Lies, Information Spaces, and Changing Minds
The scary thing we are learning is, to our collective horror, we have built up very little institutional or cultural resilience to fascists, specifically their lies and manipulation. The good news is that we are getting a crash course in how to build that resilience, and it can be pretty straightforward.
I think the foundation of democratic resilience is ending bothsides-ism in #media. Once someone demostrates they are untrustworthy, their voice needs to be dismissed outright. As consumers, all of us have the agency to reject sources that rely on both-sidesism and clickbait catastrophizing. This will take time to learn good habits and it involves collective responsibility, but I believe we can do this.
These battles are won in information spaces, and while autocrats have the advantage of corporate mouthpiece control, they have the disadvantage of being grossly incompetent and stupidly cruel. Their 'brand' is technocratic efficiency and objectivity. As crazy as it sounds, a lot of people dont know they are being lied to because of the information spaces they are trapped in and the blinders they have put up. Our pressure on autocrats, pointing out their incompetence, stupidity, and cruelty, needs to be relentless in order to destroy their brand and help people break free of these bubbles.
I know its distressing to see so many fall for outright lies, but people are very capable of changing their minds when they are presented with evidence that touches on their personal experiences. I point back to collective responsibility to win back minds and diligently fight against authoritarian propoganda, as all of us who have used #BigTech or ever believed in 'meritocracy' have helped build this world.
#Uspol #US #Canada #Europe
