Will the truth be accepted? Or will there be a total, visceral rejection of it?
by Kolby LaMarche
On Monday, the Burlington City Council was, once again, thrust into the national spotlight. Pro-Palestinian activists gathered en masse to urge the council to place an item or “pledge”, a condemnation of Israel, on the March, Town Meeting Day ballot.
Specifically, the proposed ballot item, in closing, read “WE PLEDGE to join others in working to end all support to Israel’s apartheid regime, settler colonialism, and military occupation.”
After hours of public comment, with various interruptions and instances of thinly veiled Antisemitism, the resolution was eventually rejected in a vote of 7 to 5.
Opponents of the resolution asserted that the item would not only cause more division but inappropriately paint a target on the backs of Jewish Vermonters.
Proponents of the resolution claimed that the council should have given way to “democracy” and, importantly, that the resolution was a response to, in the words of out-going Councilor Zoraya Hightower (P-Ward 1), “the hate crime that happened in our city.”
On December 16th, I published a piece about that “hate crime” titled The Trouble with the “Truth” where I asserted that the shooting which occurred in Burlington didn’t appear to be motivated by hate.
Rather, it looked to be a random act of violence, perpetrated by a man, Jason Eaton, with documented mental health challenges.
Furthermore, and since then, numerous media outlets have exposed Eaton’s apparent support of Hamas.
In one instance, Eaton – commenting on a post by Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) – said: the notion that Hamas is ‘evil’ for defending their state from occupation is absurd. They are owed a state. Pay up.”
Self-deception, the act of entirely convincing oneself of a falsehood, is a complicated psychological phenomenon.
On an individual level, self-deception can manifest as a neglect for responsibility, blaming outwardly, or refusing to engage in any confrontation.
Studies, such as this one by Joana Kuntz and Erlend Dehlin, have revealed that individuals, in social and organizational settings, can often resort to self-deception to uphold the existing status quo or to better align with colleagues, or in this case, neighbors – system justification theory.
Federal and state representatives, President Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Mayor Miro Weinberger, State’s Attorney Sarah “There is no question it was a hate crime” George, organizations from across the nation, and even Vermont’s own Jewish community ascribed, without evidence, a hateful motive to the incident.
Media outlets parroted the same lines – the same media who, throughout the Gaza crisis, have already been caught misleading viewers.
Fueled by heightened emotions, external and internal pressures, and vast political and religious turbulence, Burlingtonians, and more broadly, many Americans, embraced a wholly erroneous narrative.
And as a consequence of this “Big Lie”, Burlington now grapples with the aftermath: serious, continuing divisions within, routine sparring at council meetings, growing antisemitism, and a breakdown of civil debate.
(VIDEO – Burlington GOP Chair Chris Felker: “random act of violence.” See audience react)
In his speech rejecting the resolution, Councilor Ben Traverse (D-Ward 5) echoed many public speakers who called for more dialogue around both the Gaza issue at large and the resolution itself.
I believe that before Burlingtonians are able to clear-headedly face those issues, we must first confront that lie which we have convinced ourself of.
Given the updated media coverage and stagnant nature of the hate-crime investigation, we must now genuinely ask ourselves:
Was it a hate crime?
What is the truth; will there be an acceptance of the truth?
Or a total, visceral rejection of it?
Burning Sky is dedicated to providing critique and commentary on the issues of the day from an unapologetic perspective, fueling change in the heart of Vermont. Authored by Kolby LaMarche every Saturday.
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Categories: Burlington, Commentary
Since when did it become any municipalities business to virtue signal politics that it has nothing to do with? Isn’t there a dying city to run?
Since Governor Scott called Vermonters inherently racist, virus deniers, and gramma killers. A majority of elected officials fall into lockstep with whatever narrative, convoluted cause, or manuscripts handed to them from their Masters. Notice how many flags they have fashioned in the name of….whatever the cause at the time demands. Propaganda and mind control works on many as we sadly see.
