right-wing group that is unapologetically misogynist and increasingly linked to white supremacy and hate.”

  11. In the interest of maintaining balance – Ann Coulter got laughed-at on U.S. national TV for predicting Trump would win, back during the 2016 primaries (not sure what year this was – those primaries seemed to go on for over half a century). She doesn’t like him very much anymore – and to be honest, I can’t fault her logic. https://anncoulter.com/2021/01/06/the-election-is-over-heres-the-truth-about-trumpxxx/

    For my part, the Dem’s are gonna’ give “disaster” a whole new meaning over the next two years until they lose the House and Senate in the midterms – but while admiring a lot of what Trump accomplished, I ain’t wearing the blinders about the guy. As I noted on Election Night 2016, he’d already accomplished as much as Obie did – he kept Hitlery out of the White House – but his failure to Build The Wall and straighten-out Obamacare in those crucial first two years while he had the House and Senate and could get things done, was a grand mal failure that doomed him out of the gate. Hope he runs again in 2024 tho’ – the head explosions on the Left would be EPIC!!!

    1. Elections? It’s clear the Demarxists will openly CHEAT CHEAT CHEAT and maintain power forever, until either China runs the US, or there is a civil war.
      They can fix elections as quickly as you can say DOMINION

      1. I recall a conversation I had with one of the kids…

        ” – You should read what Ann Coulter says about that…”

        “No I HATE Ann Coulter!”

        ” – Argue with what she says, not what she is.”

        . . . *crickets . . .

        { – and so you know, I list Mittens right down there with Obie and Slick Willy and his wife as one of the four most worthless politicians who’ve ever wasted our breathing air- }

    2. Y.
      but his failure to Build The Wall and straighten-out Obamacare in those crucial first two years while he had the House and Senate and could get things done, was a grand mal failure that doomed him out of the gate. Hope he runs again in 2024 tho’ – the head explosions on the Left would be EPIC!!!
      ************************
      Have to really disagree with you there. The RINOs in the GOP fought Prez Trump all the way.
      He can’t do zip, if they didn’t want to play along. And it wasn’t hard to see. They did not want to play.

  12. I have a long time dear friend who I saw through a divorce, the death of child, a bankruptcy, cancer and through thick and thin we did stuff together. We had a few heated political discussions but mostly we agreed to disagree. Out of a clear blue sky, totally unprovoked, he sends me an article from the Guardian (and here he was always a good proIsrael Zionist) about the evils of Trump. Due to the insurgency and mob riot and murder of police officers in DC he feels obligated to speak out. A few emails later I discover I am a bad person unable to judge character and a member of the “far right” and I should stop leading people to follow Trump. All if it backed up by generalized biblical verses about evil, with Trump being just this side of the antiChrist. I am still in shock. I took it from my siblings, a now deceased parent and others but this one really hurt. The only thing that would have shocked me more would be my wife doing this to me. This narrative of self righteous hatred is pure evil.

  13. The dominant culture of the institutional left is now in full vindictive mode making much of life in America risky habitat for those that dared challenge them through Trump. When everything is political and one side has the institutions of state and mutant corporations at their disposal and the other side has a couple hundred million fire arms and common decency, it will be interesting to see how long before decency gives way to something more kinetic. The fear of such will likely inspire a new and improved variant of (green and mean) fascism under Democrat rule. It appears to have already begun.

  14. Glad I am not alone in my suspicion that Police were directed to let people in. Several videos indicating absolutely no resistance.
    This afternoon I will be responding to an email from a sib who suggested that I should be open minded as I listen to Arnold Schwarzenegger rant ( which I already saw)
    She opened a can of worms.

    1. “This afternoon I will be responding to an email from a sib who suggested that I should be open minded as I listen to Arnold Schwarzenegger rant ( which I already saw)
      She opened a can of worms.”

      Amazing how, within a couple of generations, a people who experienced the anschluss no longer know what fascism is, while at the same time demonstrating the same authoritarian tendancies found at its heart.

      1. Wasn’t Arnold’s old man an SS officer?
        It seems that was front and centre by the MSM when he wanted to be a Republican governor for California.

        1. He was an actual Nazi. He applied to join the party 11 days before Austria was annexed. So Arnie can’t pretend daddy was forced or was just following orders. He was also a member of the Sturmabteilung (SA), the party’s paramilitary wing. These guys were even too extreme for Hitler.

