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Victor Davis Hanson: How to deprogram us
 [American Greatness] new buzzword on social media, cable news, and among leftist activists is "deprogramming."Along with terms like "reprogramming," "de-Baathification," and "deplatforming," deprogramming refers to cleansing the incorrect mentalities of former Trump Administration officials—and even those who voted for Trump. Note that deprogramming does not refer to elites who peddled the "Russian collusion" hoax for years, despite the abject absence of evidence. Not long ago, two Washington Post columnists offered some solutions to the Trumpist threat. One, Max Boot, wished to ban Fox News and other conservative stations from cable subscriptions. The other, Eugene Robinson, suggested that there was a need to focus on mostly "white" Republicans to "deprogram" their thoughts. Pro forma "diversity training" has already been upgraded to include coming clean about "white supremacy" and "unearned privilege." Graduates are supposed to emerge washed of their sins of entitlement. Only when thus vaccinated, can they become fully certified that they no longer pose a threat to the Other. Still, how might a proper stepped-up deprogramming system deal with any diehard Trump refuseniks? Why not borrow the current Chinese "social credit system"? Non-participating dead-ender Trumpers might lose so many social awareness points that they would be disqualified from staying at their beloved Holiday Inns or banned from Olive Garden restaurants. Milder rejectionists could wear red MAGA cone hats. During Mao’s Cultural Revolution, such dunce cones proved useful in identifying and shaming the right wrong people. Television, social media, and Hollywood could do their part. Viewers might be first required to participate in two-minutes of hate shouting, aimed at enemies on the screen: Donald and Melania, or perhaps former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. Posted by: Besoeker 2021-01-31 |
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