The MSM Spins "Defund The Police"; Or: Gaslighting By Progressive Institutions Is Now The Norm

link

   Spinning your own positions so as to seem more reasonable and your opponents positions so as to appear less so is an old story and both sides do it. But as the left has radicalized and become more rabidly dogmatic, it's done more of it. The wildly spin much of what Trump says--with the goal commonly being to deceive low-information types into thinking he's a racist (which is merely a special case of their general tactic of spinning everything non-progressive into racism). And, of course, as their own proposals become more and more stupidcrazy, those have to be spun more in order to prevent their saner centrists from abandoning them wholesale. Though why any centrists remain on the blue team is beyond me. (Well...actually it isn't at all. The answer is: Trump. He is, as one of my colleagues puts it, the anchor around our necks. If the left takes control in November, it'll be largely his fault.)

   "Defund the police" means defund the goddamn police. And that means eliminate their funding. And that means: abolish them.  

   The hot protest slogan and hashtag of the moment is “Defund the Police.” At times, it’s also framed as a call to abolish or disband the police. Ordinary speakers of the English language would naturally assume, listening to people chant “defund the police” in the streets, carry “defund the police” signs, and literally paint “defund the police” on the streets of D.C., that such people mean “defund the police.”
   But not our media! There’s been an immediate rush to write pieces explaining that, of course, “defund the police” does not actually mean “defund the police.” . . .
   Notably, articles of this nature seek to draw the eye towards legislative and think-tank proposals and away from the voices of the people actually chanting in the streets.

The vanguard of the Orwellian left is made up largely of talkers. And talkers love to manipulate language. And so that's what they do. The best response is to restate what they say in plain, accurate language. And: point out--repeatedly--that they are lying and dissembling. Make them pay a price for refusing to say what they mean. That will also force them to pay a price for believing crazy things and advocating stupid policies.

   If they mean: let's see about cutting fat from police budgets, then lots of centrists and conservatives will trip all over themselves to acknowledge that common ground. Then, of course, we can talk about what to do with any money we save. The default position must be: just take that much less from taxpayers. The leftist suggestion has been: keep it and give it to people and programs that are friendly to leftist social re-engineering--e.g. social workers. Eh, we can talk about it. But no, that's unacceptable as a presumption.

   At any rate: we now live in a state of perpetual gaslighting by the left. The left itself does, too, incidentally. The difference is that the left welcomes the gaslighting. With respect to the great central distinction of the X Files: The Truth Is Out There vs. I Want To Believe...the progressive left is passionately committed to the latter option. But if you aren't part of their cult and don't accept the conspiracy theories that constitute its dogmas, the gaslighting doesn't go down so easy. We look right at burning buildings and CNN tells us the riots are peaceful! We look right at Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner, and progressives shriek She's a woman and if you deny it you're a bigot! We look at the people and institutions around us, all terrified by even false accusations of racism, and are sternly lectured that They're all racist, racist, racist!!! And on and on and on.

   And, of course, anyone who doesn't want to believe, and who is angered by the pervasive gaslighting and who points it out...well...I don't have to tell you what that guy is...