Among his many comedy sketches, Richard Pryor once told us how he responded when his wife caught him cheating on her:  “Are you gonna’ believe me, or your lying eyes?”  With advice like that, Pryor … if he were still with us … could forget about being a comedian.  Instead, he would be the perfect government spokesperson to tell us that what we just saw on video is NOT what actually happened.  In other words, the behavior we are looking at, according to Pryor, is not the problem … it is our “lying eyes.”

In Minneapolis, for example, an event captured in a number of videos showed a confrontation between a motorist and an ICE agent which resulted in shots being fired by the agent.  The driver of the car at which he fired was killed and, fortunately, there were no other apparent injuries.  Stunning as events like this may be, we have always been comforted that they will be subject to a careful investigation and that, eventually, the exact details of what transpired will be announced.

Not in this case though.  Instead, we were inundated almost immediately with government officials rushing to the defense of the ICE officer while fixing blame for this tragedy upon the female motorist who died … all this before any inquiry into the facts had even begun.  And the accusations themselves were breathtaking … she was part of a left wing conspiracy … she was deeply troubled … she was a domestic terrorist.  These words, if they truly come from the heart, tell us something very distressing about the true nature of any person making such outlandish claims.

It is worth noting that, in the rush to fix blame and control the narrative, scant attention seems to have been paid to the well-being of the ICE officer,  The trauma associated with the taking of a human life is profound, and caring law enforcement agencies have learned that protecting an officer’s physical and mental well-being, along with his privacy, is crucial.  In this case, though, we know the name of the officer along with details about his family, an inexcusable breach.  Regardless of what the final conclusion about the events of this awful day may be, ICE leadership had a responsibility to protect both the investigation and the officer and they failed miserably on both counts.

Ironically, the tragedy in Minneapolis took place on January 7, a mere one day after the five-year anniversary of the January 6, 2001, attack on the United States Capitol.  That being so, it is interesting, but not surprising, to note how closely the revisionists of history are channelling Richard Pryor and his “lying eyes” argument in their efforts to convince us that the violent assault we witnessed on that awful day in Washington, DC, was actually a peaceful protest.  

Though the current imbroglio is especially flagrant, this does not mark the first time government leaders have tampered with the truth about matters that demand accuracy and transparency.  In his book, 1984, published in 1949, George Orwell warned us of the machinations of a dystopian government this way:

The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.  It was their final, most essential command.