You could almost forgive Mike Cernovich for believing, as he certainly seems to believe, that he can alter reality with his mind.
During the presidential campaign last year, Cernovich — the right-wing Trump superfan and self-proclaimed “mindset” expert — managed to convince himself, and a good number of voters, that Hillary Clinton was secretly suffering from some mystery ailment that left her perpetually close to death. When it turned out that she really was afflicted with pneumonia he wondered aloud if maybe, just maybe, she had caught it from a Tweet of his.
“What if we caused sick Hillary to have her coughing fit?” he wondered on his blog. “What if we manifested her health problems?”
These days, Cernovich seems to have lost a lot of his manifesting mojo, as this matched pair of headlines from his blog make abundantly clear.
Here’s the first, posted on Sunday:
And the second, posted a day later, after the Flynn who was in became Flynn the has-been:
Ouch!
So what had gone wrong? As Cernovich evidently sees it, Americans were insufficiently resolute in sacred duty of not believing the Washington Post.
Cernovich began his first post — the pre-resignation one — by mocking liberals who couldn’t understand why Flynn hadn’t yet been kicked to the curb.
“The world must seem like a confusing place to tens of millions of my fellow Americans,” Cernovich patronizingly declared. “Today you can’t understand why Trump has not fired General Flynn .. .”
The problem, he explained, was that these Americans think the stuff published in the Washington Post is true — even though, in a couple of recent cases, the Post got some things wrong!
Cernovich himself has concluded that since the Post got some stuff wrong, they are making up everything they say about Flynn. And everything else, for that matter.
“It’s not that I believe WaPo is biased or slants its coverage,” he wrote. “My sincerely held belief if that they make up stories and fabricate sources.”
Cernovich naturally offered no evidence to back up these beliefs of his, and neither of the problematic stories he cited earlier in his post involved “made-up stories” or imaginary sources. (In one case the Post gave a biased source more credibility than it perhaps deserved; in the other the reporter came to a false conclusion on a key point because they assumed something that turned out to not be true.)
Given how quickly the Flynn-who-was-in turned into a Flynn-on-the-outs, one might have expected Cernovich to show a little humility in his follow-up post, but in fact Cernovich showed none. Instead, he blamed Americans for believing the Washington Post too much.
Flynn’s resignation, he wrote, was a major victory for the Washington Post and the rest of what Cernovich sees as the “fake media” — the real enemy of Trump and all his footsoldiers.
“Tonight the fake news media landed a tactical nuke on America,” Cernovich declared, again offering no evidence of anything fake about it. While the forces of Trumpism had suffered “a major stategic defeat” that had cheered the “fake news media and so-called #TheResistance,” there was one thing true Americans could do to fight the media’s awful power.
They could simply stop believing it.
“Consider the source of the media’s power – it’s YOU,” Cernovich declared.
The media’s power is socially constructed. They do not have guns. They do not power of the purse. Their power comes from you.
When the media writes something negative on a candidate, you choose to believe it. You choose to act on that information. You have [sic] the people they tell you to hate, buy the products they tell you to consume, and vote for the candidates they endorse.
If we collectively agreed that the words in WaPo were a lie, they would lose all power.
It’s all a bit reminiscent of a story most of us will remember from our childhood. One involving a perpetual child named Peter and his little friend Tinkerbell, and a theater audience roused to clap to save the life of a fairy:
Her voice was so low that at first he could not make out what she said. Then he made it out. She was saying that she thought she could get well again if children believed in fairies.
Peter flung out his arms. There were no children there, and it was night time; but he addressed all who might be dreaming of the Neverland, and who were therefore nearer to him than you think: boys and girls in their nighties, and naked papooses in their baskets hung from trees.
“Do you believe?” he cried.
Tink sat up in bed almost briskly to listen to her fate.
Long story short: The audience claps, Tink lives, and gets a cultural trope named after her.
For better or worse, the real world doesn’t work the same way. Oh, sure, delusions have a shocking amount of power in politics. But the truth has a stubborn habit of reasserting itself, even if people like Mike Cernovich loudly denounce it as fake.
