A friend from my past has been posting a lot of election-related stories that allege the Democrats stole the election. That Biden stole it. Not that some unscrupulous people did immoral acts, which is more believable as isolated happenings, but that some vast conspiracy occurred that solely provided extra votes to Biden. Meanwhile, after posting this person will put up his hands and say, “I’m simply pointing out questions and letting the facts play out – I won’t get involved in a he said she said situation.” However, does such behavior truly reflect letting the facts play out for themselves?
Disseminating opinions without much factual grounding at a rapid pace without doing much due diligence concerning them belies that perspective. Are we focused on the accuracy and robustness of the voting process (i.e., also investigating malfeasance or irregularities that cut against Republican votes — it appears that for many this concern is rather one-sided, justice is not being ferreted out but rather another partisan game is unfolding — are we focusing on the lawsuits that have been tossed out for being groundless)?
Trump told us before the election that he would question any outcome other than his winning and now he appears to be using federal resources alongside statements to social media, among other means, to achieve such ends. I suspect that there are issues with the vote-counting process at various levels. Anything happening on such a scale will have flaws, especially when humans are involved, but the assertion that there’s some concerted operation to steal the presidential election seems a tad unlikely, and to attribute specific instances of bad behavior to broad categories of people reeks of logical fallacies.
Each election there are issues — I recall dramatics re: Diebold with the Bush/Kerry election. In terms of purported statistical proof re: “bellwethers,” stats can be found to support most any claim. By bellwethers, since 2000 there are apparently 26 rural counties which had the same majority result as the presidential outcome, until this one. I’m guessing the data changes if you go back prior to 2000 and that you can find other trends that mirror this outcome as well.
It’s like the con where someone sends massive numbers of predictions out re: a tournament bracket with each batch varying the outcomes of the games with the promise to predict such games for your betting needs. Most will receive incorrect predictions, yet some will receive accurate ones, and some of those people will bite on the lure. People have seen Jesus in burnt bread and some such people have likely proceeded to pray to such a Jesus. Maybe they possess better access to reality than me, but I suspect otherwise (and pray for otherwise… for, as a side note, a deity who acts in such a way terrifies me, especially should such a being have domain over me). Let’s work together to not produce such people.
With so many counties across the country, you can find some county or another that matches the story you wish to tell. Also, there are narratives occurring beyond small rural counties in terms of who voted. I urge people to try to not let media or prominent voices ruffle them up, shifting the baseline of what is perceived as normal. We live in a world where people don’t provide all of the info they have and play up certain angles while minimizing others, often for some sort of selfish purpose. We must recognize who is partisan and for what reasons and discern how their biases might influence the veracity or robustness of their claims.
Hypocrisy is all around. More people need to step back and take a breath before perpetuating info in ways that don’t support its scope or accuracy. I’m not saying that I trust progressives or distrust conservatives or vice versa. People across the board can be shitty as well as inspiring. I’m glad that people are investigating the election results. There should always be such a process. What alarms me is the rhetoric the president has been mouthing all thus year and continues to speak. In terms of rushing, the day after the election, I seem to recall immediate claims of winning the election and a desire to not count votes (which is a reality that always happens — 100% counts don’t occur for all states the day of the election).I don’t need anyone else to distill or explain his words. Such messages speak for themselves.
None of these claims are a surprise, and I’m wondering what was done exactly to prevent such fraud since, from the president’s own words, this has been a concern for him for quite some time. The conspiracy theorist in me wonders whether Trump tried to steal the election and then was surprised when his attempt failed, and I can likely find stories to support this view, but that, I suspect, would be misleading of me despite what I feel to be the case.