Lies of Far Right is greatest threat to democracy in nearly 100 years – the mob is fuelled by ungovernable social media
WHAT motivates political radicals these days isn’t truth, as it should be, but delusion.
Far Right movements the world over are diseased with ludicrous conspiracy theories of stolen elections, satanic cabals and secret elites governing at the highest levels.
All poppycock, but the Far Right lie has become so endemic that democracy is under threat like never before in nearly 100 years.
The mob intent on destroying it is fuelled by an ungovernable social media that allows blatant lies to be published unchallenged.
Fewer and fewer people read newspapers — which is the greatest threat of all to democracy.
They prefer to get their “news” from the swamp that is Facebook and other rag-tag platforms, which parrot the false narratives inspiring Far Right crazies.
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The results of years of unfettered online deceit and false-hoods are now washing up on the shores of every democracy — including here in Ireland.
The Far Right here have their tentacles in local communities, stirring up resentment where none existed and threatening to weaken them and ultimately bring them down.
The latest instalment of Far Right hysteria happened this week in Brazil as thousands of recently defeated supporters of the now former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed and ransacked the parliament, Supreme Court and Presidential Palace in capital Brasilia.
Their man had narrowly lost October’s presidential vote to leftist Lula da Silva.
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Prior to that, Bolsonaro had repeatedly claimed, without a shred of evidence, that the vote would be stolen — much like Donald Trump had claimed before Joe Biden defeated him in the last US presidential race, in 2020.
That lie burrowed its way into the small brains of Bolsonaro’s easily led sympathisers — much as happened in the tiny minds of Trump’s gang of fools.
Driven by untruth, man becomes irrational. So the storming of The Capitol by Trump supporters ought not have come as a huge surprise. When logic and truth go out the window, all that’s left is fear and rage, foundations of the Far Right.
What happened in Brasilia on Sunday was similarly predictable.
Bolsonaro’s mob had been gathering in their thousands outside the army HQ in the city for the previous three months demanding generals intervene to overturn the result of October’s election.
LOST FAITH IN SYSTEM
They had set up a tent city and draped themselves in the green and gold of the Brazilian national flag. They swapped conspiracy theories and built up a bubbling pot of rage that spilled over on Sunday into a direct, violent attack on Brazilian democracy.
Bolsonaro, who fled to Florida in the wake of his election defeat, has condemned the violence — but his words and his deeds over the four years he ruled Brazil inspired Sunday’s events.
For years he said election officials counted votes in secret, allowing them to manipulate the results. A LIE. He alleged the code used in voting machines was easily hacked. Again, a LIE. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, he repeated those claims in speeches, on television and in hundreds of social media posts.
With the result that millions of Brazilians lost faith in the electoral system and believed October’s election was, indeed, stolen.
Before October’s vote, Bolsonaro held a rally in Rio. He told the crowd: “For all of us, we have three alternatives, especially for me — arrest, death or victory. Tell those bastards, I will never be arrested.”
GREAT PERIL
Talk about stoking the flames. But despite all his macho bravado — that once included the comment to a female parliamentarian that he “wouldn’t rape her because she didn’t deserve it” — cowardly Bolsonaro chose to flee Brazil for America after his defeat.
His supporters back home still idolise him nevertheless, and have taken his lies and deceits to the next level — where violence reigns.
The authorities clamped down hard on Sunday’s protesters, arrest-ing more that 1,500 and vowing to go after many more.
Counter marches, pro-Democracy, have broken out across Brazil — a fragile democracy just 38 years old.
But the menace of the Far Right remains — much as it does in America where the aura of Trump still resides deep in the heart of the Republican Party.
The Far Right is growing in many corners of the world, including here in Ireland.
Democracy is in great peril. Hold the truth high to defend it best.
JOHNNY BE GOOD
OLD age does iron out a few wrinkles, if not on the face.
Johnny Rotten was an upstart punk rock legend who tore the music scene to shreds as lead singer with the Sex Pistols for a year or so in the late Seventies.
He went on to form Public Image Ltd in 1978. His new band still had that searing, nasty swagger that all punk should have.
Now 66, Johnny still plays with PiL, but his music is more solemn, mournful even. Your ma might like it. It’s a million miles away from the Pistols.
He has thrown his hat into the Eurovision ring, hoping to represent Ireland at May’s final in Liverpool.
His tune, Hawaii, is dedicated to his wife Nora who suffers from Alzheimer’s.
Johnny says it’s “a pensive, personal yet universal love song that will resonate with many.”
This from the anarchist who penned This Is Not A Love Song.
Oh, how human beings change.
GARDAI IN WORD OF ITS OWN
HOW do you stop a bag of manure being thrown at you if you’re a TD or senator?
Well, wear a “comfortable pair of shoes” so “you can move quickly if you need to”.
That’s the advice of cops who sent a circular to Dail Eireann with “tips” for politicians when meeting with irate constituents.
It comes in the wake of the “attack” on TDs Anne Rabbitte and Ciaran Cannon last week when a bag of cow dung was flung at the pair.
The gardai don’t define exactly what type of shoes are “comfortable”. Presumably, they mean loafers or runners, but they don’t go into detail.
Other gems in the cop circular include filling up your car with petrol “during daylight hours” and checking pressure on tyres “regularly”, including the spare.
Hilariously, it goes on: “After knocking at the door (of a constituent), stand back and to the side. When the resident answers, before going straight in, engage them in a doorstep conversation. Use your sense – smell, sight, hearing, gut feel – and if anything feels ‘off’ make an excuse for not going in.”
The advice also says to “avoid meeting in the kitchen”, as it provides “many possibilities when it comes to dangerous weapons that are best avoided”.
No shit.
TIME TO HOME IN, DARRAGH
POLITICAL discourse is the art of saying nothing while claiming to say everything.
Because they love the sound of their own voices, politicians are expert at putting the doing part of politics on the long finger.
Why get your hands dirty in the nitty-gritty when you can have a good debate instead?
The housing crisis has been momentarily eclipsed by the chaos in our hospitals, but remains one of the greatest stains on this Government’s reputation. Too many people and not enough houses mean soaring rents and more homelessness.
Well, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his Housing Minister, Darragh O’Brien decided to hold a “housing conference” on Tuesday to tease out with various stakeholders, such as builders and developers, what could be done.
Leo later said they came up with “concrete proposals”. Be funny, if we weren’t in a crisis so serious our young are fecking off in record numbers. Conferences don’t build homes. Will does.
IT'S PLAIN ROBBERY
SO the price of a pint of Plain – Guinness to those younger than 45 – is increasing by as much as 40 cent. Sad, indeed.
Diageo, which makes the Black Stuff, says rising costs – energy being the biggest – mean it will have to lob 12 cent on to the pint. That’s before VAT of 23 per cent is added by the boys and girls in Leinster House. All of which means publicans will have no option but to raise prices.
Ronan Lynch, owner of the famous Swan bar in Dublin, said: “It’s the magnitude of this increase that is difficult, twice the size of increases we’ve seen in the past.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar urged publicans to apply to the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme for help with energy costs. He expects tens of thousands of applications.
If you’re a publican, you know what to do.
SHOW ME THAT SUNSHINE, MAYA
IN the absence of sun, I might just tune into Love Island, starting on Sunday and hosted by Maya Jama at a villa in Mallorca.
But the volume will be turned down. No offence to the contestants, who I’m sure have soaring intellects, but I just want to see the sun shine. It’s been too long.