I am admittedly obsessed with social media, I look at posts and comments at all times of the day and I become incredibly upset.
The most troubling are posts reflecting ignorance, lies and misinformation about …taxes, Congress, Social Security, Medicare, health insurance, voting, immigrants, minimum wage, the wealthy and billionaires.
People tell me to ignore the garbage that is posted, but how can you ignore the misinformation that is read and believed by millions who base their opinions, sometimes actions and, of course, their voting on lies they accept and assume to be true.
Some of what I read is pure propaganda, much of it continues to be accepted because people want to believe it or simply are too lazy to fact check even the absurd, illogical or mathematically impossible – one of my favorites in that regard, is instead of giving Congress a raise, increase Social Security benefits.
This plethora of lies and misinformation repeated over and over becomes truth for ignorant people, it is what propaganda feeds on.
It is incredibly dangerous, it’s how demagogues, and authoritarians gain power.
Lies and misinformation targeted at people’s fears, prejudices and grievances is how Trump was elected.
I like this classic remark from a recent NYTs article about a Trump rally with Wisconsin farmers.
Mr. Schlichting, a three-time Trump voter, said he was satisfied with the president’s explanation of why he led the country to war, then added, “I don’t know how much of it is true.”
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