    2. I was at the G20 “riots” in Toronto and the police planted old police cars and set up locations on the roof to video while they watched less than 50 scabby Blackbloc freaks burn the bait car I was at.
      In one police group alone over a hundred fully armoured police stood less than a block away and let it happen.
      There were thousands of police that could have easily stopped the riot.

  15. “Democrats aren’t possibly that smart to think up such a plan”
    Tell her it is not Dems– it is the deep state setting things up for the Dems.

  16. Don’t like it ? It is time to Jump in and take action.

    Someone on here said it a few days ago – one person making phone calls can make a difference.

    Join your riding association, make phone calls, knock on doors, put up signs, also consider donating some money to Ezra and Canada land and the parties.

    Yes you will hear some push back, yes you will have doors slammed on your face and phones hammered down on you.

    But you will win some votes too.

    1. Voting is a part of the problem. Late-stage democracy is just a precursor to socialism/collapse.

      The rise and fall of Reform explains it.

      Time to prepare on a personal level instead.

  17. Benghazi inquiry by the house (GOP), found nothing, even though there was a lot of info out there. They are all effing useless trouh swilers

  18. Plenty of us seem to have prosperous, successful Democrats or Liberals in our lives.

    The long march through the institutions has paid off, it seems.

    The most a former member of the Democratic or Liberal parties ought to be able to aspire to is being appointed a cellblock trusty in the prison where he’s serving his life sentence, overseeing his fellow prisoners as they spend their days doing the menial jobs they whined white people wouldn’t do (at least not for free).

    When the American republic is restored, and Chinada Province liberated, our Democrat and Liberal acquaintances will quickly learn that prosperity and happiness are earned, and they have earned nothing but the contempt of decent people.

  19. Virulent Lefties are half-retarded at best, emotional roller coasters and bereft of basic logic all the live long day.

  20. “life long Democrat”
    There’s the rub, still believing Democrats, despite Ted Kennedy, despite the murder of 26 children at Waco, over a shotgun one half inch below the legal length, despite Clinton,”I did not have sex with that woman”, despite the lies and smears against children who were perceived to be Trump supporters, despite
    the outright racism, prevalentt throughout the Democrat party, and on and on.
    Not very bright or willfully ignorant. I’ll go with the later.

  21. It’s not what is done but who does it.

    As was done before, this tyranny will end some time and somehow and the squealers who support it now will claim that they did not know anything and certainly didn’t support it.

    Bullsh–.

  22. A few comments…This is a scenario reminiscent, as others have pointed out, of the rise of Nazism.

    This is an enormous economic and political fight between a corrupt oligarchy, the Washington Elite, who are members of both political parties – and – the People, who are everyone, led by Trump.
    Second – this was a fraudulent election. The agenda was to get rid of The People – who, under Trump, were reducing and even destroying the political and financial infrastructure of the Washington Elite.
    Now- the Elite have several agendas; they must prevent Trump from running in 2024. That’s vital. And, they must silence and reduce the People.

    They must, therefore, impeach Trump [which I consider, legally, an impossibility, since there is no evidence to support such an act] – but- they will try. If this fails, they must destroy him by other means.
    And, they must silence the people, terrorize and threaten them into silence and inaction. They will do this quite easily using fines and police and threats.

    What must the people do? Right now, use the legal means to fight back. If your company fires you for attending a Trump rally, then, take that company to court for violation of your constitutional rights. If the Big Tech companies try to silence you – again, go to court. Those wealthy – who support The People – must declare their willingness to pay for these legal battles. I think the use of the courts is a vital step.
    Second- insist on a reform of electoral practices. Now.
    And third – set up other media systems to disseminate the truth.

  23. Nobody hates like a Lefty.

    So how long till the American southern border is just opened up?
    How many illegals will be made citizens?
    How soon till Joe stops fracking?
    How long till the Democrats start a middle east conflict so they can waste blood?
    How long till AR’s are made illegal and magazine limits come way down?
    How long till American companies go back to Chinah and ramp up production to finally kill manufacturing?

    8 years of Joe then 8 years of Kamala Toe.

    Nobody hates America like a lefty.

    Smile meekly and keep your head down.

    1. Eight years of Joe?

      What, you think Doug Emhoff plans to wait that long to thrust his pet Negress into office?

  24. I appreciate that this comment section began with the insidious nature of the lefts narrative via MSN, and delved quickly into discussion of a colonoscopy. It was apt.

