That Deer in the Headlights Look

Krugman comments on it in Pravda, with his usual I-told-you-so to the bipartisans.

But Robert Parry gets this absolutely right:

...the key point is that the response from sane Americans remains inadequate to this angry irrationality.

Some rational Americans, it seems, have their own erroneous beliefs that justify inaction. Over the years, I’ve often heard the hopeful slogans that “the truth will out” or that “the pendulum will swing back,” when the reality is that there are no automatic mechanisms for stopping lies and distortions.

Truth is a battle, much as democracy is. Bringing truth to light requires resources and infrastructure, as well as personal honesty and courage. That is especially true when the other side in the battle has opted for a strategy of falsehoods and exaggerations – and has assembled both powerful artillery and well-trained mercenaries to carry out what it calls “information warfare.”

In such a conflict, there is no guarantee or even a likelihood that the “truth will out,” at least not on its own. Nor is there any reason to believe some mythical pendulum will restore a normal order.

What I have seen during more than three decades in Washington is that many truths remain effectively hidden, even if technically they have been revealed. A rare moment of truth-telling can be easily overwhelmed by a steady barrage of falsehoods and an infusion of well-calibrated doubts...

There are even entire branches of government devoted to disinformation. So why should the Company be any different? Especially when the rubes are willing.

Insanity it truely is.

Despite all the well meaning hand-wringing of the progressive about how poorly informed these people are, the simple facts are they often choose to be this way.

We all have acquaintances and relatives who have quite as much opportunity to learn the facts with exposure to the world as we do. In fact, many people pointedly ignore the world around them. When large numbers of people have radically different world views, and big money can be made from the conflict, it's a recipe for some very nasty weather indeed.