Three years after the January 6 attack, propaganda about the insurrection is poisoning the American public | CNN Business
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The U.S. will mark the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection on Saturday, a milestone that will confer upon the reality-dwelling citizenry a grim reminder of the potency of propaganda and how quickly it can warp perception when introduced into the public square.

The U.S. will mark the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection on Saturday, a milestone that will confer upon the reality-dwelling citizenry a grim reminder of the potency of propaganda and how quickly it can warp perception when introduced into the public square.

Just three years ago, most of the country watched with dismay and horror as a violent MAGA mob beat back authorities and stormed the country’s citadel of democracy. The Donald Trump-incited crush of disillusioned rioters, fueled by a stream of fantastical lies, believed that the 2020 election had been stolen by sinister forces working to undermine the democratic election.

Of course, not only was their belief flatly incorrect, but evidence later emerged indicating that it was Trump who, in fact, had tried to subvert democracy.

Facts, however, have little bearing on the sentiment inside the Republican Party, which has been fed a steady diet of lies and half-truths by Fox News and the rest of the sprawling right-wing media machine. To wit, the false notion that Joe Biden nefariously stole the 2020 election is now widely shared inside the GOP. A CNN poll conducted over the summer found that nearly 70% of Republicans believe Biden’s win was not legitimate, a number that has continued to tick up.

  • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    0·
    8 months ago

    The article correctly identifies Fox News and right-wing media as spreading propaganda about Jan. 6th. However, we’ve known Fox News is not a legitimate news source since at least 2000 or earlier. For every article like this, I am internally screaming: ok, but how do we do to fix this?

    The biggest problems seem to be:

    1. Fox News and related right-wing media inoculates viewers against non-extremist sources. They explicitly and implicitly, constantly, tell viewers that other news sources are lying to them and cannot be trusted. When the audience is exposed to actual facts by actual objective reporting, the inoculation kicks in and they immediately reject those facts as liberal lies and conspiracy. Right-wing media frequently also accuses democrats of doing what the GOP is in fact doing in bad faith. Even without evidence, that further undermines legitimate complaints about the GOP’s tactics.

    2. Politicians exploit the audience this propaganda has created, to scapegoat and harden voting habits. The same propaganda outlets constantly find liberal boogeymen - immigrant criminals, “woke” nonsense stories, minor issues with liberal programs in America that they amplify and distort, international stories of left-wing failures of governance. A combination of 1984-style 2-minutes-of-hate, and “but for the grace of God and the GOP go we” fear-mongering.

    3. The GOP has successfully tied itself to religion for a huge voting population, and religion for most people is non-negotiable. “Gods, guns and Trump” signs are not just an anecdotal type of supporter - that marriage is the core of the GOP. Religion awards value based on faith, and that actually means the less these voters question Trump and accept him as part of their faith, the better they feel about him. That’s a huge problem.

    4. There is no required critical thinking training or teaching in schools to help kids understand how to form their own opinions in the midst of essentially information warfare. Schools can’t appear partisan, but to call a spade a spade: Kids are growing up bombarded by propaganda, and by the time they have the facilities to decide for themselves what they think, that environment usually has decided for them.
      .

    My best thoughts for fixing:

    1. For #s 1-2, voters need to keep the senate and presidency and take the house this year (no big deal!), and implement a “news” media fact-checking law. Defamation/libel laws are not enough to stop this type of propaganda. It would be difficult within the First Amendment, but I think a law formalizing what is considered “news” that sets a cap on opinion pieces, unsupported speculation, and reporting of non-verifiable facts would be a start and not unconstitutional. No speech would be prevented, but Fox News’ brand of trash couldn’t be called “news” any longer. The challenge is creating a legal tool that can’t easily be misused to enforce the very authoritarian propaganda it’s trying to prevent.
    2. For #s 1-2 and 4, state governments could introduce a comprehensive critical thinking curriculum for kids. It’s objectively non-partisan to help kids critically assess information in the internet/social media age, so this seems sellable as long as it isn’t politicized.
    3. For #3, I don’t know the best way. I think at least introducing cognitive dissonance showing how different religion tells us to act versus how Trump and company act would be a start, but it’s probably impossible to untangle politics and religion to most on the right.