    Nonetheless, I have many such people in my life, family and work. I find it best to ask only 1 or 2 questions – very simple ones, like can you show me how Trump is racist? Actual video or in the actual transcripts – no CNN or ‘a source close to Trump’ crap. Make it like a question. No secondary sources.

    Then stop. Tell them to do their own damned homework – it’s always better if they get to it themselves. I’ve been watching this crap for years, if I suddenly try to give them everything at once, I look like a . . . I don’t know, a conspiracy theorist. Like getting woken from the Matrix all at once.

    When they inevitably ask why they never heard of this, tell them that’s a question for their news source, not you. “Exactly. Why haven’t you?” Curious huh?

    Anyway, I’ve had some luck with this method – just a suggestion.

  25. “But I was struck by how effective the programming of narratives is into my friend’s mind that it took major effort on my part to get her to process other possibilities.”

    …he mused, without a trace of irony, as a co-administrator on a conservative blog that has for several months — nay, years — indulged and propagated a whole range of right-wing conspiracy theories and closed narratives.

  26. It’s called willful ignorance. I’ve stopped arguing with Liberals long ago. They’ve got all the pre packaged answers and they’ve totally bought into the liberal meme that they’re so much damn smarter than everyone else.
    I went one step further and slowly weeded them out of my life which kinda eff’s them up only because, and without going into too much detail, they need me more than I need them and given our current education system I doubt that situation will change anytime soon. Oh, did I tell you they’re also the cheapest a holes around???

    You’ll thank yourself later Robert. But she’s a friend so I get that too.

    “There are none so blind as those who will not see”

  27. Maybe the police didn’t worry about any problems because the right has a very extensive history of peaceful demonstration. Rioting is what the left do.

    And a prominent ANTIFA rabble rouser has been identified as leading the storming of the Capitol, urging people to burn it down.

    Yes there were Trump supporters who went into the building, incited by ANTIFA. Shame on them, they should be punished. But the guy who led the mob was arrested and released without charge. Double standard.

  28. BUT, Robert, did she actually process your proffered alternative theory? She said ‘no way’.

    I presume that small ‘l’ lance at 4:04 is not Kate’s lance, for a good man would not taunt his wife on his wife’s blog. Only a passive-aggressive weasel would do that. UnMe?

    1. Yes lance also chose “Kathy ” as a name to take advantage of another sore spot because the left are so compassionate and care so much and wouldn’t make great NAZI prison torturers at all.

  29. I am sure the company that fired this white supremacist did the right, er, left thing. As we speak, messages of support are flooding into the company, congratulating them on their wokeness. I am confident that their business will expand, and tradespeoplez will arrive, unbidden, to repair and service their telephone, electrical, and plumbing in a show of workers unite! solidarity. The media outlet link has done a great job of doxing this woman, as well as sufficient information to identify the employer. Hurrah!

  30. How do they impeach Trump for an insurrection? His speech was an hour after Congress was broken into. Most of the people in Congress were tourists who walked through the front door. Notice the video of Trump supporters staying within the velvet ropes.

  31. Robert,
    I made it a policy a long time ago to not ever discuss politics, sex
    or religion with family, friends, acquaintances or people I worked with and this policy has served me well over the years.

    It can be difficult at times especially when people ask open-ended questions regardless of whether it is any of their business. However, for the most part people are understanding when you just tell them that you’d rather not discuss these topics. (Very often, people will tell you what they want you to know about themselves, most times one doesn’t have to ask)

    When I left Quebec I never shared the fact that I left for political reasons. My mother died without ever knowing anything much about my dislike of Communist Quebec and not having the freedom to speak English in some places. Dealing with the government is only done in the French language as per law. The Anglos are treated like second class citizens there.

    Eventually some of my friends left as well. No one gave reasons, they just left when opportunities dried up and it was time to go to greener pastures.

    Ha! Unfortunately anywhere in the ROC has not proved to be ideal as time went on and now, shockingly, the U.S.A. may not be far behind, gawd forbid.

    1. I too am a refugee who fled Quebec in 1979. I had to train my replacement who was French Canadian who could barely speak three words of English but she was hired to replace me for the simple reason she was French Canadian. My bosses were very open about it. We must replace this percentage of our employees with French Canadians. It was the best move I ever made. I did not even realize how oppressed I was until about six months after I left.

