Grift, folly, self-delusion and petty people

Shasta County in California has been increasingly angry in recent years with right-wig militia making threats against the county supervisors. The result of a recall election is that the militia now run things. I’m sure that will work out well. Carlos Zapata, one of the militia leaders, did the usual protests that he didn’t want to get violent, but you know, if the county doesn’t get with the anti-vax position … It sounds rather like a spousal abuser rationalizing his action (“She disrespected me! I had to hit her!”) or a protection racket (“If you don’t buy my ‘insurance’ you’re really going to be sorry.”).

Supervisor Partrick Jones, who’s on the extremists’ side (the alternative side was right-wing bu still sane) offers another bit of bullshit: “We’ve been demonized as radicals and various things like this. We are not. We are just simply business owners. We’re mothers, we’re fathers, we’re grandmothers, we’re grandfathers – and we want to return to a county where we grew up: a safe, prosperous county that we can be proud of.” Guess what, radicals can be parents, grandparents and business owners. Parents, grandparents and business owners lynched black Americans, joined the KKK, hurled epithets at black kids going to school. The Duggars covered up their son molesting girls. Of course, lots of business owners, parents and grandparents are perfectly decent people, but it’s not something I assume automatically.

The article at the link mentioned that businessman Revenge Anselmo contributed $400,000 to the recall effort that put the new guys in charge. It turns out his motive is less pure politics than personal ambition: the previous administration rejected Anselmo’s planned restaurant as violating the zoning code.

For self-delusion, there’s a QAnon claim that the National Butterfly Center, which is awesome (I visited, long ago), is a center for trafficking. Evidence? None. They still had to close the center for a while because of threats.

It will get worse, for a while at least. A Republican Tennessee lawmaker wants to reprimand the Associated Press for saying there’s racism in the military. An Oklahoma lawmaker proposes firing teachers who offend students’ religious beliefs (goodbye evolutionary theory and an accurate history of this country).

Then there’s Michelle Evans, a new right-wing hack running for the Texas house. She’s latched onto an urban legend and claims some schools are catering to furries by having tables low enough they can eat as if from a trough. It is, of course, bullshit and I’m sure Evans knows it; she subsequently said that it’s just something a concerned parent told her and it wouldn’t surprise her if it was too — in short, trying to weasel out of it. Republican voters may choose to believe it, as noted at the link, because it feeds their desire for outrage.

We can be so much better than we are, but too many of us don’t try.