Watch Your Money, Because Other People Sure Are

Article by Derek Hunter in Townhall 

Maybe you started off thinking politics was an area where the best and brightest went, where ideas and ideals matter more than anything else. Then you start paying closer attention and realize no one is as pure as they claim to be and that many politicians just talk a good game but live in fear of having to do the things they campaigned on (see the repeal Obamacare vote). Soon, the crust of naiveté is wiped from your eyes, and cynicism settles.

That cynicism toward politicians is absolutely justified, regardless of which party or politicians. There is no one you’ll agree with 100 percent, with the exception of yourself (maybe). But it should not stop there. It should extend to everyone: pundits, columnists, “influencers,” everyone.

A good rule of thumb will help you in life: the more someone insists they are something, the less likely it is they are that thing. 

What does that mean? It means smart people don’t need to tell you how smart they are; you’ll just know. Funny people don’t need to tell you they’re funny; you’ll just know. So, when someone spends a lot telling what they are, it’s likely because they are not that thing. The more calories burnt on the subject, the less likely it is to be true. 

Watch out if you watch someone on television, radio, or any platform tell you how they’ll never lie to you. If they routinely talk about how they’re not trying to sell you anything or aren’t doing it for the money, hide your wallet. 

There’s nothing wrong with making money, but there is something wrong with making money by pretending you aren’t doing it for the money, at least in my opinion. The dishonest marketing gimmick of “this is so important, you need to hear/see/read this in order to save the country/your family/yourself” drives me nuts.

I thought for a few days about whether or not to write this, but I feel like I have to. It’ll probably make a lot of people angry, but who cares?

Imagine a scenario in which you get your hands on evidence that the 2020 election was stolen. Hard evidence, video evidence. What do you do with it? 

I don’t know about you, but I’d find someone in law enforcement to get it to. Not Joe Biden’s Justice Department, obviously, but there are state Attorneys General or local prosecutors who could file charges. The options are wide open. Or, I’d take it to the media, all the media, to get it out there as widely as possible. Some might not want to show it, but if you put it everywhere, they’d have no choice.

Those seem like the obvious options if you want to get the people who’d broken the law and/or prevent them from doing it again. 

If, however, you held this information for months, long enough to produce a movie (not a documentary) about it, using the video footage in the movie and releasing it in a way designed to make yourself the most money possible, I’d question your sincerity. Why would you hold evidence of a crime, especially such a serious one, and only release it when you’ve monetized it? 

More curiously, what do you think when the person who “brought the world this evidence” moves on to the next project using almost the same marketing gimmick? How can someone with this evidence simply move on? If they truly believe it, they don’t. At least, I don’t think they do. However, once a cash cow is milked dry, you move on to another cow. 

I can’t fully declare Dinesh D’Souza’s motives to be impure, but I can and do question them. His movie about the 2020 election made him a lot of money and made zero difference. To my knowledge, no prosecutor in the country has used any of the “evidence” in it to go after anyone. Are you telling me there isn’t a single conservative district attorney in the country willing to look at this? 

He's now moved on to what will probably be another cash cow, this one feeding into the paranoia that’s all the rage right now. I don’t care if you want to see it; I just question the “importance” of a movie the filmmaker is charging almost $25 to see. If it’s important, why not release it in a way that allows the most people everywhere to see it? If it’s important, why not stream it for a lot less money so more people can see it? 

After all the money from theaters is counted, it will stream. That, to me, means it’s not as “important” as it’s being hyped. If it can wait a month before anyone sees it, regardless of how the message can’t be that urgent. If you found out that Soylent Green was people, you don’t take a year to produce a way to make the most money possible before you mention it to anyone?

Maybe Soylent Green, at least in this case, is not people. Maybe it’s just a bunch of people you could hear from for free in other places, packaged to sell you popcorn?

I’d ask this simple question, one I’ve asked many liberals during the Trump administration who were screaming about how the President then was a totalitarian monster: then why are you free to complain about it? If Trump were Hitler, why aren’t you in prison? 

Threats that aren’t coming to pass are great for motivating people who already agree with you; they do nothing for anyone else. Do you really think Rachel Maddow is winning converts, or is she just tossing red means to less than 1 percent of the population for $30 million per year? And make no mistake, you can make a lot of money off a very small segment of the population if you’re willing to continue to cater to them (see above about Maddow). What you won’t do is win elections. 

The choir is already on your side. If you’re catering exclusively to them, you either have no idea what you’re doing or are more interested in money. 

You can be as mad at me as you want about this; this is my opinion. Feel free to tell me how I’m wrong; I’m all ears. I just don’t see how I am. 

People like this are everywhere in politics, always selling you something while insisting they aren’t. I don’t care if you willingly participate in it; I’m just putting this out there so that participation is willing and informed. 

Watch Your Money, Because Other People Sure Are (townhall.com)

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