Are You Still Buying It?
Because, despite the exposure of their deceit, they are still at it
This is the 105th article published on Meet Me in the Middle. From our very first article, in which we dove deep into the Hunter Biden laptop story, we have been committed to a discussion that considers both sides of each conversation. We have acknowledged that we are so contrary to the mainstream progressive Left because their positions tend not to be grounded in full context and can consistently be traced back to some institutions of power that have manipulated public perception rather than tracing them back to some set of morals and principles.
We have been careful not to place blame on the individual for their choices in what they ingest as “factual” information. Instead we have always placed blame on those institutions of power that have a stranglehold on the narrative that the Left-leaning people of the world soak up, including the mainstream media.
So, we wrote about the Hunter Biden laptop story. Initially, Leftists reacted to that story because they did not want to hear ANYTHING that would suggest that Trump had a valid claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Now that even the most left-leaning news outlets have acknowledged the truth of both the laptop story AND the efforts of social media companies to discredit and/or conceal the true story, is there any doubt that the laptop story might have swayed at least some voters? It was a bombshell story that appeared days before an election and actually showed a presidential frontrunner and his family had deep financial ties (not to mention deeply shady ones) to foreign businesses. The race was close enough that it could have shifted the outcome to favor Trump. The funny thing is that a second Trump term would not have been nearly the force it is now if he had won in 2020, and the Democratic Party would be much stronger today.
And we wrote about the “very fine people” hoax. You know this one, right? The claim is that Donald Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides” of the clash between protesters and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, VA. Even our former bloviator-in-chief, Barack Obama, pushed the “very fine people” narrative on the eve of the 2024 presidential election in a last, desperate attempt to deceive America before Donald Trump swept the swing states on his way to a rout of Kamala Harris. It is hard to say how much Obama’s lies helped or hurt Harris’s chances, since that narrative had been so thoroughly debunked at that point. Nevertheless, this hoax is a classic example of how the modern progressive Left so callously deceive their followers.
And we wrote about the immigration crisis at the Southwest Border. The Left said, “Biden does not have an open border policy.” The Left said, “these are just people in search of a better life.” The Left is still trying to convince the public that these people are not criminals because they refuse to acknowledge that entering another country illegally is not a criminal act. It would be considered criminal for any American citizen to sneak into the countries of even our closest allies. But here in the U.S.? We are supposed to look the other way. We are supposed to look the other way while human traffickers profit. We are supposed to look the other way while cartels rape women and children who are trying to make the journey to the land of opportunity. Actually, it is irresponsible to look the other way. We all need to be aware of what is happening in our country. We need laws and we need order. The Biden administration abandoned those concepts with respect to the Southwest border and it irrefutably made our nation less secure.
We wrote about how distorted the mainstream narrative on “book bans” turned out to be. We exposed how the Left crafted this narrative that books were being banned because of hate toward the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ community. We exposed how the actual issue had much, much more to do with the controversial content. We provided a book report on one such example — a personal account by a gay man that we described as “a story that includes descriptive details of the incestuous sexual assault of a 13-year-old boy (the author) by a male cousin who was ‘older by about four or five years’.” That same book provided graphic details of the author’s first times to engage in anal sex with another man — both the first time he entered another man and the first time another man entered him. We exposed how bogus the narrative was — the issue was never about LGBTQ+ content, it was about the age-appropriateness of the content. Is it that the Left wants to take power away from parents who want to play a role in shielding their children from inappropriate content? Or is it just a ploy to divide Americans?
We wrote about how the modern progressive Left bafflingly abandoned the fight for women’s rights in sports in favor of the fight for transgender rights. Interestingly, this issue has emerged again recently as super-gymnast Simone Biles lashed out at Riley Gaines, an outspoken advocate for women in sports. Biles said of Gaines, “You're truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser… You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!! But instead... You bully them... One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!" Gaines responded, “This is actually so disappointing. It's not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces.” You might recall that Gaines was forced to share a changing room with a person with a male genitalia. The general public crucified Biles, who later apologized.