Vermont is home of the Atro Turf political parties…..
none of this organic, it’s all top down narratives, just like our news. The Smear by Sheryl Atkisson is an excellent read.
Or watch your TV any night of the week, watch ALL the different channels, do you notice they are ALL talking about the same topic, with all them saying the same thing?
At Mc’D, they roll out a new toy every week. It’s a massive effort to get all the toys, delivered to every store across the nation on the same day.
Does anyone understand the massive coordination and effort to do this every night, every day, across the entire United States, everybody singing the same song, (which is propaganda b.s.)?????????
The sad part is we think it’s organic, because it’s not a state declared media organization. At least the people of China and Russia know their governments are filling them with propaganda, we, more so in Vermont think we are getting “unbiased” news. This is how great the deception is across our state.
When you lose your free press, you’ve lost your free country.
Guess what, folks?
I feel your pain, as I know this isn’t organic. The worse part is how targeted and specific the propaganda is
Jews are simply an easier target right now with a long & proven track record of success. And if we don’t yet realize that these Communists’ goals are to attack & eventually annihilate Judeo-Christian faiths in its entirety everywhere, we are being foolhardy at best. Adherents of the Communism/socialism/Marxist movement know that in order to subvert an extant government & force citizenry compliance, the belief in God & adherence to organized religion must be replaced with adherence to an authoritarian state & complete reliance upon government.
Resist THIS!
I am very glad the Burlington Council vote did not pass. I however find it disturbing that 41% of the council voted for this to pass. It is apparent the Burlington City Council knows very little about Jewish history (at least 41% of them). It is even more disturbing to see Burlington slowly fall into a pit they can’t get out of when Burlington chooses to curse Israel, should they vote again and it passes. If Burlington is the recipient of any blessings from God, it will surely end there. I paraphrase, buy God said to Abraham, “Those who bless you and your descendants I will bless. Those who curse your and your descendants I will Curse”. This is referred to as the Abrahamic Covenant.
all you posters are talking about /// tel/// lie/// vision/// they took a lot of big pharma money/// you need to watch the banking scandal coming your way/// there is a lot of links to jeffrey epstein and some very wealthy people/// more names are being exposed/// they are causing a lot of your problems/// the people who run the central bank, run the world///
If given a state, Palestinian masses will simply be ruled by theocratic totalitarianism. Women will be second class citizens, Christians won’t be safe. Hamas ruled Gaza in such a way.
In Israel, Palestinians have equal rights. There standard of living is higher than it would be in a Muslim theocracy. Many are upwardly mobile. Even Palestinian women receive education and can choose college. Freedom of religion for Palestinian Christians is a right. There is a misconception, maintained by Woke/Marxism, that Palestinians in Israel are second class citizens. They simply aren’t.
Let me clear things up. A ‘hate crime’ is no longer when someone actually physically harms a member of a class of people they don’t like (hate?). What’s been done is to dilute the phrase ‘hate crime’ to where it’s now defined as “Anyone who disagrees with the narrative I’m (we’re) spewing today”. The phrase has become yet another way of ‘virtue signaling’.
Look, I agree that EVERYONE is entitled to voice their opinion. And if there is a large enough group, to peacefully assemble and voice their opinion. This is still (barely) the United States of America. And if that person or group is Palestinian? Fine. Gays? Fine. Hispanics? Fine. Green aliens from planet Xator? Still fine. The only thing ‘not fine’ is paid protestors.
How do we ever expect to understand any issue if we don’t listen to all sides? Worse, if we decry, ban, and censor sides we don’t like? I would submit that, by their own definition, the people who are stifling the opinions of, say, the Palestinians in this case, are themselves guilty of oppressing a group of people, ie, a ‘hate crime’.
And no, local government doesn’t have any business weighing in. This is a national issue, even a cultural issue. Local government should concern itself with addressing ‘local’ problems. There are certainly enough of them.