A central practice of meditation is repetition of a mantra—in my case, the Sanskrit phrase "Om Namah Shivaya" which means "I bow to my higher Self."
A central practice of Trump and his supporters is repetition of lies.
Historian Heather Cox Richardson, in a live Facebook talk, strongly suggested that those of us who are interested in truth relentlessly repeat that the pardoning of the Jan. 6th criminals (notice, I call them "criminals" rather than the sanitized "insurrectionists") is wrong. She referenced the success of the election result deniers through constant public repetition of the lie that it was not a fair result (notice how I do not repeat their lie, but use the words "fair result"). She said we can learn from them by using the same tactic to relentlessly refute any justification for pardoning criminals who broke into the Capitol, beat, bloodied, and tased police officers, called for the murder of the Vice President and Speaker of the House, and smeared their shit (notice "shit") all over the Capitol rotunda.
She encouraged us to write to lawmakers, write editorials, and do it repeatedly.*
The words we choose to repeat matter!
Why?
Because constant repetition, whether in meditation or in spreading beliefs, causes erosion. In meditation, if I can repeat my mantra for 35 minutes every morning, no matter how many times I go off the rails into mind chatter, there is a gradual erosion of that chatter.
The practice itself—of meditation or phrase repetition—causes erosion of whatever exists already. Practice is repetition.
Therefore, I repeat: WORDS MATTER.
WHAT WE REPEAT MATTERS.
We have to start noticing what we are publicly repeating. If we desire truth, we must choose to phrase things using truth.
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* The day after Heather Cox Richardson's talk, because I have no Republican representatives to plague, I sent the following to our newly minted, unanimously confirmed, Secretary of State. Feel free to copy. The address is: https://register.state.gov/contactus/contactusform
Or even better, write an original message to a Republican who represents you.
Dear Secretary Rubio:
Congratulations on your appointment as Secretary of State. I've read your remarks about this and you sound rational. Therefore, I would like to plead to your better angels to:
1. Remember how you got here and mitigate the brutal plans to eliminate immigrants. Yes, they should come here legally, but the point is we are a country of laws and your boss's promises to ignore everything from the Constitutional right of citizenship for people born here to draconian deportations are inhumane and go against everything this country was founded on.
2. Your boss's pardon of January 6th insurrectionists is untenable. Speak up! How can you possibly represent this country diplomatically when criminals are freed and encouraged by the government?
I wish you the best in your new job. Please act as a bulwark against the oligarchy that is threatening to end democracy in our beautiful nation.
Sincerely,
Betsy Robinson