Trump managed to ride a wave of his own bullshit into office. But that wave is subsiding, and the truth is making itself heard again. That’s bad news for people like Flynn, and Cernovich, and (one can only hope) Trump.
What Cernovich is describing is good old-fashioned witchcraft. But the joke’s on him, because the vast majority of actual witches, Wiccans, and Neopagans in America are liberal af. If he wants an actual battle of magic wills, he’s grossly outnumbered.
(Fun fact: Shortly after the election, I wrote an elaborate hex aimed at Cheeto Benito and inscribed it onto a black candle which I burned at the dark of the moon. I don’t know if it had any effect on him – I am technically agnostic about my own religion – but I sure felt like a powerful badass sorceress, which helped energize my will to resist. Don’t knock magic!)
Never seen the allure of playing Vampire, myself. Vampires are predators.
@ Viscaria
I felt the same way about Hamilton when I first started listening to the OBC recording. Pretty soon I was following Lin-Manuel Miranda on Twitter and smiling every time he and his wife are being cute at each other, which is about as often as Mr. Parasol and I are cute at each other. These days, LMM is the kind of American who sustains my faith in this country, and I really need that.
He’d be lunch, but not for one of the ‘aristocratic clans’ (Trump’s blood wouldn’t qualify as ‘blue blood’ considering his crap diet and all, but I could be wrong).
Given his personality he’d either go power crazy and get slapped down hard, or just be seen as too weak to be any kind of a leader.
Tremere, Ventrue: He might be rich but he’s neither intelligent nor any kind of leader. He might be a useful tool, but never as part of the clan.
Brujah: LOLOLOLOLOLOL….no.
Malkavian: Even they aren’t crazy enough to want him. Though I’m kind of wondering if Trump’s ‘issues’ might make him a natural fit. I don’t think narcissism was one of their traits but pathological lying might fit in.
Toreador: He might be a natural fit, at least in some aspects given that they are the natural socialites and spotlight hogs.
Gangrel: They’d drain him before they’d ever even consider ‘turning’ him.
Nosferatu: Too smart to want him, though they might consider him a ‘useful idiot’.
I rather like the Malkavian, they might be nuttier than a squirrel convention, but they have some *amazing* insight.
I adore the soundtrack to Moana but I haven’t dared try Hamilton yet.
You guys and your uplifting music… you really need to give Secret Path a listen. Now that’s the kind of concept album whose grim foreboding will have you reaching for something to dull the anguish as it extinguishes all hope and faith in humanity, leaving you either curled up in the fetal position or driving your fist through the nearest wall.
While I’m being (slightly) hyperbolic, it’s a damned good record. Gord Downie has surpassed himself.
@Gussie Jives, thank you for linking to that. Gord D’s statement is powerful, particularly, I think, the Murray Sinclair quote that he included:
I may have to wait a couple of years before I can bring myself to listen to that album, or Man Machine Poem. I try not to mourn the living, and I also try not to make a public show of mourning celebrities that I’ve never met. Nevertheless, the announcement of his diagnosis felt like a blow, and I haven’t recovered yet.
Heh. Last time I played Mage: the Ascension (many years ago now) I had a member of the Akashic Brotherhood who focused more on Life than Mind (using the justification that many new martial artists are more interested in combat than meditation). I’d used the ‘Better Body’ rote to do a ‘cat-like grace’ along with improved night vision, and was running along the tops of shelves in a warehouse we were searching.
I managed to botch a roll and missed a jump, landing on the floor right in front of a rather startled guard.
Without missing a beat, I turned to the other players, said “I meant to do that,” and then punched out the guard. I was being cat-like, after all…
“Hamilton won 11 Tonys”, Yeah, that sentence I put up earlier was less than clear, I meant that JJ A was helping Peter Pan Goes Wrong get to Broadway, not Hamilton. And that the help of Abrams might not be so helpful for getting Tonys for anything.
Surely the Camarilla would be in favour of Trump.
Creates an enormous distraction? Check.
Fosters a suspicious, violent, insular culture which makes it easier for predators to prey on people? Check.
