Let’s face it, there’s a lot of misinformation out there. The 2012 Presidential election has been plagued with more propaganda and false claims than ever before. Looking at the statistics of those who think Obama is a Muslim, the Stimulus didn’t work, Iraq attacked us…ever; it can feel overwhelming at times.
We’re battling two enemies in this fight. The Manipulators and the Manipulated. The Manipulators spread false information in order to make their side look right and the other side look wrong, while the Manipulated accept information at face value and not only don’t check up on the facts, but are unswayed when new data is presented that contradicts their point regardless of how reliable it is. Indeed, some people are a little of both. So, how do we, the informed public, combat these issues?
The answer is in persistence. It’s a simple argument to have when it comes to refuting a point. That is, as long as you have the right data at hand. Bill Clinton laid the framework for it during the Democratic National Convention speech he gave last week. What he did is something we should all do. He took every point made by the opposition, removed his own opinion from it, and presented a counter argument based on independent studies to expose the lie. Romney pollster Neil Newhouse last month said “we’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers”.
In response, Joe Biden gave a speech in Zanesville OH and challenged the press to fact check him.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/09/joe-biden-challenges-press-to-fact-check-me/
I’d like to see the Romney campaign do that.
I’m in no way suggesting you can win an argument with a Tea Partier, Trumpy, or conservative uncle that decides to go off on the filthy liberals at the holiday dinner table. I don’t even think we should worry about people like that because they’re so much of a minority. We should, however, be concerned about the other people in the room that are just as pissed off at the issues, but don’t know who to blame. The conservative uncle can give them a reason by spreading the Fox “News” fear that we’re going to be attacked by a third world Country or that liberals are raising the debt with their stimulus programs and are going to raise your taxes to pay for it. Someone listening to this conversation may just say “yeah, I do pay a lot in taxes” or “you’re right, I don’t want to see the Country attacked anymore. I remember 9/11. We need to show those terrorists a lesson”.
People that know there are problems in the world, but don’t know who to blame are the ones that have a better chance of seeing the truth than those who are so wrapped up in the lie that the don’t want to see anything else. We’re comfortable when the enemy is someone else rather than ourselves.
There’s a way to beat false propaganda. Challenge it. Expose it. Point out the truth with every fact and statistic you have and keep it up. They’re not going to stop and neither should we. It’s time to stand up for what we believe in.
It’s also important to point out that, although I’ve referred to it here, it’s really not an us and them thing. The propaganda machine wants us to be divided. We need to be in the business of bringing people together, but in a way that brings the truth out in the process. I have total respect for my family even though they have drastically different political views than mine. But I’m not going to sit back an listen to lies all day.
If someone says Obama hasn’t created any jobs, we should ask what about the reports that show continuous job growth month after month since Obama took office. Point to independent studies by nationally recognized economists and reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If someone says Obama raised the debt, point out the $700 billion in tax breaks that Bush gave the super rich, or the $390,000 per day spent on each soldier in Iraq. Join Facebook groups that specifically expose the lies. Research as much information as you can. Bookmark data that exposes some of the basic points that are being made and pull that data when some troll on your social network is blabbing about something Rush Limbaugh said last week.
Here are some of my favorites:
When someone makes a point that Clinton really didn’t fix the economy, I post this.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/karlwhelan/2012/09/05/did-bill-clintons-budgets-really-destroy-the-american-economy/
When someone says that liberal policies result in big Government, I give them this.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/05/24/who-is-the-smallest-government-spender-since-eisenhower-would-you-believe-its-barack-obama/
It’s not the poster that I think I can sway, it’s the other people reading the post that have a chance at listening to reason. Do the research and keep the data handy. The truth is out there and it’s our responsibility as progressive thinkers to correct the falsehoods and beat down the lies.
Progressive Creative Blog 