From Thailand to America, rhetoric falls and suspicion rises. This very year targets beautiful or even inspiring presentations, culminating in those making them having ended up in jail or losing elections. Truth and pretenders have never fought this hard, on both local and international levels.
The iCon Group’s business, based on any-poor-man-can-get-rich promises, is in serious danger, with beautiful presenters now in prison fighting fraud charges.
“People’s lawyer” Sittra Biabangerd is also imprisoned pending a trial. Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign with equality, identity and individual empowerment as its platform has lost to “dictatorial” and foul-mouthed Donald Trump by a landslide.
The above-mentioned cases heavily involved utmost rhetoric and what allegedly went on behind the scenes. Everyone must be presumed innocent at the moment, but 2024 has demonstrated that even what looked like the most unassailable claims can be _ and have to be _ questioned.
It has been a year that, to many, “realities” have never been the same. For so long, iCon executives’ lives were rags-to-riches inspirations, and Sittra was a model lawyer who fought for those who could not defend themselves. Whether they are guilty at the end or not, what they tried to project is under unprecedented suspicion.
The arrests of Sittra and iCon executives have been followed by the freezing of their assets. This does not only underline the authorities’ seriousness, but it also puts the “realities” the suspects created in greater jeopardy than ever.
The Harris case is more political than financial. Her campaign relied on a massive, never-known-before amount of rhetoric, uttered by the candidate herself, her celebrity supporters and pro-Democrat mainstream media. It has lost to the antidote of traditional rhetoric, in other words the bluntness (which was sometimes rude) campaign of Donald Trump.
This does not mean that the president-elect is more truthful. He even might have adopted a new kind of political rhetoric using cowboy-style vulgarity.
There are two ways to interpret the results of the American election. Either voters are sophisticated enough to see through systematic rhetoric and snub it, or incumbent’s rhetoric is boring no matter how beautiful or inspiring. (In other words, Trump’s new style of rhetoric is a breath of fresh air.)
The three cases of Sittra, iCon executives and Harris make us wonder about “realities” as told by other people, especially those with immense business and political interest. When it comes to money and power, there is nothing that cannot be invented as part of deception.
2024 has made us question realities like never before. We don’t know what is real, what is propaganda and what are absolute hoaxes. Are what iCon Group and Sittra allegedly did just the tip of the iceberg?
And world domination requires that lies are more elaborate. For example, Syria, whose “dictatorial” government has fallen to rebels, has generated and will generate clashing narratives. The contradictions and ironies can confuse everyone as to what to believe.
That the rebels have taken over Syria is changing western rhetoric, which used to demonise them to the point of announcing a $10 million bounty for its leader’s ahead. The tough stand has softened considerably now, because the current situation is considered to be unfavourable to Russia.
Presently, the White House’s stand is something like this: Many of the rebels are terrorists, too, so we will wait and see because action will speak louder than words, but we think they deserve a second chance.
2024 has more of less prepared the world for shifting narratives on Syria. That is on the grand scale. Smaller scales involve cases like Sittra and the iCon Group.
The social media, for all their flaws, have punctured apparently-solid claims at phenomenal speeds. AI is scary, especially when propagandas are concerned, but the social media have guaranteed that someone somewhere will know the truth and talk about it.
Without the social media, it would have taken years to put Sittra in jail for alleged fraud after someone claimed he had embezzled some money meant for investment. The same went for the flamboyant and famous iCon executives.
The suspects’ alleged “art of projection” was powerful, until this year, of course.
Rhetoric, if employed shrewdly, creates “realities”. But since what it forges becomes questionable in 2024, the whole tactic itself becomes shaky, too.
What will 2025 bring? More shocks maybe? If this year deals with present-day rhetorics, will past, bigger and longer-lasting rhetorics fall next year?
The world has “seen” and “heard” some mega stories that have always seemed impregnable, but 2024 has taught everyone that nothing lasts forever.
