Blissfully ignorant?

Or willfully so?

It has been said that, "ignorance is bliss." For some, this is clearly true, though in many cases, ignorance leads to other more fetid feelings. Anger, disgust, hatred often arise when people lack proper understanding of an issue.

Then there are those who are willfully ignorant - those who choose intentionally to reject reality, to overlook clear evidence, to embrace a narrative, to spin a story that bolsters their position, regardless the level of balderdash required.

Enter Trump. I've said many times over that, while I'm not ardently anti-Trump, I am not particularly a fan either. For that reason, I hate when I am forced to be a Trump apologist (not to mention, it distracts from other things about which I'd prefer to write). But the left's media water-bearers and context clippers push me into the position.

The most recent outrage has been over Trump's use of the word "bloodbath." The phrase that is garnering focus is, "if I don't get elected...it's gonna be a bloodbath for the country." Cue they obligatory pearl-clutching and hand-wringing.

Along with the (mis)quotation, a seventeen second clip of Trump making this statement is circulating, accompanied by commentary claiming Trump is calling for violence if he loses the 2024 election. Those who initiated the fomenting of this fabrication know better. Many who are stirred by this soundbite are unaware that they are being perturbed by a prevarication.

This is how those who are willfully ignorant influence those who are blissfully ignorant. The media was more than happy to pick up that short, out-of-context clip and run with it. The full context, however, reveals that Trump was talking about Americans losing jobs if he is not elected. The premise two-fold: first is that many Americans, especially minorities, under Biden (and if Biden continues in office) are losing or will lose jobs to illegals (<gasp!> yes, I said “illegals”); second is that Americans will (continue to) lose jobs to foreigners as companies build their manufacturing plants outside the U.S. (Trump specifically references auto makers regarding this issue, and this is the main thrust of the context). The point is, to any honest person listening, Trump was not calling for violence.

Most people know that the word "bloodbath" can be used both literally and figuratively. For instance, Merriam-Webster defines bloodbath as follows:

bloodbath noun

blood· bath ˈbləd-ˌbath  -ˌbäth

1: a great slaughter

2 a: a notably fierce, violent, or destructive contest or struggle

   | the campaign has become a bloodbath

   b: a major economic disaster

   | a market bloodbath

It is clear in the context of Trump's speech, he is describing not a literal bloodbath, but rather, "a major economic disaster" involving jobs loss. Here is the statement enrobed in a few of minutes of context:

Some who are fostering the falsehood that Trump is calling for violence have themselves used "bloodbath" similarly in the past. In a stunning example of the tone-deafness of those who know better, I present the following (thanks goes to @DefiantLs on Twitter/X for digging these up):

Notice, these former users of the term “bloodbath”, who clearly did not mean it in a literal sense, are the very people who now insist Trump is using it to incite violence. It is a travesty that so many fall for such narratives. This is why half the population believes that a crowd of unarmed, mostly peaceful selfie-takers who were escorted through the Capitol by Capitol Police were trying to overthrow the government. This is why that same half of the population believes so many other manipulated memos from the main stream media.

What gets missed in all this are those who actually call for, or actually perpetrate, physical violence. Consider the following montage:

“Punch him in the face”, “beat the hell out of him”,, “take him out”, “assassinated a president”, “put a bullet in Donald Trump”, “blowing up the White House”, “make them pay…” So, who is really guilty of inciting violence? Who are the ones using speech intimating and calling for physical violence?

Like I said, I don’t want to have to defend Donald Trump. As President, he made some good policy decisions and some very bad ones. I wish after the 2020 election (whatever you think of that election) he would have just faded away. That he has remained is an unfortunately reality with which all of us must deal, but we must deal honestly nonetheless.

Don’t jump to conclusions based on soundbites devoid of context (whether regarding Trump or anyone else). Don’t let yourself be fooled into believing and further propagating a lie. Don’t allow yourself to be deceived and used by others with an agenda. Bliss doesn’t come from ignorance, especially that of the willful persuasion. Be informed and then inform others. In short, don’t allow yourself to be just another useful idiot.