Back in the days when I was becoming an audiophile and working a lot with high-end stereo systems, we used to talk about how Ivor Tiefenbrun, the founder of Linn Audio and inventor of the mythical LP-12 turntable, had a simple philosophy about sound: “Garbage in, garbage out” (an expression that originated from the world of early computing). His idea was that by focusing on the most accurate reproduction of the source signal you would automatically get better sound out of any amplification equipment, and conversely, that no matter how good the amplification side was, if you fed it crappy source, it would sound like crap. Garbage in, garbage out. So, Tiefenbrun designed the ultimate turntable and built his audio company around that.
Ivor Tiefenbrun, like the early coders before him, was absolutely correct. His turntable made any stereo system sound better, brought out more detail, and was more expansive sounding and subtle than any other device out there. Excellence in, excellence out.
Oddly enough, I found myself thinking of this maxim today while reading about the radical US right-wing’s new invented target, Haitian immigrants in a mid-western town. Not so much for the utter trash that has emerged from this targeting, now being parroted by the Republican candidates for President and Vice President (if you’ve somehow missed it, I am referring to the hideous libel that these immigrants are stealing and eating people’s cats and dogs, or using them for sacrifices – Jews who recall the European ‘blood libels’ from past centuries should be feeling a certain shiver at this) but rather because of its source: American neo-Nazis.
Yes, forget about Laura Loomer for a moment, because in the chain from source to amplification, she’s just an interconnect. The real source of the story is rumors first generated by a local neo-Nazi group that recently marched in the same town (the unwitting Springfield, Ohio) to protest the presence of the Haitians. Then someone posted a picture of a guy with a goose, then someone else made some comment on social media, a woman made a call with an accusation, and all that somehow coalesced to the point that ultra right-wing ‘influencers’ like Loomer were able to get their minds around it, and this libel emerged in its current full-fledged form.
Now, I’ll pause here to say that, given that Loomer has recently made statements that even ultra right-wing US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene finds “extremely racist”, I’m not sticking my neck too far out with that last remark. If it wasn’t the worst racist filth, Loomer would not have been interested in it.
Next thing you know, JD Vance was talking about this story, and then of course came the shocking moment when Donald Trump invoked it during the debate with Harris on national television, in front of 67 million viewers, not to mention all that have seen the clip since.
How did it come to that? It seems that the answer brings us back to the phrase we started with: garbage in, garbage out.
The truth is that it has always been this way with Trump. His career in politics is a long trail of him repeating rumors and conspiracy theories that he picks up from the skankiest corners of the right-wing universe and shares, online and in his speeches. This garbage fills up tons of space, taking more and more time to process and sort as the lies and fabrications and slurs pile up, obscuring the fact that Trump is – and always has been – a mostly empty shell of ego, contempt and anger who is little more than an amplifier for the worst elements of American society. He is, as Kamala Harris pointed out repeatedly during the debate, a disgrace.
That said, he is also extremely good at being that amplifier, and people who like that kind of sound seem to really, really like it, some with extreme dedication, and even in the face of evidence that there are definitely better options. In this sense, to return to my audio metaphor for a moment, Trump reminds of Bose Audio, or perhaps better put, his supporters remind me of Bose fans.
Stay with me, because the analogy has some merit. Bose made its reputation as a company that claimed it knew something about sound that no other company did, and built up a huge and wildly successful myth about itself as making the best loudspeakers – for those in the know – despite their glaring design flaws and, frankly, terrible sound. Many of us ‘audiophiles’ hated Bose.
Like Trump did later, they created a brand that people passionately clung to despite being demonstrably inferior.
But people don’t buy stereo systems like they used to, and Bose eventually had to move on to making glorified clock-radios, and if people like the way their stuff sounds*, there’s no harm done. On the other hand, the Trump brand of amplification is doing real harm to real people, right now.
As I write this, the town of Springfield has been subjected to bomb threats for two days running, keeping schools closed and stoking resentment of the rumormongers (DT and JDV included) from citizens and local leaders. Haitians are being threatened. But at the top of the Republican ticket this story is only metastasizing and growing, as Trump does the only thing he has ever done, which is to ‘double down’ on it, expanding on the lie as he repeats it. Like Bose owners used to do to me all the time years ago, he tries to win his point by making it louder and louder until you just concede.
In fact, on Friday Trump publicly stated that “the largest deportation in the history of our country” would “start with Springfield.”
Neo-Nazis and ultra-right wing media buffoons are one thing, but these things are being said by a candidate for president of the United States, and people are getting hurt. Maybe not yet physically, but hurt nonetheless. His words have dangerous and devastating consequences, not in the feared future of his hypothetical victory in November, but right now: he is causing suffering in Springfield on a daily basis. If I can borrow another one of Kamala Harris’ memorable phrases from Tuesday’s debate (a line she’s now repeating in her rallies), it’s immoral.
So, when anyone in the Republican/Trump orbit opens their mouths, remember the sources of all this vitriol, because with the kind of garbage they are taking in, garbage is all that comes out – and that comes through at any volume.
*(If you are a fan of Bose, I apologize for the snobbery expressed here, and please don’t ask me what I own. I only used to be an audiophile after all… and sold my LP-12 years ago. Thank you.)
Cover Image: Flickr.com
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