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.
I probably shouldn’t write when I’m worked up. I’ve gotten better at turning down the volume on the Right Wing disinformation machine and filtering out the distraction bait that comes out daily. There’s nothing much that I can do about someone else’s opinion. But, I can decide how I respond to the bait. If I choose to take it and get all excited, shame on me. If I don’t take the bait, I can focus my mind on changing things at my level and skillset. I’m of more use when I keep my emotions under control.
For the sake of my own coping with the daily misinformation and disinformation, I need to put down what I see in writing. This blog is mostly for me, but I enjoy knowing that some of you are following my humble opinion pieces.
Ken Burns has turned out another masterpiece of a documentary called The Revolution. In twelve hours Burns tells the story of what we call the American Revolution. Some things I knew but most things were new. It covered the period from 1763 to 1787 using re-enactments, historian commentaries, letters and writings from Native Americans, Loyalists and Rebels, and some facts that were difficult to accept as coming from the founders of this country.
But, as Burns points out, historical figures are human beings. They are imperfect, nuanced and subject to the norms of their times. The Rebels weren’t all good and the Imperialist British weren’t all bad. History is better when it is told by all parties involved which is seldom the case. History is usually told from the perspective of the victors.
Brief interruption for a community service. Being able to act on my morals feels good and apparently good at diffusing anger
What I started this post to say was that Medusa-like faces of falsehood pop up on a lot of different heads. They talk about the war with Venezuela that isn’t a war. They dismiss science in talking about Hepatitis vaccine for infants . They talk about Ballrooms at the Whitehouse. They talk about awards for despots. They threaten real American patriots who speak truth to power. They treat Saudi princes that murder American journalists like heroes. They use vile bigoted language to describe human beings that don’t have the same pale colored skin that they do. They claim to be Christian without any visible signs of representing Jesus Christ. The hypocrisy is thick and constant.
That list could go on for some considerable length of time and space.
I put in the reference to The Revolution because it offers a clear reminder to us about what this country was created to do. You’ll have to watch the series to more fully understand what I’m saying here. You’ll have to go past the stereotypes to see that despite being the elite privileged white men of their times, these men had a vision that transcended the slave dependent agricultural economy that brought them their wealth. Even their despicable treatment of Native Americans was, at least partly forgivable.
The document that they created for the United States of America was written to be a living document. It acknowledged that they were not in any way expecting that the future world would be the same as theirs.
So, they included a mechanism for amending the Constitution if the original document wasn’t working as it was intended to work. So, the arguments of the “Originalists” on the Supreme Court should fall on deaf ears. The words written in the late 19th Century were provisioned to allow future generations of Americans to meet the needs of their times.
“We the people…” was intended to include all people, not just land owning white men. It appears that they wanted “all people created equal,” but needed to maintain the slave-dependent economy of the day or risk losing the budding democracy that they had fought to create in order that one day ‘all people’ meant just what it says, ALL people.
They knew that “to create a more perfect union” meant that the union that they had started was a work constantly in progress, was not perfect, maybe not even great, but always allowing for the best interests of the people of the United States of America. They wrote an incredible document to transcend time and space.
Today, that document is under attack. There is no good reason for it to be under attack. The people attacking it falsely claim to be protecting The Constitution. They claim to be the party of law and order when in reality the stand for no law and disorder. Precedent doesn’t seem to matter to the highest court in the land. They simply make up the law as it benefits their political benefactors.
This hypocrisy is tantamount to sedition and should be treated as such at all three levels of government. “We the People” need to continue to speak up against the false narrative spinners.
On the Bright Side
Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press (Thanks Hal)
As my Grandmother used to say, “This too shall pass.” My corollary to what my grandmother used to say, This too shall pass…with a little help.”
Keep smiling.
Smiley png
In other good news, “Eileen Higgins becomes Miami’s first Democratic mayor in 30 years,” winning by about 19 points.