The Cult of Fools – Misinformation or Disinformation? – June 27, 2021

Misinformation and Disinformation might on the surface sound like the same thing. They are however distinctly different. Misinformation is information that fools you. You sincerely believe it to be true and so when you pass it on, you are being honest but mistaken.

Disinformation is very different. This is information that an individual has created to deceive and manipulate others with. The creator of the disinformation knows that it is false and simply does not care because it is a means to achieve a specific goal. Personal enrichment, influence, manipulation and control of others, or perhaps it is simply part of an ego trip.

While many within the cult of fools have been successfully fooled and manipulated, many of those highlighted below are blatant deceivers. These are the grifters, the creators of disinformation that they know is false.

Below you will find a selection of claims and declarations that have popped up during the past week. As with previous weeks, my source is Right-Wing watch.

Should we be angry?

Perhaps, but the stuff they are coming out with is so utterly absurd that the one thing that it really deserves is outright mockery.

The Big Lie

President Donald Trump lost California in the 2020 presidential election by more than 5 million votes, but Mike Lindell insists that Trump really won the state: “There was so much organic cheating that actually Donald Trump did win California.”

• Mr Pillow’s “evidence” for his claim is still missing.

Also last week, Mike Lindell Promises ‘Donald Trump Will Be in Office by This Fall, For Sure’

• The question his supporters should be asking, but will not, is this. Every single one of his previous promises has failed to deliver due to his claims having no actual substance, so why is this latest one different?
• Reminder: A detailed look at his supposed “evidence” reveals it all to be total nonsense.

COVID-19 Items

Johnny Enlow says that when it comes to Dr. Anthony Fauci, “the level of evil is the highest I can imagine” and that “if there is any person on the planet that should receive the maximum judgment, it is Fauci.”

• The fake right-wing prophet who claimed God had told him Trump would win, is on an Anti-Fauci rant these days to distract you. His claim is that Fauci caused COVID-19 as part of a plot to depopulate the earth.
• Fact Check: Fauci is the leading infectious disease expert in the United States and was one of only a handful of people who managed to mitigate Trump’s cataclysmic and homicidal indifference to the coronavirus.Many owe him their lives.
• When it comes to anything Johnny Enlow says, you need to remember that the crazy is strong in this one.

Truly Bizarre

The Family Research Council warns that “playing God by attempting to create a new creature that is half-human and half-animal is dangerous and should be unthinkable.”

• Is this supposed to be criticism of the new Netflix series?

Lauren Witzke criticizes Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for apologizing for her Holocaust comparison because, Witzke says, Greene was right: “This is all a precursor to the mass genocide of the American people.”

• What we actually have in play via Lauren is a literal genocide of truth, decency, integrity, and honesty.

David Lane warns that .. “secularism is recognized by the dark stain it leaves behind in the culture and daily life. This stain becomes darker and darker with the sexualization of America’s youth, the mindless vacuity of public schooling and the immoral grooming of junior high 13- and 14-year-old girls being taught the many actions of physical sex. If we won’t put a stop to this, the stain will soon become indelible.”

• Name just one school that actually teaches … (checks notes) … “the many actions of physical sex“

The American Family Association is calling for a boycott of Kellogg’s because … “each box of Kellogg’s sold affirms to the company Kellogg’s support for homosexuality.”

• Condemnation by the American Family Association is always a big plus, it means that you really are doing something positive, decent, and honourable. Advertising that is a big bonus. Kelloggs sincerely thanks the American Family Association for all the free advertising.

Pat Robertson Says Critical Race Theory ‘Is a Monstrous Evil’

• Fact Check: critical race theory is an academic framework for examining the ways in which systemic racism shapes and influences national and social institutions. The only people who would find that to be “a Monstrous Evil” would be racists. (Waves), “Hi Pat”.

Lauren Witzke has a question: “If Jesus Christ is now being banned for “White supremacy” does that end the controversy and confirm that Jesus was indeed White?”

• Literally nobody is banning “White Jesus”, but since she raised the topic, it is rather odd to find that a middle eastern guy is often portrayed as white.

Stew Peters declares that evil is sweeping the country and warns that if former President Donald Trump … “doesn’t come back within the next 60 days, I believe that we are looking at an extinction-level event.”

• I would indeed like to think that failure after failure after failure of predictions will eventually lead to the extinction of all the BS these grifters continue to pour out, but alas no, people will continue coming back for more of the same.
• Meanwhile, I can predict using exactly zero supernatural ability, that 61 days from now Biden will still be in office and anything Stew Peters predicts will not have happened.