We wrote about how mainstream climate alarmism is in conflict with available data from the International Panel on Climate Change. Slowly, the general public is waking up. We acknowledged that the Left’s “solution” to eliminate carbon emissions is no solution at all. That “solution” does not get rid of the greenhouse gases already present in the atmosphere. We here at Meet Me in the Middle are in favor of solutions that have some hope of success and recognize that eliminating carbon emissions as a “solution” fails to address the issue. In response, we wrote at length how we already have the technology to reverse all of the human-caused climate change in only a couple of decades (if we stop bickering about solutions that have no hope of success) without eliminating carbon emissions. In a nutshell, we simply have to live in harmony with nature and stop disrupting natural biological cycles. It is time for a soapbox moment (don’t worry, it is an eco-friendly soapbox) — electing traditional Democrat or Republican leaders into office is a solution that has no hope of success. Their commitment to the corporations that helped get them elected will forever be an obstacle to real progress with respect to climate change. The current administration (not the president himself) is the first to ever offer such hope. It remains to be seen if they can do anything with the opportunity.
We have spent the past year and a half providing example after example of the deceit of the mainstream modern progressive Left’s narrative. This is why the modern progressive Left (as well as the deeply entrenched old-school Conservatives) and the institutions that they control are so uncomfortable with free speech, especially on the internet. The REAL modern progressive Leftists, not the voters but those who have access to any actual power, do not care about the issues. They only care about power. The free thinkers in the world are exposing that. That is why free speech on the internet (especially social media) is crucial to our navigating to a truly positive outcome. But FREE thinkers always have to contend with those who blindly accept the deceit of the forces who would manipulate them. Please, free your mind. Open your mind. It is the first step to being able to compromise, to meet in the middle.
Why is Meeting in the Middle So Difficult
Admittedly, the meet me in the middle position is a convenient place to dwell. After all, how can we be “wrong” about anything if we just want to compromise on pretty much everything? Well, meeting in the middle is contingent on understanding the issues.
Take the issue of abortion, which we covered in January 2024 to show, at that time, that 100% of Americans have access to abortion to preserve the life or health of the pregnant woman, 97% of Americans have access to abortion in cases involving rape or incest of minors, and 92% of Americans have access to abortion in cases of rape or incest, regardless of the mother’s age. By going through all of the legislation in all of the states to confirm that, we really did our homework on that one. We made the case at that time that, by decentralizing the decision making on the topic, the Supreme Court’s overturning of the controversial Roe vs. Wade decision was a best case scenario for meeting in the middle. As a result, abortion as a national debate has virtually vanished. The debate still exists (as it should), but both sides are so convinced that they are the “good and righteous” ones that they make compromise nearly impossible. The “abortion is ABSOLUTELY a right” crowd is unwilling to acknowledge that there are hundreds of millions of people who view any form of unborn life as a life that should be protected and that, specifically, should be protected by law since that unborn person has not yet developed a voice of their own. The “all life is sacred” crowd is unwilling to acknowledge that hundreds of millions of people believe that following through with a pregnancy should be solely up to the mother, since it is her body and responsibility for the pregnancy and child is her burden, whether that child should be born. Some abortion advocates even controversially believe the father should have a say in the unborn child’s fate. But these differences will always remain unresolvable from a national policy perspective unless there is some willingness to acknowledge that there is some validity to both sides of the argument — a necessary first step toward compromise.
That is what makes meeting in the middle so difficult. The most difficult issues to navigate are those that are so morally ambiguous. From an academic meet-me-in-the-middle perspective, it is the morally ambiguous issues that are the most fascinating. It is also fascinating to witness people abandon their own morals in favor of something as shallow as a talking point. For example…
In his recent interview with Senator Ted Cruz, mostly-Conservative political pundit Tucker Carlson conveyed his steadfast position that he is against killing in any form as he denounced the idea of declaring war on Iran. In an effort to communicate the complexity of the issue, Senator Cruz explained that the Iranian government was actively trying to assassinate President Trump. Carlson immediately flipped, declaring that if Iran was trying to kill the leader of the free world, we should nuke them. That is the power of understanding the full context of a story or an issue. In one breath, Carlson was insistent that the nearly 100 million Iranian citizens be spared from the wrath of the U.S. military, and in the next he wants to nuke them all. Wow! Those are some principles!
But that is the nature of morally ambiguous issues — they provoke emotion, extreme mood swings, and a willingness to tune out significant information. The responsible citizen (and pundit) will remain open to other perspectives, they will look for common ground, and they will accept the validity of the “other side”. The responsible citizen will reject news sources that have demonstrated a pattern of deceit for years. The responsible citizen will question every headline, every pundit, and every claim — including those made here at Meet Me in the Middle!
