Comments
THE VIEW FROM HERE - Truth plays no role in a polarized society. Each side has its narrative. Facts, rumors, and lies are all equal in the MAGAsphere and in Wokedom. Actually, extremists prefer lies since they can be tailored to their own narrative. Thus, Centrists face a difficult task trying to figure out what’s happening. There are some general rules which we Centrists follow in an endeavor not to be too badly deceived.
There is no need to determine whether a statement is true or false. We may simply accept that someone made a statement. Other times, we can know instantly that it is false. For example, the main US networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, keep insisting that Trump said that three strikes against the nuclear sites, “obliterated” Iran’s “nuclear program.” Here is what Trump said on Truth Social:
"Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success," Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated."
One need not read beyond Trump’s words to know that media is lying when it reports that Trump said the strikes obliterated Iran’s entire nuclear program. The issue is not whether Trump might believe destroying the sites might also ruin their entire program; that is not what he said. The media is simply lying. Trump’s statement was limited to the impact on the sites themselves. The media, however, has an agenda, and by grossly distorting what Trump had said, they can discredit him. Since Trump is bombastic and prone to hyperbole, the public can be easily fooled that he had referred to the entire Iranian nuclear program in all its aspects. Both MAGA and Woke know that no one has to time to parse each statement and then fact check it.
Is Trump’s Statement That the Three Nuclear Sites Were Obliterated True?
We need to look for facts; facts have four varieties:
(1) facts which are merely consistent with the statement,
(2) facts which are probative of the statement, and
(3) facts which are inconsistent with the statement
(4) facts tend to disprove the statement.
An example of the category four is that Trump won the 2020 election. There are so many undisputed facts that disprove Trump’s claim that “the election was stolen,” that there is only one conclusion. Trump lost the 2020 election.
Are there facts consistent that the bunker busters obliterated the three sites?
Are the satellite photos consistent that the bunker buster 5,000 bomb obliterated the two sites on which they were dropped? Analysis requires expert opinion, but it seems more likely than not, the damage on the surface would be considerably less with a bunker buster bomb. It is not designed to spread massive lateral damage but to burrow deep into the rock and not explode until it reaches the level of the nuclear program, e.g., the centrifuges. If experts find that the surface damage is not great, that would be a fact consistent with the bombs’ effectiveness. Let’s face it, how many of us are qualified to offer a reliable opinion?
Are there facts probative that the bunker busters obliterated the nuclear site?
From what little we know about the bombs; they have feedback mechanics. If this allegation is true, then the military should know the depth at which the bombs detonated. That data would probative one way or other.
One may surmise that such a huge explosion would register on seismometers. To the extent there are seismometers, whose data we may collect, they would provide facts tending to support or disprove that the sites were obliterated. Did the IDF plant seismometers long before the air strikes? No one is saying but it would be characteristic of the IDF to have done so.
As members of the public, we appear to have some facts which are consistent with Trump’s statement that the sites were obliterated. The third site is more nebulous since Tomahawk missiles and not bunker buster bombs were used.
Habitual Liars Are Not Reliable
Since both the MAGAsphere and WokeDom including the media are habitual liars, the public is constantly misdirected. Were the strikes sufficient to have ruined Iran’s entire program to the point that it would be folly for them to continue their efforts to obtain nuclear weapons? Are there any facts to conclude that the ayatollahs will give up their 46 years of effort to exterminate the Jews? Trump seems to believe that the Ayatollahs are rational and would make the same decision as the average reasonable businessman. Putin has been lying to Trump ab initio, but Trump still believes that he has a good relationship with Putin.
Parsing Incessant Falsehoods Is Intellectually and Emotionally Exhausting
People prefer to have reliable sources of information, but they will not get it from either extreme in a polarized society. If a non-partisan voice should speak up and say that vaccines are safe, it will face a tsunami of attacks. There was a time when a President was found to have lied about a vital public matter, and the entire nation was furious. In 1964 based on a falsehood, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which allowed President Johnson to escalate the war in Vietnam. To this day, the lie beneath the Resolution and George Bush’s assertion decades later that Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons pushed the nation to invade Iraq. It, however, would be absurd to therefore reason that ayatollahs are not vigorously seeking nuclear weapons.
Unlike the Gulf of Tonkin, where there was no reliable evidence of the August 4th attack and unlike false evidence that Saddam had nukes, the world has decades of indisputable evidence of Ayatollahs’ objective to obtain nuclear weapons to exterminate Israel. What sane person would think that the world must wait until 11:59 before 12:00 to stop Iran? If one claims that Ayatollahs should not have any nuclear weapons, then military action was mandatory decades ago. Had Hitler been stopped when he marched into the Rhineland, 60 million lives would have been saved, and Hitler did not have nuclear weapons. No matter at what stage the Ayatollahs may now be, they must be stopped including by more military action.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected])
