So here we are in the midst of a mass delusion on the part of literally millions of people who believe that Donald Trump won the presidential election of 2020. No need to go into how crazy that is. Journalists and opinion leaders are livid about the craven politicians who openly support this lie and the other republicans whose silence we all hear.
But for Adriel, it is not the usual scalawag politicians who are used to subjecting us to hypocrisy and prevarication. It’s the believers, those so willing to believe what they know is false. And so many!
Yet when I meet those deluded folks, they seem so normal, perfectly okay and often are kind and concerned neighbors. Long ago I read an article, I think in the Atlantic, by a reporter who had conducted a series of interviews with people who had been abducted by space aliens. The visitors from the cosmic realm had swooped down in flying saucers adorned with Christmas lights flashing away. The earthlings were teleport-ed up, examined and interrogated and placed back gently in their homes. That’s not the crazy part. The astounding part was these people were perfectly normal. In other ways, I mean. They lived in regular neighborhood homes or apartments. They had families, including real homo sapien parents. They held jobs, watched television, read books. (Well, maybe not read books.) They were the “just folks” you might meet in the grocery store or you might sit next to their desk at work. They were normal. The reporter had some information on their psychological make up, and they were as normal as anyone you might meet.
I think they were crazy. On the other hand. Almost everyone I meet believes that Jesus raised people from the dead, could cure leprosy without the benefit of antibiotics, and raised himself from the grave. Or they believe that G-d has a special agreement with them on account of being Jewish and they are entitled to part ownership of ha-aretz and maybe all of Palestine. Or maybe they are a hafiz and can recite, with ardent belief, the entire Koran from memory. At St. Ann elementary school, we little believers were required to memorize, recite, and pledge belief in the words of the Nicene Creed, a list of required Catholic dogma, fully vetted by the Doctors of the Church in 325 of the Common Era. All of us believe in something that is clearly at odds with what we can easily see is reality. And we appear normal. Personally, I believe sincerely that I will win the lottery, maybe not the big one, but millions surely. And I appear normal, to some at least.
Two Strikes 