What do Socrates, Donald J. Trump and Charlie Kirk have in common?
- Each was a well-known public figure in the political arena.
- Each had been turned into a figure of Fear and Loathing by innumerable Gossip Stories.
- All such Gossip Stories are based on distorted half-quotes taken out-of-context, half-truths and out-and-out lies all repeated ad nauseum.
- Over time, massive numbers of people were made to believe that the target of such opprobrium was truly EVIL because the emotionally appealing dramatic repetitions seem more and more factual by such enthusiastic repetitions.
- The more an assertion is dramatically repeated, the more PERSUASIVE it is to the socially conformist naïve, or gullible, or weak-willed or stupid – those who are unable or unwilling to judge for themselves with a truly open-minded inquiry the way that all real science has always operated.
If you have a genuine interest in Socrates and/or the power of Malicious Gossip Stories, I suggest that you read the essay of August 21, 2024 on this website entitled “Socrates and Plato: Hypothetical Dialogues.” It is (cleverly?) structured into two parts as if they were each a Platonic dialogue between Socrates and Plato about Justice. The first is set before Socrates’ Impiety Trial. And the second shortly after the first nearly successful Assassination Attempt at Butler, Pennsylvania, 2½ months before the 2024 election of Donald J. Trump as POTUS-47.
There is no requirement of any knowledge of Philosophy, Socrates or Athenian History. All that is required is an open-minded Curiosity and Skepticism of what others in some form of Authority tell us to believe – that which is True or False and Good or Bad.
