One of the points that Dr. Smith’s lecture emphasized was that the occupation of the white house by President Biden, does not automatically equate to the abolition of white supremacy in the white house— and furthermore throughout the U.S. Rather, that the absence of the former president simply means the absence of his racism, and puts an end to his incitement of a group of white supremacist terrorist (who still exist in the United States) from the position of the POTUS. I appreciated that Dr. Smith emphasized that to many of us this transition of power seems joyous, and brings forth a wave of relief— but does not mean that systemic racism and white supremacy have been eradicated across the nation. Rather, this transition simply indicates that these beliefs are no longer endorsed by the head of the country. Connecting Dr. Smith’s lecture to Rosenberg’s “Higher Education in a Time of Insurrection” I was drawn by the author’s address of ‘the fragility of truth’ and how this seemed to directly associate with the fragility of democracy that was referenced in the inaugural address by President Biden himself and Amanda Gorman’s poem, but also how untruths are weaponized by the most destitute causes and despotic rulers— as Dr. Smith referenced, this was true during the era of World War 2 in Nazi-controlled areas. I think this connection made clear what many people have believed to be untrue, and what will be tried in front of the senate jury in the coming weeks: Trump incited an insurrection with his manipulation and extortion of truth. This is a sheer example of white privilege, but the exercise of this is a sheer exercise originating from the beliefs contingent with white supremacy.
“Lying requires no work and has no limits. It demands no proof. Like a magic lamp in a legend, it can grant every wish and fulfill every desire. It can bend and shape itself to fit the circumstances of the moment. It can fit tidily within 140 or 280 characters. Told often and emphatically enough, lies can overwhelm the truth by raising questions about whether there is truth. It takes effort to gather and report actual news; it takes almost none to declare all inconvenient news “fake.”
Rosenberg
