Letter: When people don’t face the facts

Graphic by Lori Deaton

There’s so much misinformation in our world and even on Nextdoor in this town.

Some of the lunacy reminds me of a funny story about the man who cheats on his wife and lies about it.

One night he’s out carousing and doesn’t come home until dawn. When his wife asks where he’s been, he says, “Oh, honey, I worked late and didn’t want to wake you, so I slept in the hammock.”

“But we took the hammock down last December,” she says.

“Well,” he stammers, “That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”

Crazy, right?

A similar narrative has been playing out in our country, state and local community for years, and it’s baffling to see so many residents and so-called leaders refuse to fess up, face facts or have the common decency to speak up for what’s right.

If you don’t believe me, I suggest you watch some footage from Jan. 6, 2021, and then give some serious thought to what it means when the president of the United States so devalues and disrespects law enforcement and our justice system that he pardons those who violently attack public servants and will surely do so again. Maybe you (or even Rep. Chuck Edwards) could write an essay or op-ed or try to explain it to a child.

Frankly, it would be nice to hear from some local conservatives who have voiced support for cops in the past when it was convenient but now sit by in silent complicity. If you thought the idea of defunding the police was an outrage, how do you explain devaluing their lives?

You can stick to your story (and your lying felon) all you want, but we the people know the truth.

— Robert McGee
Asheville

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10 thoughts on “Letter: When people don’t face the facts

      • K

        Fisher, I don’t know if you’re just trying to change the subject, or if you think it’s perfectly fine for people to beat the s– out of cops…can only assume that it’s the latter…

    • Robert McGee

      Hi Steve,
      That’s why I reference ‘those who violently attack public servants’ and not the misguided-but-mostly-peaceful grannies who maybe got swept up in the moment.
      Robert

      • Steven Terranova

        As discussed in the YouTube video I referenced, a great many of folks that were the “grannies” as you call them and others were non-violent accidental and simple trespassers. Not to minimize the sides of the Capitol that had a break in, but on at least one side of the Capitol, folks were invited inside. The Biden DOJ added additional charges for these folks under an obscure statute about disrupting a process and witness tampering to “trump up” (no pun intended) the charges from simple misdemeanor trespass to a 20 year felony. That obscure charge was ruled as inapplicable by the Supreme Court. However, before this could be rectified by the Supreme Court, the Biden DOJ added that 20 year felony charge to force guilty pleas, because in a DC court with a DC jury, people could not take a chance to go to trial. And even with the plea downs, serious jail time was given for simple trespass with no violence, when it would otherwise be unheard of to get jail time. The Biden DOJ should have just handled the cases straight up, but they corrupted the process for “effect.” I don’t agree with Trump pardoning “every” Jan. 6 person, but I do with most and there was only a smaller minority that had committed violence against someone. Most were non-violent and had already served or were serving serious jail time – in other words they “did not get away” with it. There are very much two sides to this story. How about trying to tell both sides when you tell it.

        • K

          While you were blathering on about non-violent protestors who were not the subject of Mr. McGee’s letter, the leader of the Proud Boys got arrested again.

    • Voirdire

      overreach, huh? Sounds like more not facing the facts to me. Time to get real about it all, way past time actually.

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    • K

      Nearly 170 violent offenders were pardoned, including one man with 38 priors and a history of beating women–one of whom is afraid he’ll come track her down now that he’s free. Trump claimed it would have been too cumbersome to separate these 170 criminals from the other, but that was a lie. They were already separated.

  1. Voirdire

    yeah, amen. Unfortunately, we the people who can still see it for what it is are in the minority apparently… a shrinking minority I’m afraid. ( and yes, we all have our own precious and precarious delusions ….read on) The facts now are just too painful to face for most…. disinformation and delusion go hand in hand and become the “new facts” …the “reality” of something better that never seems to actually materialize. It’s all driven by 8plus billion people on way too small of a planet for that number ….and it manifests itself in not so fun things like ubiquitous microplastics, climate change, more and more refugees worldwide, imminent shortages of food stuffs, scarce clean water, pandemics, war et al. It’s a bad situation …and it’s going to get increasingly worse in all probability. Divide and conquer is the new world order, and it’s accomplished as Zoe Williiams wrote recently ” by describing black as white, openly turning observable reality on its head” …and it works because fear is the ultimate motivator -and the only common denominator- in our brave new world now. But yeah, onward… it’s the only way… forward with a little less fear and as clear eyed and open hearted as we dare.

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