When the Truth Gets Twisted by a Lie

Why do we Americans, continue to believe in the current American Narrative? The US is not and has never been an honest country. If we could start with the truth, we might be able to make some repair but we are too far down the road for that to happen now. The start of the US was to steal the land from the Natives here and murder them, drag black folk here from another continent and use them as slaves and much much worse than just for work! WE whites, continuously worked to destroy the black experience in the US. Women make a little more on the dollar than they used to but must act like white men in order to do so. Americans in the lead have killed half of life on earth in 50 years. Despite the yellow light warnings in the 1960s about behavioral consequences of our extraction lives, we pursued, with renewed vigor in the 1980s, as we brought Hollywood into our government, Extraction, Pollution, Oil, Nuclear, etc... We chose to relegate mental health and substance abuse health concerns to homelessness and private prisons, so more $$$ could be made and more and worse punishment for these problems could be swiped into the back corners. The medical industrial complex, now dominated by MBAs with their MD pals, wanted the money!!!! The United States is an extremely dishonest society, a violent society and its seams are bursting, not just from social media dividing us but from this truth eating us from the inside out.

There is a science behind lies where Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Hitler used lies with mastery, with intent. Start with the idea of a lie such as someone saying they didn't steal a cookie before dinner because we accept that level of lie even though we shouldn't. While seemingly benign, it lays the mental groundwork for an entire distortion of reality and thus the beginnings of social mental illness. The big lie is a propaganda technique used for political purposes, defined as "a gross distortion or misrepresentation of the facts, especially when used as a propaganda device by a politician or official body." The German expression was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, to describe the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously." “The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.” ― Joseph Goebbels A lie combined with certain presentation can eventually begin to be accepted as truth, but it is a truth that feels crazy making. Then give this knowledge to a person with the personality disorder of malignant narcissism and you have given them the power to achieve their greatest goals... to be paid attention to which they see as being loved along with the power to control all.

Face book took this to a new level, and no regulation or ethics.

Time has shown that "social" media has become a weaponized "anti-social"medium. IN many ways, this is because the companies are too big, and therefore unmanageable.

> "...vilified by supporters of President Trump." They have proven time and again that they truly are deplorable.

This kind of hurtful situation gets played out every day in human interactions in many different ways, both big and small. However, the focus is often on how "organizations" and "systems" allow things like this to happen, but the depth of harm that's done to individuals is rarely acknowledged. A common example of this is harassment and abuse that occurs in the workplace. Coworkers and management often make "small" mistakes by not addressing situations early. When the victim begins to speak out and ask for redress, everyone who allowed it to happen goes into "legal defense mode," and start to twist the truth and propagate lies in order to create a new narrative that protects their own butts. These half-truths and lies take on a new life of their own and replace the foundational truths that are at the root of the situation. Soon, the victim of the harassment is painted as the problem, and their career (and mental health) are destroyed. Those of us who have experienced such things in our own lives aren't surprised even when we see it play out very publicly on a national level like this, because we know all-too-well how things like this take on a life of their own and spiral out of control regardless of how absurd it all seems when held up against incontrovertible facts and logic. Perhaps Mr. Coomer's story can help us all think about ways that we can help prevent similar harms from happening in our own workplaces and social networks.

And still Trump suffers no consequence for his efforts to undermine the right of citizens to vote and to have their votes counted, and his encouragement of violent insurrection. People who want Trump to be king of America should ask themselves how would anyone be safe once Trump threw away all notions of law and the Constitution. The entire nation would be hostage to his delusions and paranoia. Are you sure you want to vote for him and for the GOP that do everything they can to cripple government?

Why did they go after Dominion!?! Because they knew their election fraud lie was a farce. The rapid collapse of Mr T's "Election Fraud Commission" in 2017 foreshadowed the info. Do as Trump and all extremists do: blame someone else.

Most of the comments here are very good examples of the title of this article.

Is the story a cautionary tale about social media? Well, not entirely, but it surely is one more reminder that venting on social media is really never a good idea. I tend to think that social media itself is not a good idea.

