(Video) Lies and Simplifications
I’ve been feeling worn out lately tackling what I’ve been calling “simplifications” or “rage-inducing simplifications.”
So I recorded a video taking them all on at once.
I’ll have a transcript on my blog shortly.
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I’ve been feeling worn out lately tackling what I’ve been calling “simplifications” or “rage-inducing simplifications.”
So I recorded a video taking them all on at once.
I’ll have a transcript on my blog shortly.
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Transcript is here: terikanefield.com/dangerous-lies…
This is a Twitter Summary hitting the main points.
For my full argument, see the transcript or video.
As a shorthand, I use “the left” to refer to all people left of the right-wing extremists who want democracy to survive.
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This is a Twitter Summary hitting the main points.
For my full argument, see the transcript or video.
As a shorthand, I use “the left” to refer to all people left of the right-wing extremists who want democracy to survive.
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The lies we see on the right-wing are intended to destroy.
Here is what people on the left seem to have a hard time accepting: The Republicans are knowingly and actively shielding and supporting liars and lawbreakers because they want to destroy.
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Here is what people on the left seem to have a hard time accepting: The Republicans are knowingly and actively shielding and supporting liars and lawbreakers because they want to destroy.
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Anti-government rhetoric has long been part of the Republican lexicon.
in 2001, Grover Norquist said, “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
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in 2001, Grover Norquist said, “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
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The insurrection is really just an extension of the idea that we should drown the federal government.
That’s why the Republican Party is trying to minimize and downplay the insurrection.
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That’s why the Republican Party is trying to minimize and downplay the insurrection.
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If you expect that to change, if you think indictments or convictions or the results of investigations will break through to a party immune to the truth, you will be disappointed.
Unfortunately, for reasons I explain, it could be as high as 45% of the voters in that group.
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Unfortunately, for reasons I explain, it could be as high as 45% of the voters in that group.
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Because the Republican Party has abandoned truth, our only hope is for the left to embrace truth.
The truth is nuanced. It's complex. It doesn't fit well into a soundbite.
It's easy to fire off untruths.
Responding with facts is much harder.
That's how the truth loses.
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The truth is nuanced. It's complex. It doesn't fit well into a soundbite.
It's easy to fire off untruths.
Responding with facts is much harder.
That's how the truth loses.
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Because so many people are immune to truth, the only chance to beat authoritarianism is for everyone else to join together.
Instead, the left has formed a circular firing squad driven at least partly by simplifications.
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Instead, the left has formed a circular firing squad driven at least partly by simplifications.
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Simplifications take a complex situation and boil it down to something that seems true and perhaps has some truth in it, but is not true.
Often they are literally not true. Or they ignore the complexity of a situation and thus misrepresent reality.
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Often they are literally not true. Or they ignore the complexity of a situation and thus misrepresent reality.
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In the video, I address a few simplifications and why they are problematic.
I won't go into the details here.
I was feeling like I was drowning in a sea of “There are never any consequences” and “Merrick Garland is corrupt” when I listened to Snyder's latest video.
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I won't go into the details here.
I was feeling like I was drowning in a sea of “There are never any consequences” and “Merrick Garland is corrupt” when I listened to Snyder's latest video.
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Me, listening to the video = 💡the light came on.
Everyone should listen to it.
He talks about "Internet Triggers," which he defines as something a person ses on the Internet, felt triggered by, and then repeats.
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Everyone should listen to it.
He talks about "Internet Triggers," which he defines as something a person ses on the Internet, felt triggered by, and then repeats.
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Snyder talked about why these Internet Triggers are dangerous for democracy: They prevent us from thinking complex thoughts.
People see these Triggers on the Internet because they are directed at them.
The people are then transformed into repeaters of targeted memes.
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People see these Triggers on the Internet because they are directed at them.
The people are then transformed into repeaters of targeted memes.
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Snyder finds this terrifying because democracy depends on us having “some sense of time beyond our immediate outrage.”
Snyder also talks about how, in Orwell’s 1984, the fictionalized totalitarian government worked on reducing the number of words in the language.
