“There’s a sucker born every minute.” ~ Source Unknown/Disputed There is no shortage of new victims, or of con men, or of honest men.
Americans are bombarded with information on a daily basis. Some of us long for the days before 24-hour news and Social Media. The phrase “24-hour news” is a misnomer. It is a 24-hour commentary mixed with the news. Social Media, which I abandoned more than a year ago, makes it worse. Many of the stories are disinformation, propaganda, or simply somebody’s opinion.
For example, there are reports that Russian soldiers are destroying their equipment and refusing to fight. Some people also believe in the Ghost of Kyiv who supposedly shot down a bunch of Russian fighter jets. Domestically there were those who said Trump was a Russian puppet or some other descriptive word like “agent” et cetera. In addition, we have the Biden laptop scandal. The list goes on and on.
- The first two examples are samples of propaganda: ideas or statements that may be false or present only one side of an argument that are used in order to gain support for a political leader, party, etc.
- The one about Trump is disinformation: false information that is given deliberately.
- The last one about the Biden laptop is a cover-up: action that is taken to hide a mistake or an illegal activity from the public.
To be fair there are examples of propaganda and disinformation groups on the right. Factions like QAnon, Alex Jones InfoWars, and sadly some religious groups and individuals are just as guilty.
Deception involves telling a partial truth. If a person or organization lies most or all the time then few will believe them. Deceivers must also appeal to emotion rather than intellect. If they appeal to the intellect rather than emotion then people will more easily uncover the parts of the story that are false, misleading, or out of context. Emotions can eradicate your analytical thinking skills and make you more susceptible to propaganda, disinformation, or cover-up storylines.
As stated in the title, there are negative outcomes. Below are just a few.
- Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy caused a national debate about the harassment of minorities by police. This was furthered by President Obama’s comments before he knew anything when he said “the Cambridge police acted stupidly”. Years later, in his memoir A Promised Land, Obama wrote that according to the White House’s polling, the incident caused a larger drop in white support for his presidency than any other single event. However, this false narrative set us up for the next big disinformation event:
- The “hands up don’t shoot” lie led to “The Ferguson Effect“. This led to the rise of the now-disgraced BLM and Defund the Police movements. America is still dealing with the fallout from this original lie. The number of people killed and the amount of property damage done based on this false narrative is incalculable. Race relations have not been this bad since the 1960s.
- All the disinformation and propaganda about Trump drove a huge divide in America. It led to actual hatred by some who would have otherwise been more reasonable. The outcome of false accusations and disinformation caused further racial and political divisions.
- The politicization and cover-up (lab not bats) of the origin of the China Flu, the vaccines as well as potential treatments, caused people to suffer needlessly. It also led to what we can term “The Covid Election of 2020”.
- The Biden laptop cover-up and states mishandling of the Covid Election led to not being able to trust our election results. This in part led to the protests on 6 Jan 2021.
- The disinformation and propaganda by QAnon and religious groups saying Trump would reclaim the presidency in part led to the trespassing at the Capitol, the destruction of some 1.5 million of the taxpayer’s property, and the punching and shoving of some people, and Ashli Babbit’s death on 6 Jan 2021. Note: The most egregious crimes (all misdemeanor) adjudicated to this point resulted in 41-month sentences. Jacob Chansley pleaded guilty in September to a single criminal count of obstructing a proceeding of Congress. Source CNBC. Scott Fairlamb received a 41-month sentence for punching a police officer. Source Reuters. As of March 2022, nobody has been found guilty of anything more than a misdemeanor. Source Wikipedia as of April 2022.
There are dozens of other examples. Regardless of how you see the above points, the question remains how do you sort it out? Here are some tips. Maybe you can add others to the comments.
- When possible wait before drawing conclusions. Any story can take days, weeks, or even years to be reconciled. Case in point, the Biden laptop.
- Check your own biases. Does a story align with your beliefs? Facts and beliefs are two different things and often get you in trouble when you mistake the two.
- Consider the source or sources. If all you watch, read or associate with is one-sided then you are likely to be negatively influenced. A good resource is AllSides.com. They also have a “Fact Check” bias chart.
- Try to develop a healthy skepticism but not be closed-minded.
- Maintain friendly relationships with people who believe opposite from you. Do not take it personally when a friend disagrees with your point of view.
- If you know you are right bring people to your side by asking questions. Do it privately so people are not publicly embarrassed when they cannot answer. Telling people they are wrong gets you nowhere. Ask them why they believe what they believe. You just might be surprised at the answer.
Mac and Mike, two Vets for Trump discuss:
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Excellent.
Did you know that Biden got more than 81 million votes in the 2020 election?
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-elections/president-results
Did you know that this was the most votes ever recorded in a presidential election? EVER!!!
