The Assault on Fact and Reason

"The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history." - George Orwell

"In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

"Propaganda is to democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state." - Noam Chomsky

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." - Voltaire

When truth is negotiable, power flourishes.

A shadow movement opposed to the Enlightenment ideals of reason, liberty, and progress has always existed within a country that was founded on them. With the promise of belonging to the dispossessed, intolerance, and conspiracy, this dark side leaps forward during times of crisis. One example of this was the Know Nothing Party of the 19th century, which reappeared in the 21st century disguised in the language of contemporary media and boosted by a president's tweets.

Controlling the narrative is the first step towards controlling perception.

Evidence has been substituted by agenda in the kaleidoscope of modern media, including Fox News, Breitbart, and Sinclair's hegemony over local news. The narrative of facts, but based on false information are weapons. Until their worldview strengthens into indisputable polarization, viewers are herded into partisan silos and fed only information that supports their prejudices.

Once a means of challenging authority, the concept of postmodern has been used as a weapon to completely destroy truth.

The Trump administration turned objective reality into a commodity that could be negotiated. The MAGA consensus, and even the most basic measure of fact were all turned into subjective issues that were used to reward MAGA supporters and punish detractors. Truth changed from being what is to being useful.

The end result of this tactic was Trump's online persona, in which the president served as chief troll, sending millions of people direct, unfiltered fabrications, insults, and taunts.

This was a deliberate acceptance of nihilism, a worldview in which truth is an a barrier and destruction is victory, rather than merely ignorance. "The world is a terrible place. He declared, "People will destroy you for fun," and governed accordingly, destroying accomplishments, reversing liberties, and demonstrating that the most effective political weapon is shameless authoritarianism.

The tactic is effective because it undermines the idea of a shared reality itself.

The person who shapes the story gains power once the facts are fluid. The result is blatant dominance rather than discussion and compromise, with truth being viewed as a tool that only those who are willing to deny its existence can use.