Remember when Jonathan Pie used to be compelling? That fake reporter bit was pretty goddamned funny. That was then. This is now. The rise of populist-nationalism across Europe and the America has broken him.
Remember when John McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin told Charlie Gibson in an ABC interview that she could see Russia from her house? No, you don’t, because she didn’t say it.
Gibson asked Palin, “What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?” Palin responded, “They’re our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.” She explained, “I’m giving you that perspective of how small our world is and how important it is that we work with our allies to keep good relation with all of these countries, especially Russia. We will not repeat a Cold War. We must have good relationship with our allies, pressuring, also, helping us to remind Russia that it’s in their benefit, also, a mutually beneficial relationship for us all to be getting along.”
Can one see Russia from Alaska? Yes, in fact one can. On a clear day, from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede Island in Russia, which are about 2.5 miles apart at their closest point, one can see Russia from Alaska across the Bering Strait. So why do so many people remember Palin telling Gibson that she could see Russia from her house? It’s what we know in social science as mass formation hypnosis. We use this term in psychology and sociology to explain how individuals predisposed to do so by their identification with a particular group and set of concerns lose their sense of charity and critical thinking upon subjection to certain stimulus. In the case of Palin, installing a false memory also has a purpose.
Recall the context in which Palin was discussing Russia. Palin was John McCain’s pick for Vice-President in his contest with Democrat candidates Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Obama and Biden were the corporate state picks. The corporate state needed Obama and Biden to put a progressive gloss on the neoliberal and neoconservative agendas. (It’s why they relentlessly mocked Al Gore to secure the election of George Bush and Dick Cheney.) Just days before she sat down with Gibson, Palin had lit up the Republican National Convention, breathing life into McCain’s candidacy. Mark Halperin, writing for Time, gave her performance a glowing review:
“Mother, fighter, small town girl, patriot, reformer, energy expert, hockey mom, McCain attack dog, America’s political sweetheart—she did everything she had to do, and more. The Alaska Governor was poised, stirring, charming, confident, snarky, cozy, well-rehearsed, biting, utterly fearless, unflappable, and self-assured. She read the teleprompter like a champ, with fine, varied pacing and conversational projection. Touched on her family story and then veered into a forceful political presentation, going hard after Barack Obama and selling John McCain with flowing admiration. She rocked the hall (and likely the country) with a tough, conservative message, steely offense, glowing optimism, and boundless charisma. The start of something truly big—or the best night of her candidacy.”
The culture industry and mass media apparatus swung into action, determined to make sure that it would effectively be the only good night of her candidacy by mocking her relentlessly. They struck pay dirt when, on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey, whose Palin impression was exceptional, saying in character, “I can see Russia from my house.” The line was put into the loop machine and now most American have in their heads a false memory. Not just those for whom a partisan political worldview had prepared them. Fey’s line was so ubiquitous and unchallenged that even Republicans came to believe she had said it.
Remember when the machine looped Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women”? Unlike the Palin Russia meme, Romney did say this, but the opportunity was the same. What did Romney mean? He said this in 2012 during the second debate with Obama, who was running for reelection. Romney, governor of Massachusetts at the time, was responding to a question about pay equity, referring to ring binders with résumés of female job applicants he was reviewing. How could that be turned into a meme and used to endlessly mock Romney? That it was testifies to the power of the propaganda machine in producing mass formation hypnosis. It also testifies to the gullibility and pettiness of a large swatch of the population. (I don’t have to say anything here about what the crowd does with Donald Trump’s speech except to merely make this note.)
The United States is not unique for having a mass of gullible and petty people. The UK mass recently raised its visibility by mocking conservative Suella Braverman for her appearance on LBC talking about the wall Greece erected between that country and Turkey. Greece erected the 25-mile long wall because the government recognized their country proximity to the Islamic world meant that they were the gateway to Europe for migrants. Braverman explained that she had seen the wall when she visited Greece, which of course she had. Only she didn’t say Greece but instead “Italy.”
Recently, on Facebook, I was trying to explain religious liberty to people who were determined to push the straw man that religion had been banned from public schools in order to push for taxing the church. As I always do, I referenced James Madison as the man to consult in such matters. As the conversation unfolded, I used Hamilton’s name in place of Madison at one point. Obviously I meant Madison. But those who were pushing the argument saw it as an opportunity to execute the ad hominem ridicule. As if I don’t know the difference between the two men. Why would Hamilton’s name pop up? I don’t know, could it be because they were both Founding Fathers? Could it be that both of them worked on the Federalist Papers? Could it be that I had just been in another conversation where Washington’s first cabinet was the subject of discussion?
Anybody with any working knowledge of maps and a decent sense of charity knew Braverman didn’t mean Italy. Italy doesn’t share a border with Turkey. All the maps with circles showing that they don’t tell us that there are lot of petty people in England who jump at the opportunity to mock their political opponents over the most trivial thing. It’s not that mocking and ridiculing are necessarily wrong. But when one mocks and ridicules, it needs to be over something substantial, not wrongly naming a country in front of a microphone—especially when Italy and Greece (like Madison and Hamilton) are commonly thought of together given what both bequeathed to the West.
Whatever people think about Braverman’s politics, that she is an intelligent and knowledgeable person is not in question. So the avalanche of memes mocking her by suggesting she can’t read maps is disingenuous. It has a purpose. The purpose? The same purpose we saw with Palin and Romney (and Trump): to delegitimize a politician whose politics they wish to delegitimize. It’s the standard stuff of ad hominem: create a fake controversy and ridicule the person over it to poison listeners to the arguments that person makes.
What is in particular bothering people about Braverman? This is why I am spending any time at all on this. It directly relates to the substance of her comments about the wall between Greece and Turkey: the migrant crisis. Braverman speaks for the people when she praises the wall, condemns grooming gangs, and criticizes Labour—and even the Tories—for failing to turn back small boats of migrants crossing the English Channel. Home Office figures released on New Year’s Day show 36,816 people crossed the English Channel in small boats throughout 2024. “And what it is about these ‘small boats’?” That’s what it’s about. Migrants are turning the United Kingdom into a shit-hole. “But Muslims are only a small percentage of the UK population!” As if the major cities of that nation aren’t jammed up with Muslims praying the streets and on church grounds and rallying for Hamas. They are party of the Islamization project.
Here’s the tweet where Braverman clarifies that she meant Greece’s land border with Turkey. That she even had to clarify this tells us a lot about the character of those who persist in pretending that she actually meant that there was a land border between Italy and Turkey. The open borders crowd wish to make her an embarrassment to advance their agenda. In fact, they are, and this must be pointed out.
In responding to Pie’s tweet, I quipped that “Italy is doing a smart thing there.” With predictable results I substituted Italy for Greece on purpose to prove that the dog-pilers were uncharitable. That’s Pie’s tweet that begins this essay. You can see for yourself that particular dogpile. The notifications are so numerous I may need to mute the thread. If the so easily triggered can’t feel embarrassment, then I can feel it for them.
freedom and reason 