The Business of Anger and Division

The Fayette County Record on Sept. 16 ran a real nice, free ad for Dinesh D’Souza, a millionaire who was convicted of campaign finance fraud in 2014 on charges brought by the Public Corruption Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office after a successful investigation by the FBI. The “ad” was a letter to the editor written by Frank Cernosek of Ammannsville, who encouraged everyone to buy and view D’Souza’s newest video and promised that it would probably anger us to see it. D’Souza’s business model is to anger us and to divide us on issues such as election integrity, race, and how miserably corrupt everyone is who doesn’t think like us. He must be pretty good at it, as he has a big repertoire of books, videos, gimme caps, and even coffee cups in his online store.

Everyone has a right to their own opinion, but most folks know that when someone is trying to make you angry, desperate, disgusted, or fearful – right or left – they want you to stop thinking rationally then and there. And then, having bought the Big Idea, to buy a book, blog, or video to go with it. At least with D’Souza, when he tells you about fraud in the election system, it’s coming from someone who knows firsthand -- a convicted perpetrator of election fraud. Now, to complete the story, D’Souza was pardoned by Trump for his crime, signaling that election fraud is OK when it benefits him and his friends.