Deeply moving. Inspiring. Gripping.
Those words don't begin to describe the testimony four police officers gave today about the Capitol insurrection by Trump supporters who believed the Big Lie that Joe Biden didn't win the presidential election.
Their honesty and bravery put into stark contrast the lies and cowardice almost all Congressional Republicans have been displaying since they decided it was more important to kiss the ass of Donald Trump than stand up for our democracy, which rests on the foundation of a peaceful transfer of power after free and fair elections.
But it isn't just Republicans in Washington D.C. who are going along with Trump's "Stop the Steal" madness.
The Oregon Republican Party has said that the insurrection was a fake "false flag" operation meant to discredit Trump -- the exact opposite of the truth, since Trump was the prime instigator of the violent right-wing terrorists.
Keep this in mind when Republicans seek your vote in local, state, or national elections. Whether they're running for the Salem City Council or President of the United States, every Republican needs to be asked if they believe Biden won a free and fair election.
If a GOP candidate says "no," or equivocates, don't let them off the hook. Pressure them to provide solid evidence that Trump won. Naturally they won't be able to do this, but liars need to be called out on their lies.
Over on my Church of the Churchless blog, recently I've been writing about a great book by Jonathan Rauch, The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth.
One of the strange things about that blog is that although I'm now an avowed atheist after embracing an Eastern guru-centered spiritual path for 35 years, many of the people who comment on my blog posts are strong religious believers.
They dislike the notion of objective truth, preferring a wishy-washy subjectivism where if you have faith that something is true, that's good enough. I find this attitude deeply irritating. It allows all kinds of dangerous falsehoods to take root in human minds, such as Trump won the election and Covid vaccines don't work.
Here's what I wrote this morning for my churchless blog. I found the honest testimony of the four police officers so inspiring, I just had to blast the relativism of commenters on my blog who don't believe in objective truth.
As I write this I'm listening to televised testimony of four police officers who are appearing at the first meeting of the Select Committee on the January 6 insurrection at the nation's capitol.
Watch it, Church of the Churchless commenters who think truth is relative, that what experts and professionals say can't be trusted, that everyone is free to create their own reality, that this physical realm is an illusion, that objectivity isn't possible, and other blather spewed from your religious sensibilities.
Watch it, because the truth is being spoken by four brave men who put their lives on the line. One truthful sentence from them is worth more than a thousand bullshit comments about the relativity of truth.
Truth isn't relative. Truth is truth. It is the most important thing in life, because without truth we're living a lie. Me, I choose not to do that. Those four police officers also have chosen not to do that.
Take some time to watch this testimony. I'm sure it will be available on You Tube.
Those commenters who consider that truth is something to play word games with, that it doesn't matter if people embrace falsehoods -- watch the four police officers talk about how a dangerous mob of thousands of Trump supporters invaded the capitol because they believed a lie, that the election was stolen from Trump.
Lies matter. Falsehoods matter.
They lead to assaults on law enforcement officers who are still recovering from their many injuries. So think about this, commenters on this blog, next time you want to defend a "everyone creates their own reality" bullshit philosophy. That's an insult to the truth-telling police officers.
None of you would have had the courage to defend the capitol. You don't even have the courage to defend the truth, which requires no physical bravery, just moral strength. So learn from the four police officers. They have a lot to teach you.
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