      1. Oh you too, eh. I left in ’78.
        Drove by the Paul Sauvé Arena the night Réné won. You could hear the cheers outside they were so loud. Oh well, they’re doing well by Canada now with the West paying their freight. I wish we’d WEXIT but have lost hope.

        To be or not to be — to move, okay, but where?

        1. My former (retired) business partner left Montreal earlier, maybe around 1976.
          He said he drove Mount Royal top to bottom counting house FOR SALE signs. Also he picked up hitchhikimg students to hear what they had to say. Then he listed and sold his house and moved to Vancouver with wife and 3 children. He loved Montreal.

          1. Yes, as cities go, Montreal is quite beautiful as it is an island. I still miss it at times. The downtown life is where it’s at. There’s everything there. It took five years to get over the loss of all the amenities it had to offer. As indicated, the politics were another thing.

            It was easy to leave as I did not own real estate. I missed my family and friends but returned often for visits.

    2. Nancy Ross, YOU ARE A WISE WOMAN.
      But I knew this well before this post.
      I too adopted the same policy vis-a-vis politics and friends/family. But probably later in life than you did. I sometimes joke that I’ll comment if asked for an opinion, but that no one has yet asked. But once about 15 years ago a very old friend insisted that I offer an opinion about ‘global warming’. I demured telling him that I didn’t know much about the issue but later replied to his email on the subject. And a few weeks later the friendship ended.

      I now feel that we rightists must keep our mouths shut, for to open them with a dissenting view is a sadly pointless exercise.

    3. The Anglos are treated like second class citizens there.

      The last time I was in Montreal was in 1988. I could get my business done in English without much difficulty, but maybe that’s changed.

      Someone I used to work with a bit earlier came from Quebec. He mentioned that Montreal’s no problem, but going further up along the Gaspé might not have been a good idea for me.

      1. My experience, schooling, living and working in Quebec (I also left in 1978) was talk softly and carry a big stick called “money”. The Riverine Franco product are real douchebags, in my experience. I was an import from Teranna at an impressionable age. Later years, I used to drive out to the Maritimes a lot with Alberta plates on, once with Yukon ones. They think you don’t speak French at the gas pump/restaurant. Heh. I had fun with that.
        The northern variety are a much better product, Val d’Or, Noranda, Joutel, Chibougamau. Mining folk. When I worked there in the late 1980’s, they refused to indulge me in French (even knowing I could still speak it)…it’s business, we speak English. OK. I sailed on oil tankers in the early 70’s…..out of Montreal. Seen all the highlights of the Saint Lawrence River: Three Rivers, Sorel, Levis, Kaybec City, Chicoutimi, Rimouski, Sept Isles, Baie Comeau. Quebec in a nutshell. I’ve been every where. Nothing’s changed in those towns since 1759/1837. All small town cheap. The Catholic Church used to run the Province, now the various marxist (what were the FLQ/BLOC/CAQ?) run it like a religious order. Equalization is just another form of baksheesh, organized by the other member of the Two Solitudes….Teranna. Electric power sales are not included in calculating Equalization. Some animals are more equal than others. Got a beef about Quebec, kick Teranna’s ass, first.

        1. By any chance were you on the Texaco Chief in 1971 when it was in a collision with an iron ore carrier downriver from Quebec City?

          1. Nope, still a landlubber in 1971. On the Brave in 1972. Got all the low down on the collision when I was on the Chief, later. Were you deck or engine room?

            And to add to the story, I used to go to Lakeside Heights Elementary, Pointe Claire. Learned to ski on Beaconsfield golf course.

            The wheels are turning.

        2. Engine Room on Chief in 1971. (Can also fill you in on collision). Galley on Brave in 1972, so….

          Who was your teacher at Lakeside Heights Elementary in Grade 7? What year did you finish Grade 7?

          1. Lord knows who the teacher was. I moved to the greater Montreal area before finishing Grade 7 at Lakeside, 1965. If you were Galley on the Brave in ’72, Chief Cook or 2nd? I don’t remember a Porter being there.

            We lost steering on the Chief outside Halifax, after dropping the pilot in 73/74.

      2. B A —
        I recall your writing about your family’s arrival to Canada. You could’ve been a Quebecker too, like moi! Almost!
        Yes, as you know, Montreal is an International City. Mostly everyone is bilingual or understands both official languages and some speak more than two languages. There are many restaurants that offer excellent cuisine from all over the World.

