Rep. Thomas Massie Fails To Credit Neo-Nazi Pedophile Who Inspired Him

He erroneously claimed to be quoting Voltaire.

Yesterday afternoon, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky went and shared one the most widely misattributed quotes this side of "If you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best."

Tweeting "You mustn't question Fauci, for he is science," Massie shared an image of a giant hand crushing a crowd of very tiny people, with the text "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize. — Voltaire." Clearly, Massey meant to suggest that because he, Massie, has been criticized for whining about masks and actively encouraging providers to give out fake vaccine credentials , Anthony Fauci is secretly ruling the entire country. Or scientists are secretly ruling the entire country. Ooh! Maybe it's Italians. If so, I'm going to have to invest in some nicer tiaras.

Of course, as we should all know by now, Voltaire didn't say that. Kevin Alfred Strom said that.

Kevin Alfred Strom is a neo-Nazi who was convicted of possessing and sharing child pornography, and was once charged with "attempting to coerce a 10-year-old girl into a sexual relationship by sending her anonymous gifts, driving past her house and writing lyrics to love songs declaring his desire to marry her," and while that charge was thrown out due to lack of evidence that he was actually trying to have sex with her, the judge in the case said, “I think there is overwhelming evidence that [Strom] was sexually drawn to this child, and was obsessing over this child.”

So yes, that is who said this. Not Voltaire. Not even sort of.

It's not hard to see why this quote is so beloved by the Right. It insinuates exactly what Strom wants it to insinuate — that the real reason it's not socially acceptable to be racist or anti-Semitic is because actually, Jewish people and Black people are the ones controlling everyone. Rhetorically, it's an extremely effective way of justifying these tendencies, so long as one does not think too deeply about it.

That being said, if these people truly want an anti-Semitic or racist quote from Voltaire, they're out there . They exist, because Voltaire was in fact extremely racist and anti-Semitic. The man invested in the the French East India Company, which traded slaves, regularly disparaged Black people and, in his Dictionnaire Philosophique , called Jewish people ''the most abominable people in the world.'' Though perhaps that is a little too nail-on-the-head for them. Pretending they are simply talking about a universal truth gives their bullshit an air of credibility, or so they think.

It has since become heavily favored among those like Massie who don't like other people telling them they are incorrect about COVID-19 or vaccines, because they desperately want to pretend that all of this is a secret plot to control them and turn them into transhumanist cyborgs , and that's why people keep pointing out that they are factually incorrect or spreading misinformation that could kill people. Not because, you know, they're factually incorrect and spreading misinformation that could kill people.

If Thomas Massie is so very inspired by a neo-Nazi pedophile, then he should give Strom his due and credit him.

[ Thomas Massie Twitter ]

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