The responsible citizen will seek a solution that has some hope of success. That is where things get tricky (especially for the “anyone but Trump” crowd). Before Trump announced his candidacy for the 2016 presidential election, the U.S. political hellscape consisted of two parties making decisions that were bad for Americans but good for corporations and the elite. Electing our nation’s leadership from the pool of candidates that these two parties put out there continued to be a recipe for decline. America got weaker, stupider, unhealthier, and angrier. Electing Republicans and Democrats has proven NOT to provide solutions with any hope of success.
Trump is doing things different — the responsible citizen will acknowledge his administration’s successes. Need an example? How about the banning of carcinogenic agents that the FDA has long allowed in our foods, most notably foods targeted at kids — a huge win for the crunchy uber-liberals who know that we should be eating more whole foods and less processed foods. But this is a win that their elected officials from the Democrat Party could never achieve because they are owned by “big” business.
Trouble in Cali
All of this conversation brings us to a current event. Over the past couple of weeks there have been ongoing riots in California and other places. Cars have been burned. Rioters are throwing large stones at moving vehicles. The American flag at a federal building was taken down and burned at the base of the flag pole. Despite claims from local and state leaders in California, the situation seems to be beyond their control. They have resorted to instituting a curfew. The president sent in National Guard troops to help keep the peace and protect property.
The modern progressive Left’s coverage of this has been of the “Trump is being an authoritarian” variety. The Left’s news media says it is unnecessary and heavy handed. They say that the situation is completely under control. They even claim that it is a peaceful protest.
The question we have: Why would we believe anything the national media says about this situation? We laid out several examples of how they have lied to us and manipulated our thinking for years. Over and over again. And we have so many more examples!
The point is, before you buy into the rhetoric that Trump is abusing his authority and that deploying troops is a bridge too far, just take a moment and doubt the very unreliable sources that are making such claims. They are liars. They really are. Are they lying this time? You probably already know the answer to that.
Recall that Trump did not respond with troops during riots that took place during his first term. And it cost cities billions in damages. People got hurt. It was a disaster. Maybe he learned something then.
Finally, as you watch the news coverage and see a masked man victoriously waving a Mexican flag with smoke billowing in the background, think about this scene a little bit. This is presumably a Mexican man. He presumably came to the U.S. in search of a better life (or perhaps just to wreak havoc). He presumably is protesting Trump’s (not unpopular) deportation policy. Yet he stands amongst a group who is burning a portion of the United States and waving the flag of the country he escaped. Why would any American want him here? Would you be okay with this happening in your neighborhood? Would you ask this dude to come paint your house our rake your lawn?
If you want to be in the U.S., maybe wave Ol’ Glory instead. Maybe embrace American culture. Maybe show some respect for our laws. Maybe learn to speak, read, and write English. Maybe don’t try to burn this country to the ground.
Bringing It On Home
By all means, hate Trump. That is your prerogative. By all means, allow the news cycle to anger you. It is your life, after all. By all means, disregard the opinions and views of people who differ from you. You don’t have to be part of the solution.
But if you are among those of us who want to be part of making the world a better place, if you want to be a responsible citizen, if you want to find a way to start meeting in the middle, then understand that we MUST do things differently. Take on the responsibility of learning more about what is really happening. Understand better what the “solutions” elevated by our different tribes really mean for us. Recognize that achieving understanding is not a passive thing — we have to chase down the truth. We have to want it. In the world we live in, the truth will not just come to us.
As we stated earlier, we here at Meet Me in the Middle have been careful not to blame the individual for buying into the mainstream narrative. No more. We condemn the mainstream narrative and anyone who is slave to it. We can all do better.
Do you want to be a responsible citizen or an irresponsible one?
Do you see yourself as part of the solution?
Are you sure you are a free thinker, or is it possible that your thoughts and ideas are controlled by someone else?
Wake up, America. Believe in yourself. Believe in truth, because it exists. Believe that you can find truth, but understand that you may have to work a little harder for it. If you are unwilling to put the work in, well, you can always just turn control of your thoughts over to someone else. Never mind that doing so is exactly what has gotten us into this mess of division and confusion.