Authoritarians use performative lying to mark who is for, and more importantly, against their regimes.
The point isn’t determining truth. The point is creating an ingroup whose loyalty is assured through ritually denying reality and an easily recognizable outgroup that refuses the delusion.
The shooting is shocking enough but the government's response is off the charts when you consider that this incident is forensically documented on video.
This is literally what they do whenever a Black person is killed by police. No matter how solid the evidence is, they will keep pushing that lie, not just to poison the conversation and make sure the killer walks free, but to reassert the political idea that these people deserve to be killed.
The shooting is shocking enough but the government's response is off the charts when you consider that this incident is forensically documented on video.