        If you come from outside and spend money there, they know how to speak English as they are used to catering to tourists. Sure, there are anti-Anglo pockets in the Bloc Québéçois ridings but that sort of prejudice comes from government people, mostly.

        A good example was when the little emperor, Jacques Pariseau complained that it was the ‘ethnic’ vote that caused the loss of the referendum for Quebec to separate from Canada.
        Remember that?

        1. Yes, Nancy, I always thought that it was a perfectly reasonable thing for him to say. The French Canadians had in fact voted for independence, but not strongly enough to overcome the solid “no” of the ethnics, and it was legitimate to point that out. I suppose his manner was surly but he had much to be surly about at the time.
          In my various adventures in Quebec in the 70s, 80s and 90s, I was fluent in French but I always began every engagement with a stranger in English, just to make it clear that I preferred English. If they kept speaking French I would switch over after a couple of exchanges; if they spoke English with difficulty I would switch over at once. I got very different results in and outside of Montreal. In the city I usually wound up dealing in English, and rarely resorted to French, but often got a lot of attitude. Out of town, never a scrap of attitude, people eager to practice their English, but so little capability that anything that needed to be done would usually have to be done in French.

    4. Nancy, add me to the SDA list of former Montrealers. (Does JRHS mean anything to you?). Left to go to university in 1971. Only a year or two later the company my father worked for moved their head office to Toronto. Except for one summer, that basically ended my time there except for periodic visits to see friends (almost all of whom no longer live there) and later, with my wife to visit her family who remained for quite a few years longer before also moving to T.O. or points west.

      In 1979 I got transferred to Calgary. At first, I didn’t really understand the resentment and anger v. the east in general and Ottawa, in particular. Having experienced the FLQ crisis, the thought of separation just was not in my thinking at all. My parents were very supportive of Trudeau largely because of his strong stand against the separatists (plus, they felt Diefenbaker had been a big disappointment, so “that was the last time they were going to vote PC”).

      Not sure they really recognized PET’s Marxist side (although my father, being a WW II veteran, would sometimes note Pierre’s maneuvers to avoid serving while at the same time praising the “Vandoos” as showing not all the French Canadians were against joining the war effort). For my mother, a staunch WASP girl from Mimico, she was probably not as understanding and especially resented all of the steps of the Quebecois to try to erase history in terms of the cultural and, especially, economic contributions of the Anglos (street name changes were a particular pet peeve for her).

      All of that said, have learned a lot in the ensuing 40+ years and now share your policy of no longer talking politics, sex, or religion (but as someone else said, probably came to that much later than you). Trouble is it doesn’t leave me with many to speak with as the little family I have left are all CNN/CTV/MSM viewers with virtually no clue of what is really happening right now and my wife’s circle (and spouses), mostly retired educators almost universally in that category. #Wexit.

      1. Randy Hall —
        Besides yourself, ntadatrdr, and Justin Burch, there is OttawaMJ who is also a former Quebecker (Montrealer) who occasionally joins us here. He is very politically savvy and puts up a good post as does PO’ed in Ab who wrote he lived in Montreal as a teenager.

        As for JRHS I believe you must mean John Rennie H.S. in Pointe Claire. Right? I grew up in Ville Marie — downtown-ish and went through the M.C.S.C. system. It was very repressive but I got over them quickly and found myself @ Dawson College. I hated having to explain how we Quebeckers graduate H.S. in grade 11. It sounded too much like we were drop-outs. Ha! Not!

        Later I spent almost 20 years in New Brunswick then moved to Calgary but I  have lived here longer than any other province. This is home now.

        The Rocky Mountains are my favourite place.
        I thought I died and went to heaven when I first got there! They sure are a slice, huh?

        P.S. I understand French but I am severely out of practice now speaking it! If I went to Paris and spoke French there, they’d laugh at me!! Ha!

        Wexit!

        1. Yes, Pointe Claire. Don’t worry too much about what the Parisiens would say about your French now. Even when you spoke it better they would have laughed at you. They think the Quebecois are country bumpkins. (Sometimes we press “click” before realizing we don’t have things quite right. More wine… LOL)

          1. Nancy, I recall a French Canadian associate of mine in Quebec City recalling a recent meeting with a Francais-de-France at which the European commented on my friend’s “facon paysan de parler”. I don’t think he’d intended an insult, I think he meant just to say it was distinctive and locally rooted speech, but my friend had been very insulted. Steam poured out of his ears when he recalled it.

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