The Left Wants You to Believe That Conspiracy Theories Only Come From the Right. Not So Fast.
The Left Wants You to Believe That Conspiracy Theories Only Come From the Right. Not So Fast.
The left loves to smear conservatives as conspiracy theorists. The so-called guardians of “misinformation” and “disinformation” are quick to label things that go against the left-wing narrative as conspiracy. If it’s not beneficial to the left — from the Hunter Biden laptop to failed pandemic protocols — it’s a conspiracy theory.
Lord knows we have our share of conspiracy theories on the right, but the left isn’t immune to them. On the contrary, the left has plenty of conspiracy theories that are as outlandish as some of the worst conspiracies on the right. The term BlueAnon has come to represent those left-wing rumors.
“BlueAnon is a blanket term coined by some conservatives to describe liberal and left-wing conspiracy theories,” writes Amber Duke at Spectator World. “It intentionally rhymes with QAnon, the arguably better-known right-wing conspiracy, and mostly arose in response to what many regard as the Russian collusion hoax, the idea that Trump colluded with the Russian government to win the 2016 presidential election.”
“Russia! Russia! Russia!” is probably one of the most egregious and long-lasting conspiracy theories on the left. Democrats and members of the mainstream press continually characterize Donald Trump as a Russian asset or operative. This narrative has popped up in 2024, even though Vladimir Putin has said he wants Kamala Harris to win. None of this has stopped the left from running with the Trump-Russia conspiracy theory.
“Several stories stemming from the Russian collusion hoax were outlandish and unverified yet embraced by prominent members of the media and people in high-level positions within the national security state and the Democratic Party,” Duke writes. “The claims were also the subject of a special counsel investigation into President Trump.”
Other BlueAnon ideas take hold, and the media will run with those narratives every time. The left has manufactured other conspiracies about Trump, all designed to smear him. How can we forget about the “very fine people” quote from the aftermath of the Charlottesville, Va., violence that the media took out of context? What about how Trump allegedly said that Putin could do whatever he wanted if Trump won reelection? Or how about Trump’s statement that a Democrat victory in November would be a “bloodbath” for the auto industry? The left took that as a threat of violence.
All the left has to do is quote Trump out of context (see the rumor that Trump advised people to inject bleach to treat COVID-19) or attribute false motives to his statements (see Charlottesville), and they become a narrative. Harris used some of those lies in the debate with impunity.
BlueAnon isn’t just going after Trump. Maybe this isn’t a conspiracy theory per se, but Democrats latched onto the notion that Florida’s Parental Rights in Education bill didn’t allow teachers to use the word “gay.” Voilà! “Don’t Say Gay” became the narrative, and leftists had a convenient smear against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.).
A more recent example is the smear against Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio). This summer, some left-wing rando on X started a rumor that the GOP vice-presidential candidate had his way with a sofa, even supposedly referring to page numbers in Vance’s memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.” The Associated Press fact-checked the false rumor, but it later retracted the fact-check.
Last night, the AP published a “fact-check” of utterly unknown nobodies who alleged that JD Vance fornicated a couch, not because anyone believed that but because it introduces that nonsense into the bloodstream. Today, it’s gone. So sleazy. https://t.co/puoojLI6WY
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) July 25, 2024
Bringing the focus back to Trump, BlueAnon gave us possibly the worst conspiracy theory yet when some leftists surmised that the Trump campaign staged the July 13 assassination attempt, Democratic Party advisor Dmitri Mehlhorn emailed supporters complaining that “NOT ONE NEWSPAPER OR OPINION LEADER IN AMERICA IS WILLING TO OPENLY CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY THAT TRUMP AND PUTIN STAGED THIS ON PURPOSE” (all caps in the original). A Morning Consult poll shortly after the shooting found that a third of Biden supporters thought the assassination attempt was fake.
Yet the left is always quick to paint the right as crawling with conspiracy theorists. Duke writes:
Disinformation experts and media outlets have routinely placed the bulk of the blame for “misinformation” and “disinformation” online on right-wing sources. But they have mostly failed to acknowledge the breadth and impact of the Russian collusion hoax, plus other popular BlueAnon fake stories: that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was involved in a gang rape; that actor Jussie Smollett was attacked by two Trump supporters; that Trump failed to condemn white supremacists in Charlottesville in summer 2017; that Trump told people to inject bleach during the pandemic and other stories that were shared — or are still peddled to this day — at levels as high as the presidency. Most also ignore the stories and ideas that were deemed right-wing misinformation but ended up being correct: the Hunter Biden laptop story; that Covid-19 likely came from a laboratory leak; that there were undercover federal agents at the January 6 riot; or that President Joe Biden was suffering obvious cognitive decline. All were labeled conspiracy theories; all turned out to be true.
“It’s a lot easier to convince people that their political opponents are crypto-Putin assets hell-bent on instituting ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ than it is to debate them,” said columnist David Harsanyi, who has written a forthcoming book about BlueAnon.
He’s right. As long as Democrats can easily throw out wild accusations and the mainstream media willingly follows, BlueAnon won’t just survive — it’ll thrive. That’s why it’s important to those who will stand up for the truth, like all of the talented writers here at PJ Media. One way you can do that is by becoming a VIP member. PJ Media VIPs get deeper dives into important issues as well as podcasts, commenting capability, and an ad-free experience.
Post a Comment