One of the things that bugs a lot of people about Trumpism — and I'll bet it bugs a lot of people who still back the guy — is the idea that "the facts" can be whatever you want them to be if it helps you win an argument.
It serves Trump's purposes for the murder rate in this country ("the carnage") to never have been higher…so it's never been higher, no matter what the actual statistics say. In a year or so, he can point to the actual stats (even if they go up) and claim credit for bringing them down to that. It also serves his purposes for millions of illegal votes to have been cast for Hillary and for terrorism attacks to be so numerous that the press doesn't even report them.
My closest friend who is glad Trump won cringes at this kind of stuff because he thinks it, more so than anything Democrats are doing, de-legitimizes a presidency that he wants to see succeed, at least for certain of its goals.
It's also just really, really uncomfy for him to support Trump when people like me are saying to him, "Hey, you said Al Gore was a congenital liar when he said [summary of inconsequential Gore distortion of facts]. How do you feel about your boy Trump saying [summary of consequential Trump lie]?" It's bad enough that he has to defend/overlook the "pussy" talk or his candidate's marital and business track records.
I guess I should have been better prepared for this because I've spent a lot of time on Internet message boards and forums where, encouraged by distance and often anonymity and/or alcohol, people say some real stupid, untrue things. When such forums work — when people remain civil and relatively factual — some wonderful, enlightening discussions can occur. I've enjoyed many and learned from many.
But then every so often, along comes someone who's really mad at about something and/or committed to some personal agenda…and they just make things so unpleasant that the sane people prove their sanity by going elsewhere. These disruptors usually proclaim success but when I look at them, what I think is: "This person is really, really committed to winning arguments here because he or she is not winning anything very often in real life."
That may be unfair but in at least a few cases, I'm sure it's true. I know it's true.
Often, they remind me of the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, who may be the all-time greatest literary analogy ever for someone who loses and loses and loses and still thinks that he's winning if he doesn't admit defeat — to himself or anyone. King Arthur lops off the Knight's arms and legs off and the Knight's still clinging to some fairy tale bromide about how a man who won't be beaten can't be beaten. (When people quote that to me as if it's oh so true, I usually ask them what happens when one man who won't be beaten battles another man who won't be beaten…)
It's so bizarre to me at times to find people defending beliefs of microscopic importance to the death. I'm sure it happens on discussion forums of all topics but it never seems so petty as the comic book chat venues, where people — many of them alleged grown-ups — are arguing over who's stronger, The Thing or The Hulk, or who drew the best Batman. And hey, do you think Archie should marry Betty or Veronica?
I care about many, many aspects of the comic book world, especially those that impact the lives and appreciation of its great creative talents…but when you find yourself jousting online with a Black Knight about which writer's version of The Joker was definitive, all you can do is click your mouse and go find a better place to be. This is something you need to do before you get stuck playing their game for very long.
No one can win their game. You can't and they can't, though that won't stop them from deciding they did and taking victory laps. All they can really do is waste your time, energy and attention.
I argue occasionally with those who spread misinformation but try to not to get into debates over opinions because, well, they're opinions. We're not supposed to all like all the same stuff for all the same reasons. It's sometimes hard to find the dividing line though when you're dealing with people who think their opinions are facts; that the answer to "Who was Jack Kirby's best inker" is just as evident and inarguable as the answer to "What's 2+2?"
Over the years, I've learned to avoid certain individuals on the 'net because they're like that. Last year at Comic-Con in San Diego, one of them sought me out to talk…and I'll say this for the guy: He was a much nicer, saner human being than I would ever have imagined based on his online posts. I think we forget this sometimes. Some people, and I think I'm one of them, write pretty much as they are. If you don't like me from what I write here, don't bother trying to meet me. I don't get any better in person.
But some people aren't the same guy, possibly because they aren't all that facile with words and don't express themselves well. When all you have to go on about a person is how and what they write, it's hard not to formulate an overall view of them based on that. When I was in my early teens and reading mimeographed and ditto "fanzines," I kind of assumed that if someone's writings had a lot of typos in them, if you'd met that individual in person, they'd have a corresponding speech impediment. Or if they typed in elite type instead of pica, which is larger, they'd have a very soft voice.
Anyway, this guy at San Diego seemed intelligent and decent in person, which had not always been the case with his Internet postings. He had sensed over the years that I was avoiding him and wanted to know why. I told him as nicely as I could that online, I thought he was a maniac who was sloppy with his facts…and since there was no reasoning with him, why bother? He said he understood that, he apologized for being too strident and unwilling to concede error…
…and then he said, by way of explanation and not as an excuse, "I was having a rough time in my life back then." I think I always sensed that. I didn't know anything about the fellow but his arguments didn't always seem to be about what they were about. He was stressing over things in his world that weren't working out the way he wanted them to so he became a little more crazed to see them work out his way on this forum where we discussed comic books.
That's not just my "take" on the situation. It was his, as well. I think a lot of arguments on the 'net are in the same category.
It helps to remember that some people don't always manage to write that they mean by way of tone and often, substance. It also helps to remember that those who post under handles may feel no responsibility for what they post under that phony name and also that the Internet is a place of immediate reaction.
In the old days, something might get you furious and you'd sit down and dash off an angry, outraged letter — what a friend of mine used to a call a "Dear Mr. Asshole" letter — and then the mere act of writing it would take half the fury out of your soul. Then a half-hour later, the other half would evaporate and instead of sending the letter, you'd decide to save a stamp and your reputation so you'd tear it up.
Today, you finish it, you hit "send" and there it is for all the world to see, possibly forever.
When you read the Internet in this era of Trump, you see a lot of stuff that makes you think people are insane, which of course some are. You and I may disagree as to who the insane people are but I'll bet we agree that they're there on the Internet, just like porn, spam, clickbait, overhyped headlines, piano-playing cats, Nigerian scams, Kardashian photos and more porn. Being aware of the crazy people is important because you can't avoid them if you don't remember that they're there.
It's probably also important because we all have our bubbles and we need to remember that those bubbles are never as large as we like to think they are. Sadly though, the more you browse the web, the more you may become convinced we live in a world where we're outnumbered by crazies.
And maybe we are. But maybe some of those crazies aren't as crazy as they seem. Maybe they're stressing over something else, something largely unrelated to whatever they're being crazy about on some forum or comment section.
Or maybe they're coming across crazier than they really are because they're not very good writers. Remember that…and while you're at it, have a little sympathy for those who've lost and are so out of touch with reality that they just don't know it. You can usually spot them lying there with their arms and legs cut off, and they're offering magnanimously to declare the battle a draw.