Asshole of the year, 2016
In the Age of Trump, I nominate this man for "Asshole of the year, 2016", Cam Harris, who published fake political news, including one article, on October 1 fabricating a claim that tens of thousands of Clinton ballots were found in a warehouse in Ohio. The site is down, but an archive copy is here: https://archive.fo/5lfHH and all the snopes fact-checking is here http://www.snopes.com/tag/christian-times-newspaper/
Here's an article with a video interview of his confessions.
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/19/major-fake-news-operation-tracked-back-republican-operative/
Its worth hearing his interview (18 minutes). I most despise his nonanswer to the question (@14:20) "This was posted on ChristianTimesNewspaper, do you consider yourself Christian. Doesn't this go against Christianity?"
Cam answers: "I have a religious background. I grew up in a church. ... That's a question much too large for me to answer."
Maybe we can say it is now Obama's fault than young men no longer know the difference between right and wrong. But perhaps that's the whole problem with abstraction, when all the harm is in people you don't know, people who were already screwed up anyway, deporable, irredeemable? Messing with irredeemable people can't be a sin, right?
Perhaps Cam's conscience could be raised if his lies were done in person, like perhaps talking to a neighbor who believed the local minister was a child-molester because he had that kind and gentle sort of voice that child-molesters have, and not knowing if it was true, but knowing this he needed some money, and offering some supporting evidence, hoping he could get some cash out of the neighbor.
Maybe the question of morality wouldn't be "too large" to answer? What is the cost of admitting wrong action is wrong?
And I also wonder who started that rumor about Clinton running a child prostitution ring underneath a DC pizzeria? And eventually leading to a would-be-hero to find the place with a gun and demand that those innocent children.
http://www.politico.com/armed-man-arrested-near-dc-pizzeria-targeted-by-fake-news
Cam is right that his little fake news couldn't have alone changed the election in favor of Donald Trump. So if he can convince himself that Clinton would have lost in any case, he's off the hook in his mind. What's the harm in preying on gullible people?
And Cam's public confession feeds his own narcissism, showing how clever he is, at understanding people's weaknesses, and exploiting them.
And this is the slippery slope the modern world brings. Ideally fake news makes people wary to believe "news" presented outside the fact-checked world of main stream media. But in reality, fake news appears to be a force of chaos, and our minds are not good at dealing with lies, and a million small lies can add up, and Trump said "Crooked Hillary" so it must be true, at least our "inner child" says.
It would be much simpler to face an angry mob about to stone you and have Jesus walk up and say "He who is without sin may cast the first stone" and when the self-righteous mob disappears, Jesus can say "Go and sin no more." and you're free.
Maybe Cam needs to go back to Sunday school? I like Catholics better than Lutherans (except for the burdens to the poor priest) but there at least you have to confess your sins to a real person before you're forgiven. Its too easy to lie to yourself, rationalize and refuse to listen, when your conscience is telling you things you don't want to hear.
I'd suggest the same for Trump, catholic confession, but I can't see it. A person who can't see his own contradictions can't possibly find a moral voice to guide him.
Trump would probably even enjoy shocking the priest with his exploits, and all the confessions he'd make would be fabrications, while skipping the real ones which were less entertaining. Trump would never dream of the priest staying quiet, and will hope the priest will share the stories in front of the nuns, to shock them of course. That's what Trump would do, if he was a priest.
It's so hard to imagine any limit to Trump's disability and ours.
Here's an article with a video interview of his confessions.
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/19/major-fake-news-operation-tracked-back-republican-operative/
Its worth hearing his interview (18 minutes). I most despise his nonanswer to the question (@14:20) "This was posted on ChristianTimesNewspaper, do you consider yourself Christian. Doesn't this go against Christianity?"
Cam answers: "I have a religious background. I grew up in a church. ... That's a question much too large for me to answer."
Maybe we can say it is now Obama's fault than young men no longer know the difference between right and wrong. But perhaps that's the whole problem with abstraction, when all the harm is in people you don't know, people who were already screwed up anyway, deporable, irredeemable? Messing with irredeemable people can't be a sin, right?
Perhaps Cam's conscience could be raised if his lies were done in person, like perhaps talking to a neighbor who believed the local minister was a child-molester because he had that kind and gentle sort of voice that child-molesters have, and not knowing if it was true, but knowing this he needed some money, and offering some supporting evidence, hoping he could get some cash out of the neighbor.
Maybe the question of morality wouldn't be "too large" to answer? What is the cost of admitting wrong action is wrong?
And I also wonder who started that rumor about Clinton running a child prostitution ring underneath a DC pizzeria? And eventually leading to a would-be-hero to find the place with a gun and demand that those innocent children.
http://www.politico.com/armed-man-arrested-near-dc-pizzeria-targeted-by-fake-news
Cam is right that his little fake news couldn't have alone changed the election in favor of Donald Trump. So if he can convince himself that Clinton would have lost in any case, he's off the hook in his mind. What's the harm in preying on gullible people?
And Cam's public confession feeds his own narcissism, showing how clever he is, at understanding people's weaknesses, and exploiting them.
And this is the slippery slope the modern world brings. Ideally fake news makes people wary to believe "news" presented outside the fact-checked world of main stream media. But in reality, fake news appears to be a force of chaos, and our minds are not good at dealing with lies, and a million small lies can add up, and Trump said "Crooked Hillary" so it must be true, at least our "inner child" says.
It would be much simpler to face an angry mob about to stone you and have Jesus walk up and say "He who is without sin may cast the first stone" and when the self-righteous mob disappears, Jesus can say "Go and sin no more." and you're free.
Maybe Cam needs to go back to Sunday school? I like Catholics better than Lutherans (except for the burdens to the poor priest) but there at least you have to confess your sins to a real person before you're forgiven. Its too easy to lie to yourself, rationalize and refuse to listen, when your conscience is telling you things you don't want to hear.
I'd suggest the same for Trump, catholic confession, but I can't see it. A person who can't see his own contradictions can't possibly find a moral voice to guide him.
Trump would probably even enjoy shocking the priest with his exploits, and all the confessions he'd make would be fabrications, while skipping the real ones which were less entertaining. Trump would never dream of the priest staying quiet, and will hope the priest will share the stories in front of the nuns, to shock them of course. That's what Trump would do, if he was a priest.
It's so hard to imagine any limit to Trump's disability and ours.
posted by Ares Olympus at 10:06 PM
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