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Snyder also talks about how, in Orwell’s 1984, the fictionalized totalitarian government worked on reducing the number of words in the language.
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Having each of us become repeaters of Internet Triggers accomplishes the same thing by reducing our ability to have complex thoughts.
In the video, I talk about how these simplifications actually put Teflon on Trump, which means that the Left is putting Teflon on Trump.
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In the video, I talk about how these simplifications actually put Teflon on Trump, which means that the Left is putting Teflon on Trump.
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For what I mean by the left putting Teflon on Trump, see:
The left is minimizing and ignoring facts and instead, is sinking into a mire of speculation, and conclusions based on speculation.
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https://twitter.com/Teri_Kanefield/status/1465329135824224262
The left is minimizing and ignoring facts and instead, is sinking into a mire of speculation, and conclusions based on speculation.
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I fully understand the dangers posed by right-wing extremism.
I suggest that the left hasn't yet figured out how to respond to these kinds of threats to democracy.
Democracy is the form of government based on rule of law, which requires truth and a shared factuality. . .
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I suggest that the left hasn't yet figured out how to respond to these kinds of threats to democracy.
Democracy is the form of government based on rule of law, which requires truth and a shared factuality. . .
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Because the Republican Party has abandoned truth, our only hope is for the left to embrace truth.
That means at least slowing the tide of rage-inducing Internet Triggers, pausing to absorb the complexity of our current politics, and embracing nuance.
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That means at least slowing the tide of rage-inducing Internet Triggers, pausing to absorb the complexity of our current politics, and embracing nuance.
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l'll phrase it differently:
If someone (1) prefers democracy and (2) doesn't understand the dangers posed by the modern Trump-GOP, rage-doom tweeting won't help.
Moreover, if those are the people you are trying to reach . . .
If someone (1) prefers democracy and (2) doesn't understand the dangers posed by the modern Trump-GOP, rage-doom tweeting won't help.
Moreover, if those are the people you are trying to reach . . .
https://twitter.com/paulkva/status/1467680691043328000
. . . how will the simplifications I listed in the transcript or on the video help?
If they don't understand, will telling them that all the problems are the fault of Biden's pick for attorney general help?
With such people, I think accuracy and🤔is more effective than 😱🔥
If they don't understand, will telling them that all the problems are the fault of Biden's pick for attorney general help?
With such people, I think accuracy and🤔is more effective than 😱🔥
Someone suggested this sells: 😱
I disagree. I see it wearing people out and discouraging them, and causing them to disengage.
Panic is never a good idea.
It causes people to do things that don't help.
You don't send soldiers into battle by screaming "WE ARE DOOMED"
I disagree. I see it wearing people out and discouraging them, and causing them to disengage.
Panic is never a good idea.
It causes people to do things that don't help.
You don't send soldiers into battle by screaming "WE ARE DOOMED"
Okay thinking more about whether this: 🔥sells.
Stoking fear is the Fox model, but Fox stokes fear against the liberals.
Much of the simplifications I'm talking about in the video (and blog post) stoke anger at the Democrats and the "system."
Maybe that's why . . .
Stoking fear is the Fox model, but Fox stokes fear against the liberals.
Much of the simplifications I'm talking about in the video (and blog post) stoke anger at the Democrats and the "system."
Maybe that's why . . .
. . . it works when Fox and Newsmax do it, but it's causing people who dislike authoritarianism to disengage.
Fox doesn't want people to think⤵️
Someone responded to one of my tweets today by saying Biden should appoint an attack dog as AG . . .
Fox doesn't want people to think⤵️
Someone responded to one of my tweets today by saying Biden should appoint an attack dog as AG . . .
https://twitter.com/Bellarusque/status/1467931545604268035
Isn't "we should have an attack dog as AG" something Trump would say?
Maybe (hear me out) people got so used to Trump-style politics that they're continuing Trump-style and that might turn off people who don't like Trump-style politics.
Maybe (hear me out) people got so used to Trump-style politics that they're continuing Trump-style and that might turn off people who don't like Trump-style politics.
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