Promotes corrupt, opaque government which is easy to buy out or intimidate on a local level? Check.
Floods the world with conspiracy theories, thus making it more difficult to spot the genuine conspiracy? Check.
Guts the government agencies which might spot predators in their midst? Check.
Trump: so evil that fictional vampires would support him.
I adore Tinkerbell. Oh, also, I’m totally a Virtual Adept, of course. And it’s been well established that Trump is a cluster of Void Crabs in a human skin, so that’s pretty much Nephandi, yes? Technocracy goofed up, yo. Their “Void Crabs For President” ploy sure bit them in the ass.
It’s really strange how prescient and applicable the premise of old Mage is in the modern day. Creepy-deepy.
On the subject of Mage:
http://ih1.redbubble.net/image.50079189.4275/ra,longsleeve,x1000,101010:01c5ca27c6,front-c,235,190,225,294-bg,ffffff.u2.jpg
(I apologise to anyone who wasn’t a huge nerd in the 90s and so has no idea what’s going on here.)
@Viscaria
Oh I know that feel. It’s so unexpectedly consuming. I think it has something to do with how effectively it brings out emotions in people. I’m usually pretty stoic, but I still can’t help but tear up a bit every time I get to “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story“.
Ironically I kinda agree Wapi sucks but its bc WaPo has had some really appalling coverage /opinion about rape
@Karalora
A large blob of boys on 4-chan and elsewhere do think of themselves as Chaos magicians, though.
@Falconer
Werewolves are predators. Vampires are parasites.
More on topic: I sincerely believe that these people think that truth is mutable. Or maybe put better as “truth exists independent of facts.” It’s not surprising, as this is the same sort of thinking that drives conspiracy theories. The conclusion is arrived at first, and events are construed to support that conclusion, rather than the other way around. Any contrary evidence just becomes an obstacle to overcome. Here Cernovich has simply found a shortcut around having to explain away such contrary information: ignore it! Why bother coming up with a contrived explanation when you can just go “Nah, that’s not right.” and put it from your mind? If a source continues to challenge your assumptions, just add “this source can be ignored” to your assumptions and presto! Bias protected.
Something something Eastasia
Well you see, this implies Hamilton is an off-Broadway show.
However, Hamilton already got on Broadway back in 2015 and won Tonys in 2016.
Like, it’s a NEW show. It premiered back in early 2015, it still has its original cast and everything. There’s no new Hamilton musical to win Tonys again.
The Giovanni definitely would be behind Dump, maybe even orchestrate his election, but the Brujah would never. Brujah want to protect humans, at the very least think they deserve the right to live and shit, if only to provide food for vampires. Dump would jeopardize that.
Thanks Jack. I really wasn’t trying to be a condescending ass, I truly was confused.
As JS explains above, they were talking about JJ getting Peter Pan to Broadway. I wasn’t able to see your interpretation of their words, but it makes sense to me now.
OOOOOOH It was about Peter Pan.
Okay.
I’m sorry.
I’m just gonna enjoy my potstickers now. Excuse me.
http://i.imgur.com/2GOHtyh.gif
Holy shit, SFHC, that gif is horrifying!!
I admit, I’m much more familiar and enthralled with the NWOD Mage: the Awakening, but the OWOD is still interesting. By the NWOD standards, I’m going to pin Trump in specific and the Tea Party movement in general as part of a power play by the Ministry of Mammon against the Hegemonic Ministry that invoked such a wicked paradox that we’re experiencing Bedlam/Anomaly Paradox on a wide scale. Both of them, as well as the Pentacle factions and non-magic groups are trying to prevent a full-blown Manifestation, and getting in each other’s way constantly in the process, because a proper NWoD game involves enough gambit pile-ups to make Paranoia proud, except played for drama rather than black comedy.
@SFHC,
http://pre11.deviantart.net/482e/th/pre/f/2012/338/f/0/fluttershy_scared_by_demon1887-d5n0x6h.png
Trump is clearly a Famori employed by Pentex. He may also be a Ventru. I would hope a Newisha pranks him but those tend to be fatal.