I asked Google AI “How will we know anything is true in the future?” It responded, “In the future, determining truth will rely heavily on a combination of advanced technology, critical thinking, and institutional collaboration, as AI blurs the lines between authentic and fabricated content. There will be no single answer, but rather a multi-faceted approach.”
Well, if that’s not enough to send a chill down your spine, I don’t know what is. Google AI went on to elaborate the steps a human will have to take to determine what’s true, in so far as it’s even possible. The formula is far too long for me to reproduce here. But it involves the kind of research you’d expect a graduate student to conduct for a Ph.D project. I mean, do we really need “advanced technology, critical thinking, and institutional collaboration” to know that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election?
Chill, Republicans, I’m not just picking on you. Extremists on both sides are playing this game for the same reason: to sell us a steaming load of horseshit. The wokes want us to believe we’re all a bunch of racists who need to be slapped down. The MAGAs want us to believe that only straight White conservative men (J.D. Vance?) are capable of leadership. Both blur the lines between “authentic and fabricated content.” Both attempt to do away with common sense. Both want us to be so confused that we’d be willing to believe anything, or nothing.
In Oakland, of course, the horseshit comes from the far left. Once upon a time it would have sufficed for a reasonably intelligent person to inspect Oakland and conclude that there was something seriously wrong with the way the city is governed. But not today. Here in Oakland, “truth” is as endangered a species as the spotted owl. There’s been a war on truth since the 1940s, when large numbers of Black people moved here. Not that the majority of Blacks lied; they were honest, God-fearing, hard workers, who just wanted a decent life for themselves and their families, same as everyone else. But somewhere along the way the good Black people of Oakland in their naivete were hijacked by leftwing, often Communist activists, who made the cynical decision to tell them they were victims of evil, White-inspired racism. This wasn’t true, especially after the 1960s ushered in the Civil Rights era and Blacks discovered the levers of power, which they’ve held onto in Oakland for decades. As an organizing tool, this ideology worked remarkably well. As long as Black people could point to racial disparities in things like income, housing and incarceration, they could make the case that these weren’t the fault of Black people at all, but the nefarious result of organized, systematic racism. This was a conspiracy theory as loony as the staged Moon landing or the Mossad toppling the Twin Towers. But it turned out to be longer-lasting and far more insidious than any previous conspiracy theories. Many credulous Black people believed it and voted as they were instructed by power-hungry Black activists and greedy unions.
And thus the Great Split widened. White populations, who knew there was no conspiracy to keep Black people down, were aghast at how receptive so many Black people were to this falsehood. They also grew increasingly resentful against allegations that they, themselves, were racists. And why should they not? They had bought into the Civil Rights movement, had embraced Dr. King and his cause and made a hero of him, had gladly accepted integration in their schools and neighborhoods, had repeatedly voted for Democrats whom they believed were the party of Civil Rights. They consciously, and conscientiously, counted Black people as their friends and, increasingly, through marriage, as their relatives. To be told, over and over again by grifters (whose spiritual heirs include Pamela Price, Carroll Fife and Cat Brooks) that they were horrible racist monsters, rubbed them—us—the wrong way. If you’re trying to win friends, it’s a good idea not to insult them.
Under these circumstances, the future of truth around the world, and perhaps especially in a place like Oakland, is tenuous. Extremists of all stripes will redouble their efforts to gain converts, even if this pushes them further toward deceit, defamation and calumny. The greater the reaction against wokeness becomes, the harder the woke radicals will work to restore it, the more brazen their lies will be, the more determined they will become to crush anyone who threatens their power. We can see this happening right now; Fife is a good barometer. In increasing her denunciations against the police, she’s clearly desperate, sensing that her cause has not won and will not win. This is why she’s the most unpopular politician in Oakland. She’s like a feral ferret, trapped in a corner with nowhere to go, determined to fight it out. She can, at least in her mind, inflict pain on her opponents, bloody them, and maybe win. She won’t, of course, not ever. Her time has come and gone. But she won’t stop trying until something, such as a Recall, fells her.
Tomorrow, I explore why the Left is faltering everywhere in the world
Steve Heimoff