Easily swayed at Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Although it seemed like it would never arrive, on the 15^th of July Doug and I packed our truck and headed to Cleveland, Ohio to attend the Republican National Convention.  We got there a day early so we could settle in before things got wild.

On the 17^th Doug and I attended the Rock and Roll Reception for GOP attendees to the National Convention at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in downtown Cleveland.  As we enjoyed the music, the fun of having the Rock and Roll Hall to “ourselves,” and all the fabulous food provided by Cleveland’s finest eateries, Doug and I stood and talked with a nice young couple from Colorado.  We were getting along great, with this lovely couple even giving us their business card and inviting us to their ranch in Colorado.  “Getting along great” until they realized Doug and I were Trump supporters.  This young couple assumed that because we were Christians we had to be Cruz supporters. 

As the four of us discussed the pros and cons of our candidate and their candidate, the husband brought up a multitude of lies the media constantly spread about Donald Trump.  He had memorized the NeverTrump playbook, written by everyone on every side intent on destroying Donald Trump, and easily repeated every lie written or spoken. 

In this man’s eyes Donald Trump’s worst sin was the “fact” he had molested his daughter, Ivanka, when she was a child.  This man’s “proof” of incest?  Photographs found on the Internet showing Donald hugging Ivanka and photographs showing Ivanka sitting on her father’s lap.  Not only was Ivanka sitting on her dad’s lap, but ‘Gasp!  They were sitting on a statue of two parrots copulating!  Really!  You can see the photos all over the Internet and Donald wanted their photos taken by the dirty birds on purpose!’ 
 
What interests me about this story that has been told over and over again is that when you look at the photos in question, if you have been conditioned to see two birds doing the funky-fresh-thing that is what you most likely will see.  But if you know there are many statues of similar stylized parrots around the pool at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and that none of them are of birds having sex – including the birds in the photograph in question – you realize people are seeing what they want to see and not what is before their eyes.  

Hey, have you seen two parrots having sex before?  Really?  Because if you had you would know they look not one thing like the two birds sitting next to each other as the statue at Mar-a-Lago shows.  But someone started a story that someone else wanted to be true -- even though it is a lie -- and now photographs showing everyday signs of affection between a dad and his pre-teen daughter have become proof of incest.  Unbelievable.

A day later as I walked through the Quicken Loans Arena I saw the young couple who Doug and I talked to the night before and who had invited us to stay with them at their ranch in Colorado.  Walking towards them to say, ‘Hello’ I noticed they both turned away when they saw me coming.  I guess the invitation to their ranch is off.