(Thread) The Outrage Dilemma— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) April 11, 2019
Staying sane—and saving democracy— under a Firehose of Outrageousness.
The Rand Corp. describes the extremely effective Firehose of Falsehoods propaganda method: a rapid, continuous barrage of outrageous falsehoods.https://t.co/1Jg5CvgrJC
- 1/ Trump, who adopted the method from Putin, is a natural at this. From the researchers: “Don’t expect to counter the firehose of falsehood with a squirt gun of truth.”(p.9) Playing whack-a-lie will wear you out. Trump can reel off several lies in a minute.
- 2/ On the other hand, researching and refuting each lie can take hours. Simple lies are easy to tell. Complex truths are harder and don't fit well into sound bites. This is partly why the Rand Corp. researchers conclude that countering lies with the truth isn’t effective.6/ Trump calls the press the Enemy of the People.https://t.co/jYLO8gdKXb— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) April 11, 2019
He's systematically dismantling the fed. government.
He directed the AG to investigate whether there was corruption in the FBI/ Mueller investigation, and the AG did his bidding.https://t.co/KnUD6n67V78/ (I went last summer) @RAICESTEXAS has received an outpouring of volunteers and donations.— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) April 11, 2019
Trump’s larger goal is to undermine democratic institutions.
Trump and his supporters don’t like democracy. (There've always been Americans who don’t.) Someone told me👇 pic.twitter.com/QEB2XDZXGO
10/ Clint Watts (former U.S. intelligence analyst) explains that the goal of Russian propaganda (which Trump uses) is to undermine democracy by getting people “to lose confidence in democratic institutions. . ."https://t.co/LewKueyqVo— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) April 11, 2019
12/ Their enemies are the Democrats👇 loosely defined to mean anyone who doesn’t support Trump.— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) April 11, 2019
Notice that when Trump does something outrageous, he creates a self-fulfilling loop: The more outraged his critics get, and the more euphoric his followers feel. Win-win for Trump. pic.twitter.com/IrIDtc3DqO
14/ Angry outrage with people lashing out at Trump supporters helps confirms this👇for Trump supporters. Another win for Trump.— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) April 11, 2019
Overdoing angry outrage also persuades liberals that there is no more hope, it’s all over. Another win for Trump.
It seems to me we need a balance.
16/ Back to the dilemma: We must educate people about what Trump is doing.— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) April 11, 2019
But some educators go too far. Instead of educating people about the dangers, they persuade people that it's done, Trump succeeded, it's all over.
This is doing Putin's (and Trump's) work for them.
18/ This is my long-time follower👇(who had a good reason, aside from politics, to feel down yesterday).— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) April 11, 2019
Why did he fall into this particular funk?
Because of a whisper campaign that Trump won’t leave willingly, which causes people to lose hope & feel despair. Win for Putin. pic.twitter.com/cbnU5q5Txo
20/ How? Volunteer, register voters, put a sign on your lawn, support publications that do good investigative journalism, get organized for 2020.— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) April 11, 2019
I’ve assembled some ideas and put them here: https://t.co/Er6v4syFQS
If you have other ideas, let me know and I’ll add them.
end/
All of my threads are blog posts. You can view this one here: https://t.co/1v3ivjuID4— Teri Kanefield (@Teri_Kanefield) April 11, 2019