Alex Sàlmon
01/08/2021 00:05
Protesters try to access Catalan Parliament after the demonstration for the anniversary of 1-O – Àlex Garcia
We already see that populisms are very bad. The policy that is inspired by declarative blows of denunciation without a contribution of evidence entails malpractice. And that is what Trump has done in recent years as a preparatory action for what happened Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
These routines lead to a method of thought always inspired by faulty information. I mean, in lies. However, exposing the falsehood has its complication.
Now the lie can already be flaunted with impudence; the important thing is the recipient’s willingness to believe it
A highly recommended book to visualize how good lies are built is El impostor, by Javier Cercas. The author decided to investigate the well-known story of Enric Marco, that character who went on to be president of the Amical de Mauthausen without ever having been in the concentration camp. In this passionate essay it is shown that lies must always be wrapped in truth. This technique disguises the falsehood.
However, the methods have changed. Now the lie can already be flaunted. The important thing is that the recipient is willing to believe it. And that’s the formula used by contemporary bad politics. In the United States, in Europe, in China and much closer to our reality.
The lies straight into vein are based on reality and become reasonable theses. We live it every day. Social media makes it easy. Also the avalanche of information of all kinds that reaches mobile phones and isolates.
Populism is the main reason why some unpresentable people showed up at the Capitol and one of the explanations that, in recent years in Spain, and specifically in Catalonia, citizens ended up in the street protesting.
Comparisons can mislead the point of the argument. But there is no doubt that there are points of connection. Of course, the argument for messing it up on the street may be different. The attempted assault on Catalan Parliament as the final stage of the demonstration called by Platform 1 d’Octubre, which brought together all the pro-independence associations in the country and which reached the gates of the institution, is not the same as the assault on the Capitol. Or is it?
Encouraging people to surround the Congress of Deputies four years ago – Pablo Iglesias described it as healthy – is not the same as what happened in Washington two days ago. Or is it?
The social networks, with their usual naturalness, sentenced towards a yes (or a no) with that same security the writer lacks. The doubt answers where we place the objective: in the mobilizing ideas, in the mobilized group or in action. An action that can be summed up in how to go out into the street with authority to take by force, or not, a public space.
From the point of view of that action, there are no differences. No doubt. As Bill Clinton wrote: “The assault was fueled by more than four years of poisonous policies that spread deliberate misinformation, sowed mistrust in our system, and pitted Americans against each other”. There it is. Creating mistrust in the system. It sounds close.
https://www.lavanguardia.com/politica/20210108/6172991/movilizar-mintiendo.html
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