Like an awful lot of America, I have spent the last four years trying to comprehend the Trump regime. I cannot fathom what kind of a person would look at these past four years of chaos, division, a worldwide pandemic (Trump, let’s not forget, dismantled the pandemic response team in 2018 and left EVERYONE vulnerable), crashing economy, and say they wanted four more years of this.
In recent weeks, I have been alarmed by the posts of friends who are saying things like “Democrats are Marxists,” “Biden is a socialist and will ruin America” and “Mail-in voting increases fraud.” None of these things are true. There were false robocalls, emails, and fake vote drop boxes. I can’t believe I’m seeing this right here in America, which in my youth (four years ago) was a beacon for the rest of the world on fair and free elections.
What was causing all this?
It’s a disinformation campaign.
In the spirit of saving America, which I feel like I’ve been doing for far too long, I decided that it was time to share some of the benefits of the research I’ve been doing these last years while I’m writing the Scouts book. I’ve become something of an expert on propaganda and how it works. Every day, I write up a snack-sized portion of knowledge.
Maybe, if it doesn’t hurt too much, we can all share it. Maybe closing the division in the country has to start from rebuilding our basic ideas. We don’t watch broadcast TV anymore, we don’t have that big radio station everybody listens to, and nobody goes to movies in the era of CoVid. But maybe social media can rebuild America’s common culture.
Anyway, it won’t hurt to try.
Further reading: https://www.npr.org/2020/10/24/927300432/robocalls-rumors-and-emails-last-minute-election-disinformation-floods-voters
Project Diamonds 