YET ANOTHER TURKEY VOTES FOR CHRISTMAS (SERIOUSLY, WHO'S BUYING THIS?)

So, a Turkey really can vote for Christmas.

Honestly. A dictator who's locked up anyone and everyone who opposes him holds a "referendum" - to determine whether or not he should be allowed to be an even bigger dictator. Then he changes the rules DURING the final hours of the election, allowing votes to be accepted on non-official (eg: easily faked) ballots. And EVEN THEN, the vote still only came back at just over 50%. Probably because if Erdogan had rigged it any more obviously, there'd have been no point even pretending.

Who the hell is actually buying this?!?

So... Turkey will be subjected to something awful and probably become an authoritarian state under a dictator who wants to bring back the death penalty, because just over half of the votes were placed by 'straw men' or apparent idiots.

Sounds familiar.

Dear God, I'm so tired of calling out "conspiracies". To many people I must just seem like a complete nutcase. I worry about the parable of "crying wolf" too. I seem to be calling it so often these days, even I recognise the frequency seems unlikely. However, then I remind myself, that is the whole point. The whole idea behind subterfuge is to make those who call it out look like they're bonkers, like they're jumping at shadows. To make them question their own sanity. Quite literally the exact point. Think about that.

Let's assume you do think I'm nuts. But now imagine for one second that the "crazy" conspiracies ARE taking place. (Humour me.) Subjectively, do you think these ruses would be made obvious to the public? Or do you think efforts would be made to make the accusations look baseless, like they were flights of fancy? If you can acknowledge that much, you should then also be able to acknowledge the possibility such grand deceptions have already taken place, AND that you were probably fooled by them.

If you want to steal something in a room full of people, you don't wear a balaclava and dress like a burglar, with a jump rope and shotgun strapped to your back. You act like everyone else, you dress like everyone else. You laugh, you smile, you commit the crime nonchalantly. You don't make a run for it. You act like what you're doing is entirely legal and above board.

This is really not good. Not good at all.

#Erdogan #Turkey