Fools of the week – The False Profit$

The stars here are of course the religious grifters. To be wholly clear, most humans, regardless of their cultural belief or non-belief are decent. Some however deploy and leverage belief as a tool to manipulate and enrich themselves with. This section is very much dedicated to these religious fraudsters …

Desperately in need of money to keep his ministry afloat, Jim Bakker is begging viewers for donations. For a gift of $500, he’ll send you a blanket and a mug.

• A $500 Mug for a mug means you have been successfully mugged.

Also Jim Bakker declares that in the months since the election of President Joe Biden, America has “slidden backwards more than in my entire lifetime, and I’m 81 years old.”

• Translation: “slidden backwards” = He is finding it very challenging to con the same volume of donations from the gullible then he once enjoyed, hence his $500 mugs.
• If you are wondering what is going on, it is basically this – Via Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Televangelist Jim Bakker Owes Customers $156,000 for Selling a Fake COVID Cure.

Robin Bullock reports that he recently heard from God. What did he hear? The words “impeachment” and “resign.” His conclusion? “Joe Biden is still not the president, he’s never been the president … and he never will be the president.”

• Robin, God was telling you to resign, not Biden.

Also this past week ‘self-appointed Prophet’ Robin Bullock Says Biden Has ‘Slotted Serpent’s Eyes,’ Which Is a Sign of Demonic Possession

• Robin thinks that guy who actually believes and actively attends church every single week is demon possessed, but that his beloved grifter messiah, Mr Two Corinthians, who does not actually go to any church and mocks those that do, is the chosen one of God.

Outraged that conservatives are getting banned from social media and that churches closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, Greg Locke declares that … “when they impede upon our First Amendment right, we’ll meet them at the door of the tent with our Second Amendment right.”

• Greg pushes these buttons because it panders to a specific demographic that reciprocate with lots of donations.

Mario Murillo has some questions: “How can we get back to normal while Biden is plunging the nation into chaos and glorifying things God hates? And how can we heal when, every day, Biden tears the nation apart with insulting rhetoric and inflammatory actions aimed at the church?”

• Mario plays the same card that Greg plays. Rhetoric designed to keep his audience afraid so that they stick with him.
• Ask Mario to cite proof of just one statement where “Biden tears the nation apart with insulting rhetoric and inflammatory actions aimed at the church?” and you will be faced with the sound of tumbleweed.
• He is of course one of the many who claimed that God told him Trump would win, and is now very desperate to sweep that total failure under the carpet with the hope that nobody remembers it.

QAnon conspiracy theorist and self-proclaimed “prophet” Johnny Enlow (yes, him again, he keeps popping up) spoke on a panel roughly about a week ago. There he warned that the world is on the verge of falling under “deep state Illuminati possession.”

• Illuminati … wow, that conspiracy claim is so old he must have had to blow many layers of dust off it.
• I also have absolutely no idea what the term “deep state Illuminati possession.” actually means … and neither does he.

‘A Man Sent From Heaven’: Hank Kunneman Likens Mike Lindell to John the Baptist

• Reminder: Kunneman, is yet another self-proclaimed “prophet” who guaranteed that Trump would win the election and now adamantly refuses to admit that he was wrong. It is wholly natural for one con artist to backup another con artist, this really is not a surprise.
• By claiming that Lindell is John the Baptist and has been chosen by God, he is literally claiming that Trump is the messiah. The term “Antichrist” in the bible is a term used to describe an alternative to Christ. This guy is quite literally announcing the Antichrist.

Dave Hayes (aka “The Praying Medic”) recently had a dream about celebrities being unable to use social media, which he interprets to mean that President Joe Biden will take down social media platforms when it’s soon revealed that he “was not a legitimately elected president.”

• When it comes to “soon revealed”, I recommend not holding your breath because you need credible evidence for that. Since it did not actually happen, then finding such evidence might be more than a little bit challenging.
• Meanwhile Dave Hayes has a truly amazing track record. He is consistently wrong with every single prediction that he makes. Not everybody can be that wrong, it requires a considerable effort to achieve that degree of wrongness.

That’s a wrap for this past week.

Will next week be any different, is it possible for all these crazy people to suddenly find some common sense?

You know the answer. Past experience is an indicator of future behaviour.