After two years of relentless reporting on the Mueller investigation and snide comments from the late night “comedians”, we have found that the media is not a medium for truth or even relevant stories. Mueller fell flat. This teaches us some valuable lessons.
1. Examine people’s motives when they make an argument
One would think, given their stated passion that a U.S. president must not be in collusion with Russian officials, that a thorough investigation confirming there’s nothing to substantiate these rumors, this news would be accompanied by ebullient joy and not their apparent disappointment.
This was entirely reminiscent of late 2016 when Democrats were irate that Trump suggested he might not accept the legitimacy of the election if there was evidence of tampering, and in due course, the Democrats themselves refused to accept the legitimacy of the election because of the perception of tampering. They didn’t care about any of this undermining of democracy nonsense, they only pretended they did to make an argument.
The left has told us with their words that it is horrifying for an American president to be colluding with Russian officials for the sake of politics. Also, their disappointment over the news indicates that they wanted their president to be colluding with Russian officials for the sake of their politics. This says something about the human heart.
C.S. Lewis writes on people quarreling:
“Did we not quite unknowingly falsify the whole issue? Did we pretend to be angry about one thing when we knew, or could have known, that our anger had a different and much less presentable cause? Did we pretend to be “hurt” in our sensitive and tender feelings (fine natures like ours are so vulnerable) when envy, ungratified vanity, or thwarted self-will was our real trouble?”
2. Only be passionate about issues you’re familiar on
King Solomon said that zeal without reflection is evil. There’s a poisonous combination of passion and ignorance. I once heard a sermon by a pastor who preached against the practice of philosophy. Intrigued to hear more, I bought him lunch and asked him what philosophical books caused him to draw his conclusion; at which point he confessed he had never actually read a book on the subject.
It’s the Jordan Peterson fanboy who hates postmodernism but has never read a book by a postmodernist. It’s the leftist that despises libertarians while being unfamiliar with sound money, or being able to do something as basic as articulate the non-aggression principle. It’s the person who consumes mainstream media and finds late-night comedians amusing and was convinced the Mueller investigation was indicting Trump.
This lie, that the Mueller investigation was going to impeach Trump, was so oft repeated that the commentators only heard the repetition and not the thing in itself. They knew nothing of the substance but became passionate nevertheless.
3. Only be political on issues you’re passionate on
It’s beyond dispute that the left was using this as a wedge issue. The left was likewise never interested in Trump’s tax returns, they were only interested in discrediting Trump. But the reasons why they want to discredit Trump could actually have traction – he wants to rack up more debt, he wants to bomb civilians, he wants to raise the cost of living through protectionism, he tried to cancel religious freedom by banning Muslims from entering America, and he refused to allow a Mexican judge to preside over one of his many court cases.
The things we know about Trump are far worse than the things we don’t know. Yet the left, for political purposes, has opted to focus on the things we don’t know. There’s a certain level of honesty and intelligence to restricting our focus on areas of genuine passion and competence. Mueller spelled this out for us.
Brandon Kirby
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