Approaching From the Flanks

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception: How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation." In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information. They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1. Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2. Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs. Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3. Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp. Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4. When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5. Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source: Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.

Update:  McQuade, Barbara, "Attack From Within," 2024.  New York Times best seller.

My initial thoughts were to not publish this post, but I changed my mind and here it is.  BH

I’m feeling like I should be a little more out “in the world” than I have been this year. I have had multiple opportunities to exercise my privilege in the past nine months, but given the state of affairs, I feel like I should be more engaged in the communities where I can make a difference.

Maybe I’m being too hard on myself. I throw myself into my singing groups with intentional wholeheartedness. I donate platelets at Stanford Blood Center. I make signs and attend peaceful protests. Occasionally I write my thoughts in this space.

I stay engaged in current events by reading the San Jose Mercury News and the Washington Post. My wife fills in the blanks with summaries from the New York Times. I listen to NPR and watch public television. I exercise daily, read daily affirmations and, with my wife, donate to causes of our choice that reflect our belief in the goodness of humanity.

My health is good. I hit the occasional good golf shot. I’m trying to be a better Stoic. I’m heavily involved in church activities like the choir, the Environmental Justice Committee and the Tech Team.

It sounds like enough. I probably missed a few things, but I can’t help but think that a 69 year-old retired Science teacher in good health should be doing more than I am doing for my communities. For now I’ll be content on musing about what else I could be doing. In the meantime I’ll just be happy.

I got a little off my intended topic there. But, I guess it needed to be expressed.

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Since we shifted our TV service over to You Tube Tv, I have watched more YouTube videos. Mostly videos about geology, baseball and WW ll.

I know my brain is still healthy because I continue to follow a non-linear need to connect events and news items that don’t appear to have any real connectivity with each other.

For example, The Battle of the Bulge where a German counter-offensive caused the American lines to bend and bulge at the crossroads town of Bastogne, Belgium. German forces were attempting to cut off the allied supply lines by re-taking the Port city of Antwerp.

It almost worked. The key to German success was speed. They needed to break through the American line before reinforcements could relieve the beleaguered soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division. The Americans were running low on food, ammunition, medical supplies and warm clothing.

Two things stopped the German advance. The weather improved so that allied planes could provide air support. The second thing was the arrival of Gen. George S. Patton and his Third Army. Once Patton arrived, the Germans knew that the battle was lost and, for all intents and purposes, so was the war in Europe. Had Patton not arrived in time, the war could have taken a very different turn.

The reason I bring up Patton and the Battle of the Bulge is that it seems eerily similar to the efforts of Russel Vought, The Heritage Foundation and the Republican Party to assault the Democratic line of defense with the forces of anti-democracy.

Like the German forces in WW ll at the Battle of the Bulge, the aforementioned forces are attempting to break through the lines of Democracy before reinforcements arrive to save the day. I don’t see our modern day Patton yet, but I feel like we are the besieged 101st Airborne Division trying to hold the line on Democracy until those reinforcements arrive.

One more WW ll story that I think applies today is the story of the M-18 Hellcat, a tank in it’s own right, but a tank designed to outrun and avoid face-to-face combat. It became know as the tank destroyer. Germany had designed it’s tanks to be heavy and virtually indestructible. The German Panther and Tiger tanks were hard to beat in a head-to-head fight.

Enter the Hellcat. The hellcat was lightly armored yet well armed enough to inflict great damage on the superior German tanks by using their speed and mobility to flank the enemy and get close enough to fire before the German tank commanders could turn their gun turrets around to fire on the Hellcats.

Speed and agility weren’t the only tools of the Hellcat. They were equipped with radios that allowed them to communicate with each other and work in teams to surprise and inflict substantial damage while limiting damage to themselves. When Hellcats were destroyed, they were easier to reproduce and inflict more losses on the enemy than losses of the Hellcats.

The story of the Hellcat also applies today. Clearly the foes of Democracy have much more fire power than the pro Democracy forces. They can’t be fought head-to-head. Our battles to come need to be fought in a hit-and-run fashion. I hope these battles to come are more figurative than literal. But the tactics employed by the U.S. Army in WW ll could come in handy in today’s out-of-balance political standoff.

My hope is that we can listen to each other, but if that doesn’t work then consider the above Plan B.

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The story of the Battle of the Bulge and the Hellcat converge to create an appropriate analogy for this moment. Hostile forces waging all out war against the Democratic institutions that stand their way.

This time our version of General Patton coming to the rescue is actually us. We can relieve our besieged institutions by keeping the pressure on to release the full Epstein Files held by the Justice Department and the FBI. We can be like the Hellcat and keep up a hit-and-run campaign until we bring the big powerful forces back down to our level.

Then, we can start the work of restoring humanity back to the United States of America.

On the Bright Side

There are voices of reason out there. In my last post I introduced Texas State Rep. James Talerico who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2026. He is a Christian in the truest sense. He is a man of God and a man of the people. Take a good look at him and listen to what he has to say. He seems to be a good man and a good human being with good intentions and he used to be a middle school teacher.

If you haven’t already listened to it, listen here to his extensive interview with Joe Rogan and get to know who he is.

And remember…