Dark Brandon's Terrible Swift Sword
Biden's speech provoked all the right people. Good.
Nice to see you again!
I hope you enjoyed your Labor Day long weekend and got to bask in the afterglow of the fearless and passionate speech President Biden delivered on Thursday. Before, during, and after the the speech, left-wing people tweeted memetic variations on the “Dark Brandon” theme, and that’s fine, but I like to think of it as Biden picking up the terrible swift sword that Julia Ward Howe wrote of in The Battle Hymn of the Republic, way back in 1862.
The reason I think of Biden’s speech that way is also why I called this blog what I did. I saw in Biden’s speech the terrible swift sword of our ancestors, a weapon which embodies the power of unleashed, unapologetic and full-throated liberalism. As the song reminds us, when enough people heed the voices of their better selves and dedicate the work of their hands to the cause of human freedom and dignity. Then a person in power can pick up that sword and proceed to loose some fateful lightning on the forces of evil, which is exactly what Biden did on that Thursday evening.
MAGA Fascists lost it. (Seriously, even more than usual)
The speech landed like a proximity-fused depth charge in the bottomless cesspool of right wing Twitter. And what of it? In all the long, sordid history of horrible people acting horrible, and more ethical people calling them out for it, never once has a horrible person responded by saying “golly, you’re right. I AM evil and will change my ways pronto!”
No. They always, always, always hit back with a “no, you are!” and a defiant smirk. Read what Hitler and Goebels said in response to Churchill and FDR’s condemnation of their regime. Read what the human traffickers of the antebellum South said in response to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Read Trump tweeting or Truth Social-ing about anything, anytime. Or listen to presidential historian Michael Beschloss.
“They would have to say the same thing about what Lincoln said in 1861 and what FDR warned about in 1938,”
While on serious news media, moral cowards voiced deep concern
Horribles gonna’ horrible., and we expect no better of them. The greater shame and danger was the predictable reaction from pundits whose reputations as serious people rests on their unfailing moral cowardice. Before the speech, they fussed about the supposedly divisive content of the as-yet-undelivered address, as well as its timing before a long holiday weekend. Thus they managed to concern troll both its uncomfortable messaging AND its reduced potential audience. Afterwards they settled down to expressing concern about the terribly divisive effect of saying that people who act and talk like full-on fascists are exactly what they appear to be.
How to respond to all the ranting, lying and clutching of pearls
First, last and always, don’t even think of conceding one atom’s breadth of ground to the media’s equivocating concern trolls. Unlike the MAGA fascists, these serious pundits have no particular convictions aside wanting to appear like the bland scorekeepers in a game with no moral consequences. If we stand by our narrative and repeat it enough, they will arise from their fainting couches, stop rubbing eau de cologne in their temples and just accept our new narrative of democracy on the march.
How to counter-narrate MAGA lies
Meanwhile we have to do some cleanup by counter-narrating (NOT DEBUNKING!) some GOP lies. Debunking repeats a lie and says “here’s why that’s false.” Counter-narration states a big, decent, values-based truth to tell a different story than the lie does, and kicks the falsehood over in the process.
Here’s are a couple of post-speech lies that need all the counter-narration we can bring to them.
1. The ‘half-America’ lie
That America’s voting population is evenly divided between MAGA Republicans and extreme Leftists.
It reinforces the Big Lie claim that
GOP got enough votes to win 2020 election.
MAGA Republican ideas enjoy widespread support
People who spout MAGA Republican ideas are speaking for a true America
How to counter-narrate this lie
Never, ever repeat the half-America claim. That just empowers the lie
Don’t explain facts. Assert true and value-based counter-narrative. Here’s the difference:
Explanation:
“Actually, MAGA Republicans only make up only 35% of the electorate”
Values-based counter-narrative
”There are millions more loyal, pro-democracy Americans than there are MAGA Fascists. Good Americans far outnumber the traitors.”
The victimized perpetrator lie
This one argues that because it’s harsh to call MAGA Republicans anti-democratic or even fascistic, it can’t be true.
Values-based counter-narrative
We want people to have freedom to control their own bodies, to earn a living wage in decent workplaces,, and to vote knowing their votes will be counted. MAGA Republicans are working to destroy all these basic freedoms, and many more, even if they have to kill you to do it. That’s why we call them fascists.
Hopefully that gives you some idea. Stop explaining and start counter-narrating. We have the wind at our back. Just look: Republican candidates are attempting desperate do-overs on their repellent forced-birth messaging while Bannon is perp walking down the hallways of 100 Centre Street in matching steel bracelets. Things are happening. Keep the faith!
Talk to you soon
Your suggestion to use counter narratives is brilliant, it makes a lot of sense to me.
A wise woman once told me that if I told my child "do not hit your sister", all the child would hear is "hit your sister". She said that a more effective statement would be "stop hitting your sister". This is a clumsy comparison but it is what springs to my mind and reinforces, for me, what you had to say about the counter narrative.
Repeating a lie to disprove it reinforces the lie before you even say a word about your opposition to the lie.
Thank you for your post, it is exactly what I needed to hear today. Keep up the good work!