Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts said it was “outrageous” that the county “continues to be a target of those who cannot accept the results from last year’s election.”
It is outrageous. And I'm sensing a theme here, as I suggested to Hap last night. We're seeing a widespread rejection of expertise. It's led to crazy ideas about vaccines, climate change, alleged voter fraud and more.
This didn't start with Trumpty, but he's certainly encouraged it. The QAnon lunatics played their part, with the ridiculous Pizzagate conspiracy theory. But it all began on the internet many years before, with the "That's just your opinion!" crowd.
This is dangerous, a threat to a rational, civilized society. What these people appear to want is a form of mob rule, with themselves in charge. Many of them reject the notion of government. Although they don't realize it, they're advocating for anarchism.
Twentieth century anarchists weren't all bad; they produced some good thinkers. Noam Chomsky considers himself to be an anarchist. Historically, anarchists objected to out-of-control capitalism. They believed ordinary people should have the right to live decent lives, not merely to exist in relative poverty, working for Da Man.
So far, so good. Conditions for workers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were pretty terrible all over the world. We were, I think, eventually saved by FDR's New Deal. Europe was not so lucky. There, the results were Hitler and Stalin. Oddly enough, the people whining today about "voter fraud" and Evil Pharmas and climate scientists whose work they don't understand are, at bottom, protesting against Da Man. They feel they aren't getting a fair shake, and probably that has in part to do with growing income inequality.
I don't think it'd go too far to say today's angry Trump fans and QAnon supporters are far closer to supporting socialism (and even anarchism) than they believe themselves to be. Their rejection of expertise is in part rooted in their anger at Da Man. In connection with that, let's not forget that Nazi leaders in Germany and Soviet leaders in the USSR started out saying they were socialists.
And so we are, I believe, at a crossroads. When people grow suspicious of government and reject expertise, the eventual result is chaos. And that is when, without fail, a strongman steps up to the plate. We need to make the right choices.
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