The Attack on Paul Pelosi

 

Pelosi Home - Reuters

A news story broke about an intruder breaking into Nancy Pelosi’s home in San Francisco.  The suspect, one David DePape, only found Pelosi’s husband, Paul, at home.  He demanded to know the whereabouts of Nancy Pelosi and summarily beat Paul with a hammer, cracking his skull.  He is expected to recover.

I found the news disturbing.  On reading that the suspect, per the LA Times, had online posts about QAnon and others that were antisemitic and antivaccine, I attributed this attack to the polarization and crazy conspiracy theories floating all about. 

My friend Maged posted the following on Facebook:

This is seriously getting out of hand. What would anyone gain from attacking Pelosi’s husband?

No matter what you think of her or her policies, is this what we’re becoming now as a nation? 

It is insane.  What has become of us? 

At the same time, a conspiracy theory was being floated around.  Friends of mine that are not fans of Pelosi, related that the glass of the house was broken from the inside and that DePape was a male prostitute Paul Pelosi hired.  They got drunk, had a dispute, and violence ensued.  Needless to say, my friends had no issues truly believing this and posting it.

BuzzFeed reported that:  “Just days after officially buying Twitter, Elon Musk used the platform to float an anti-LGBTQ conspiracy about the violent attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband from a right-wing website that frequently spouts conspiracy theories.”  The article went on to report that same theory my friends posted. 

As I have said, I listen to NPR and read the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times primarily for my news.  The New York Times reporting mirrored that of BuzzFeed’s.  The Wall Street Journal didn’t report on the Musk tweet as yet, but opened an Op-Ed, The Assault on Paul Pelosi, with: "The home invasion and assault on Paul Pelosi on Friday is another sickening example of political violence in our increasingly disturbed culture. We’re glad to see the attack denounced by partisans on the right and left, but we wish we could say this will be the last such assault.”

The WSJ is a conservative newspaper.  I agree 100% with what they said.  I am very worried about political violence in our “increasingly disturbed” and polarized culture.  I would not be surprised to by the number of people who believe the conspiracy version and might even think Pelosi had it coming.  They have been programmed to believe that Pelosi is evil and to hate her.  It is not a surprise that her home was invaded by someone who brought rope to tie her up and a hammer with which to break her kneecaps if she lied to the questions he intended to subject her to.

Another friend posted the following on Facebook: “Tell Pelosi release all security video and end speculation! Let the sun shine on facts!!Why Not???”  This feeds the contrarian story and casts doubt on the police report.  It feeds a conspiracy theory. 

We are in a world where nothing is as first reported.  We twist the news for our own purposes.  We vilify those we disagree with?  Bring up Pelosi or Trump in a group where there are liberals and conservatives.  Most likely any discussion will turn into name calling and yelling.  I have seen it happen.  I am sure you all have as well.  Most of us don’t even see ourselves being manipulated because we are fed dogma that creates confirmation biases and then reinforces it. 

I don’t know if we were ever smarter or more aware a nation.  But, right now, this polarization and hate seems worse than anything I have seen in my lifetime.

I am sure we will see more violence like January 6 or this attack on public officials and their families.  It is shameful.