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-biden-popular-vote-record-barack-obama-us-presidential-election-donald-trump/
Did you know that prior to the 2020 election, the most votes ever received in a presidential election was 69.4 million in 2008 for President Obama?
https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=2008
Did you know that President Trump got the second highest vote count in history in the 2020 election??? 74.2 million.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGRxVITBGOA
Did you know that the campaign rally in 2020 for Biden was 870 people, one week before the election? When he was losing? Because of COVID??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNuZX9CXI1c
Can’t really find out how many attend Trump rallies ?????
I wonder why?????
Biden is a seriously popular guy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGRxVITBGOA
BUT, Joe draws many more in Del Rio!!!
https://genesiustimes.com/biden-draws-his-largest-rally-ever-in-del-rio-texas/
But that number is unknown too?????
Keep an open mind!
Did you know that approximately 17% of Biden voters would have chosen differently had they known the truth? That includes 10% of Democrats!
https://www.westernjournal.com/poll-17-biden-voters-abandoned-knew-stories-media-censored/
But millions of people were unaware of Biden’s scandals and extreme positions, meaning the censorship campaign to hide information about Biden was a success.
Yes, keep an open mind and understand how Gullibility – Extremism – Disinformation, and Cover-Ups cause Negative Outcomes.
Outstanding article – thank you.
I’m sorry, but what does Biden’s supposed laptop or COVID have to do with Election Integrity?
You speak of gullibility, do you mean believing in unsubstantiated events that NO ONE offers any proof of?
Where is the proof of Widespread Election Fraud? It’s been about a year and a half, why haven’t the GOP shown any proof?
Every single official involved in 2020’s election stated that there was no Fraud! Every single lawsuit was tossed, most by Republican Judges. Including several Trump appointees.
PS Why wasn’t any of the lawsuits about fraud?
Out of 63, only one even mentioned fraud!
Where is the proof about HRC’s complicity in Benghazi? Yet Republicans keep calling for her to be locked up. Why hasn’t the GOP found any evidence in the 11 Senate Investigations?
Republicans are the gullible ones, even more gullible than the average Democrat. They make all of these wild accusations without offering any proof. Why doesn’t the GOP produce any evidence of their claims? The Democrats at least offer some proof with their allegations. It may be BS proof, but at least they make an effort.
Republican Voters don’t seem to require any proof. It seems like they accept anything said by certain people and ignore any evidence that contradicts it.
Jon,
Here are a couple of links that explain how the squashing of the laptop changed the election results:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2022/04/07/media_collusion_of_hunter_bidenjoe_biden_bombshell_story_147439.html
https://www.westernjournal.com/poll-17-biden-voters-abandoned-knew-stories-media-censored/
The Covid election of 2020 had various responses in various states. Mail-in voting without verification or request from the voter was the worst. It is true that you cannot prove fraud when you cannot prove a person actually voted. That is the problem from my point of view. You know this if you were a breathing American of voting age in 2020. If you think unsolicited mail-in vote fraud is not a real problem read this: https://nypost.com/2020/08/29/political-insider-explains-voter-fraud-with-mail-in-ballots/
I never mention Benghazi or HRC so I can’t answer anything related to your comment. Maybe someone else can chime in. However, here is a link to the left-leaning Politico you might find useful but not related to Benghazi. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/best-of-clinton-fbi-report-227692
Now Jon, to be fair, you must admit I criticize right-wing idiots too. However, we know white liberals have more mental illness and that likely leads to a higher rate of gullibility. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/apr/22/white-liberals-more-likely-have-mental-health-cond/
One last bit of bad news for Dems. Trump would beat Biden by 6 points, Harris by 11 in the 2024 race, a new poll shows.
https://nypost.com/2022/03/29/trump-would-beat-biden-by-6-points-in-2024-election-poll/
Why doesn’t the GOP produce any evidence for their claims? Its been a year and a half.
Why doesn’t the GOP prove the Election Fraud?
Why doesn’t someone file criminal charges against those involved?
Why did only one of Trump’s lawsuits even mention fraud?
People keep making these false claims of Election Fraud are simply trying to get more power. People claiming fraud are doing their best to destroy American. Baseless claims are spurring the GOP to destroy the Election Integrity. Restrictions on voting for POC just proves that the GOP knows that they have nothing positive.
What are the GOP’s platform for 2024? They have nothing. The GOP has nothing about Taxes, Welfare, Security, etc…. The only thing that the GOP talks about is the Election. Pathetic.
How many people who voted for Trump regret their vote? Probably a few more than for Biden.
You keep harping on Biden’s Scandals. Yet you completely ignore the Trump Scandals. How much proof is their on Biden’s Scandals? A whole lot less than the Trump Scandals. Why do you ignore the proof against Trump?
Jon, I have answered 2 out of three of your questions on this new post.
Asked and answered long ago. At least this is what Mac and I have to say about it.