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.
The news that the U.S,. Supreme Court ruled that President Trump does not have the authority to issue tariffs (ie. taxes) because the Constitution grants that authority to the Legislative Branch (Congress) is tariff(ic) news on at least two fronts.
!. It shows that this Supreme Court actually is capable of acting on the actual law.
2. Maybe, just maybe, the partisanship coalition is starting to break apart.
The Trump administration claimed that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, known as IEEPA, granted the president broad powers. This court decided that IEEPA indeed DID NOT grant the president any power, emergency or otherwise to enforce tariffs or any form of taxation from the Executive Branch of government
But, let’s not get too excited about this court. The jury is still out on whether the Robert’s Court is ready to go along with the MAGA Right’s plan to blow up the U.S. Government and replace it with some dictatorial, right wing Christian Oligarchy.
This court has gutted The Voting Rights Act of 1965. If you want to Geek out about this read this piece from Fordham’s Law School.
This Court has made it possible for large organizations on both sides of the political spectrum to anonymously spend unlimited amounts of money on individual candidates and causes and do it without any public scrutiny. In essence, whoever has the most money can buy any candidate or cause that it wants without a figment of openness. That was the Citizen’s United decision.
Then there’s the absolutely abominable ruling on Presidential immunity. In a nutshell, it gives the president the right to absolutely anything while they are in office up to and including murder of U.S. citizens. In Trumps own words, it gives him the right to shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue (New York City) and get away with it.
Who knows what they will do from here. Maybe they will go right back to kissing the President’s ass and acting as the Judicial component of the implementation of Project 2025.
Or maybe they have seen a little glimmer of the light that is still American Democracy and aren’t willing to go the last step by handing the keys to the country over to tyrants, racists, religious fanatics and billionaires.
One must be stoic about this by doing something traditionally un-stoic: Hope.
On the Bright Side
- Proud to report that that my church and community are standing up for Democracy in a big way.
- The Olympics were a great lift to the country. If only we could get the “nattering naybabs of negativity”1 to stop messing with our national psyche and try to turn a unifying moment into a divisive one. There’s something I’d like to say right now, but I’m going to resist the temptation. Let’s keep it on the bright side.
- No Kings Day is March 28. Speak up and/or attend an event as you are willing and able.
- Americans are not going to let Trump slide on the Epstein issue. How many wars will either threaten or start to distract attention away from this fact?
- Black History Month was another example of history defying efforts to make it disappear.
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1 Nixon Vice President Spiro T. Agnew referring to press coverage of his criminal activity.
Thought provoking post as usual. As an ‘old-school’ Republican I look for ways to support that shrinking wing of the Party of Lincoln. No doubt the most important man as we move towards the midterms will be Chief Justice Roberts. As he goes so does the Court as he almost always pulls two conservatives over to his side. Still, I worry that Trump would ignore a Supreme Court decision in an attempt to suspend the elections in November. That would actually get me out in the streets.