The disappointment continues. I get a digital NYT newsletter each morning. It contains some fluff bits - recipes, games, puff pieces, but it also has a lead story or two that are actual news. That is where the disappointment comes in. This morning one of the lead stories about the unconstitutional deployment of the military to cities within the USA included the following, "This is the president’s vision for law enforcement. He believes that crimes should be prosecuted to the max, and that low-level violations set a permissive climate for nastier ones. "
Of course, the NYT did not mention the fact that it is unconstitutional. They did not mention that it is unprecedented. Basically they were parroting whatever Felon47 said with damn little in the way of critical analysis.
We humans have some amazing abilities but, (for most of us at least) mind-reading is not one of them. Given that, in situations where it doesn't matter or if speed is more important or we have no feasible method of proving or disproving a statement, we might generously forgive the simple taking of someone's word for it. There are situations where that is probably the best and most reasonable choice. But it is definitely not all situations.
Quite frequently there are actions that are temporally, geographically or, thematically associated with the statement. Those actions can function as clues in a significant percentage of statements or claims made by humans. In an essay written for a different project, I make the claim that "Belief Leads Behavior". While I will make temporary allowances for habit, as a general rule what you actually believe(as opposed to what you say you believe) determines how you behave. The light switch is my standard example. When you walk into a room and reach for the light switch, it is because you believe that flipping said switch will result in desired illumination. If you walk into that room a thousand times and the first hundred or so times nothing happens when you flip the switch, the next nine hundred or so times you will bring a flashlight or make other arrangements. You no longer believe the light switch will accomplish your goal of illuminating the room so you stop flipping the switch. Habit might keep you reaching for the switch even after you know it isn't working but that habit will not keep going for long.
Felon47 has a long public history. A history that includes several instances of law-breaking and/or law ignoring. He violated housing laws in refusing to rent to minorities. He demanded the Central Park Five be put in/kept in prison even after the law declared them innocent of the charges. He has multiple felony convictions and has been identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in illegal behavior on more than one occasion. He has been accused of rape of young girls and convicted of sexual assault (rape) of an adult female.
Those are simply not the behaviors of someone who has any level of respect for or belief in the law. The NYT knows this. They have either reported on or been involved in (or both) any number of his instances of breaking or ignoring the law. Hell, he took out a full page ad in the NYT in his effort to make sure innocent minority men went to prison for something they did not do. The NYT knows about all of that.
Felon47 has undertaken several different methods to avoid taking responsibility for his actions. He files lawsuit after lawsuit in an effort to complicate things. He files appeal after appeal of convictions in an effort to financially break his victim(s). He even ran for POTUS to avoid prosecution and publicly considered preemptively pardoning himself.
I have no idea how stupid one would actually have to be to know all of that and still harbor some idea that Felon47 has any respect for the law much less being inspired to make some idiotic statement about him "believing" that all crimes should be prosecuted to the max. Now, you could modify the statement and make it believable. Make it so that all poor people are prosecuted to the max or so that all minorities are prosecuted to the max or so that all non-wealthy immigrants are prosecuted to the max and I will have no argument to make. But it could not be more clear from his behavior(s) as to how he actually feels about crime and punishment.
Felon47 treats the law as just another tool for him to use in defrauding business partners or otherwise enriching his family (read: him). With the assistance of the NYT, we have watched these happen in real time. My question is "why?" Why is the NYT attempting to gaslight its readers and subscribers?
This is far from the only example of the NYT doing or saying something at his benefit or behest. I see them touting Russian advancements in Ukraine while ignoring some very effective retaliatory Ukrainian strikes on refineries and factories that support Russia's war efforts. Again, the question is "why?" I refuse to believe that the NYT of all organizations does not understand the difference between journalism and parroting PR releases.
I can't answer my own question. I do not know the "why". What I know is that I am increasingly skeptical of any of their reporting of which I cannot immediately find corroboration. For gaslighting to be most effective it requires the willingness of the victim to be gaslit. I am unwilling to accept obvious bullshit just so I don't have to think about it, just so my cogitative life is simpler. I'd like to know there are other folk like me out there.
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