A tragic story and a very sad, sick commentary on how proponents of the Big Lie hav twisted civic responsibility. This man's life has been ruined and all I can hope is that all involved in smearing him, Dominion, and our American acceptance of elections, suffer financially and lose their rights to freedom for a very long time.

Thankfully, we have actual journalists working to counter the fascist (as opposed to merely ignorant) racist lies and criminal slander and libel. Mr. Coomer, and Dominion, must be made whole, after the criminal efforts by a cabal of actors, seeking to undermine our Democracy and overthrow our government. Those crimes must include RICO charges, and Treason.

If they went after Alexander Vindeman, no one is safe. No one.

The Republican right will discredit any American citizen, such as Mr. Coomer, if it helps them own Democrats or upend American government while a Democrat sits in the oval office. Tories were tarred and feathered pre-Revolution - but today we are more civilized and abide the know-nothings amongst us while they work their subterfuge. Of is it they have a disproportionate share of guns and ammo and a much greater proclivity to using them - making it wise to lay low? Like the NYTimes which seems intent on publishing headlines demeaning of President Biden's handling of the Afghan exit. What about Trumps immoral and sudden abandonment of the Kurds who were by-far our best Muslim allies and a potential exemplar for Islamic nations to embrace for a progressive future? What of Bush who invented weapons-of-mass-destruction lies to bring is into a ruinous Iraq war - creating ISIS and freeing up our enemy Iran by removing Saddam Hussein who once kept them contained for free? Fox News and conservative media demonizes Biden and Democrats ceaselessly. Consider giving Biden just a little more credit than you do now - lest in 50 years you have to dredge up an embarrassing position that is no longer moral or right as we look back at the facts from the vantage of a more enlightened future.

I have proudly disliked/ despised/ hated Trump for over 40 years, going back to when he was a Democrat (when it suited his purposes), and a friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton (guests at his wedding to Melania). I have been posting negatives (factually based) about him for years, and wil continue to do so. When he's right about something, I acknowledge it, and usually chalk it up to broken clock syndrome (right twice a day). My hate is not based on political ideology; there are many politicians on both sides whom I don't agree with (Liz Cheney, though I dislike her father, Omar, AOC, Tlaib), who I I don't like, but i don't hate. There are many Republicans who either actively support, or do not denounce (and grudgingly support, because it suits their agenda) Trump (see McCarthy and McConnell), who I actively dislike. Trump has no ideology except being amoral, unethical, mendacious, arrogant, and a narcissist; when he does or or says the right thing, it's usually for the wrong reasons. The best thing he's don't is expose the overt racists and right wing extremists in our midst, including in Congress and government, Federal, state, and local. I totally understand Mr. Coomer's need to vent on his own time on what he (mistakenly) thought was a secure and private venue; that doesn't that he didn't do his job properly and ethically. After all, he's not Trump.

"Rudy Giuliani says bogus election fraud claims about Dominion are 'substantially true' in answer to defamation lawsuit ... Rudy Giuliani said his false claims about Dominion Voting Systems' role in the 2020 presidential election were 'substantially true' in a new court filing, even as he acknowledged that he doesn't understand how the company's voting software works." (Yahoo News, 26Aug2021) In true Trumpesque fashion: Don't confuse me with the facts.

The underlying mindset of those involved in this story is strongly evocative of what must have been happening in Moscow prior to and during the show trials and the great purge of the late 1930s. A second analogue is, of course, the red terror scares in this country starting after WW 1 and ending in the 1950s. History repeats because its principal actors share deeply wired psychological traits and skills in manipulating others who are selected for exhibiting a strong need to display loyalty at any price. At the apex of this pathological pyramid, it is a story of an amoral, malevolent, and paranoid sociopath who is very skilled in manipulating and convincing underlings to display their loyalty and do his bidding, no matter how vile. By himself little could be achieved, but with the zealous loyalty of committed servants, vast evil can be perpetrated. Their actions under his directions help organize and direct groups of loyalists who do all the really dirty, nasty stuff since they are the ones most committed to rooting out any signs of disloyalty and active opposition. The consequences then snowball without external resistance. Soon you have an out of control display of mass delusion and conspiracy believers, consumed by the obsession to look everywhere for the guilty ones. This then continues until it exhausts itself, leaving its victims strewed behind for historians or authors to reanimate and everyone else to wonder how could this have happened.

Coomer said there was no way Trump could win - He never said "because an accurate vote count will kill him" or "because the machines were rigged" - Considering that forensic analysis of the code proved he meant the former, I don't understand what the stink is about. Maybe it's a lack of understanding of the programming-for-elections process. Code is written, then tested and vetted by other parties. A pro-X coder who writes crooked code will soon be not only out a job, but under indictment. Ffrom the sound of things, Coomer assumed that if his code accurately counted every vote, and based on the polling, especially tracking polling (a bit tougher due to COVID and the number voting long before the campaigns had ended - like everyone in some Southwestern states), Trump was not going to get a second term. Trump was the one who called officials in at least one state, Georgia, where elections officers who were more committed to their oaths of office, the law, and the will of the people, refused to "find" votes that would prove the would-be dictator's claim, (repeated through January 6, during his attempt to disrupt the ceremonial ballot counting and called for a crowd to do something about the "disloyalty" of his own vice-president) recorded the call, and released the tapes, proving their commitment to the actual votes cast. Coomer was right - the most carefully conducted election in the nation's history proved Trump legitimately a Loser.

"When the truth is found to be lies, And all the joy within you dies…"

Born in White Plains NY and growing up in small town red dirt North Carolina I learned that I had no effective argument better than my fists. I have no doubt that those who stormed our Capitol Building on January 6th had every intention of preventing the certification of the vote. I understand their capacity for lies is as great as their capacity for violence. When your judgements conflict with their own you must still watch what you say or write. It appears Coomer did not think of screen shots & thought private meant privacy.

Eric Coomer's great sin was to oppose Trump. Remember "lock her up"? It's a through line in Trumpism: opposition is criminal, beyond the pale. Punishable by death. We really should be able to recognize this. Treating political opponents with jail or violence is a universal trait of violent authoritarian movements. This violent authoritarian movement is not trying to hide what it is from the rest of us. I'm not sure the rest of us are paying proper attention.

What is the more universal danger exposed in this story? Is the real culprit not the current "fashion" of going back to past private/personal opinions people have made to paint an individual in an exclusive of all context, negative light to ruin their lives and/or promote a larger narrative? This man was a perfect victim of his words, as so many others have been, losing their careers over personal, albeit unpleasant for some, comments made even decades before. Selective manipulation & twisting of a person's words is rejecting the very principles of free speech/opinions for political gain that today is clearly not limited to a left or right as this story proves. What Democracy can survive without tolerating speech some do not want to hear?

I sincerely hope he's part of the suit that Dominion has against their slanderers and is adequately compensated for what he's been forced to endure.

If your job is to referee anything whether it is a football game or an election, you should not engage in partisan social media bashing of one of the participants. That is the story here. As someone who has engaged in business fraud research in my career, I can tell you that absence of proof of fraud is not absence of fraud. The best fraudsters are able to disguise their activities, so they are not discovered for many years. That said, I doubt that fraud due to Eric Coomer likely happened, as fraudsters tend to be very quiet when they commit their crimes. However, that there was the potential for anomalies in 2020 election is clear, given that most ballots from Dems were sent in by mail and given that this would allow caregivers to fill in ballot for cognitively impaired patients who never would have voted in a previous elections. There are over a million cognitively impaired patients in AZ, GA, and WI due to all causes including AD and severe depression. Only a small percentage were needed to throw election to Biden, who won Electoral College by only about 40,000 votes in those states. There is no proof that this happened, but caregivers for these patients are overwhelmingly younger, female, and Black and hence skew to be Biden supporters, and so would be more likely to have urged patients to fill in ballots and sign them if they knew the patient preferred Biden. This is not fraud, but just an anomaly of 2020 election.