For the last 90 years, the FAR RIGHT has waged a war on truth. This war exploded post-1980, escalated again post-2015. It is now such a problem that high schools are teaching classes about it. It covers EVERYTHING. Today’s New York Times carried this article: “How to recognize medical misinformation” [Dani Blum]. Books have been written on it, including Michiko Kakutani’s “The Death of Truth.”
We, the People, call on Lee McIntyre to testify “On Disinformation How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy.”
[note: McIntyre’s words are from his book, “On Disinformation]. Pay attention to the techniques of lying]
McIntyre: “The storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021..was..completely predictable.. the inevitable result of 70 years of lies about tobacco, evolution, global warming, and vaccines. After “truth killers” provided a blueprint for how to deny scientific facts, that clashed with their financial or ideological interests, it was a small step for unscrupulous politicians to figure..how to use this strategy to lie about anything they wanted, such as the baseless claim..the 2020 presidential election was stolen and..the January 6 insurrectionists were actually “peaceful protestors” or Antifa in disguise.”
McIntyre: “Welcome to the world of reality denial, where truth is subordinate to ideology, feelings have more weight than evidence, and democracy hangs in the balance….disinformation is the new censorship…If you can’t hide or destroy ..truth, surround it with bullshit. You can always kill it later.
McIntyre: “The post-truth playbook..: attack..truth tellers, lie about anything and everything, manufacture disinformation, encourage distrust and polarization, create confusion and cynicism, then claim..truth is available only from the leader himself>. The goal is not merely to get people to believe any particular false claim, but to so demoralize them with a tsunami of falsehoods that they begin to give up on the idea..truth can be known t all, outside a political context.” [****NOTE: reread this again, and again. Memorize it. YOU must understand this strategy used by the FAR RIGHT domestically, by dictators, by the Rich and Corporations – to convince YOU to accept their lies.]
McIntyre”. “Modern science denial began on December 15, 1953, when the heads of 4 of the largest U.S. tobacco companies gathered at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, along with a public relations specialist..on what to do about a forthcoming scientific study that drew a link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. His advice? Fight the science…The goal: to get the public to question the truth about something..scientists didn’t really question. And it worked.”
McIntyre: “MAGA is not just a political movement – it’s a good old-fashioned denialist campaign. 15 years ago, cognitive scientists discovered..all science deniers follow the same flawed reasoning strategy” [1]. cherry-pick evidence; [2]2 believe in conspiracy theories; [3]. engage in illogical reasoning; [4]. rely on fake experts [and denigrate real experts]; [5]. have impossible expectations for what the other side must achieve.”
McIntyre: “..if one’s objective is not to delay..truth but to kill it – if one’s long-term goal is political or ideological – it is necessary to foment distrust….Because denialist beliefs are not based on facts..; they are rooted in identity.”
McIntyre: “The goal of disinformation is not just to get you to question some particular fact about a piece of reality that clashes with the disinformer’s interests, but to erode your trust in..”truth tellers’ on the other side. This undercuts the basis for a whole class of factual beliefs all at once. The genius of disinformation is that it doesn’t just get you to believe a falsehood, but to distrust [and sometimes even hate] anyone who does not also believe this same falsehood.”
[NOTE – reread this. What is “the genius of disinformation”? How have YOU seen this done, 2015-2024??????]
McIntyre: “..a strategic denialist campaign like the one against climate change became so much more effective once it was politicized [and] exploit partisan enmity and not just doubt. And the same thing is true..with vaccine denial, election denial, and Trump’s entire #StopTheSteal campaign. To get someone to trust only the information sources that YOU provide them – and distrust any other information sources as biased or misleading – is the disinformer’s dream.” [***NOTE: has “the disinformer’s dream” been accomplished in 2015-2024?????????? What does this portend for American democracy. – if a politician can openly, deliberately campaign on LIES??????]
McIntyre: “Don’t just lie, polarize. Create a news silo. Exploit any preexisting grievance and resentment. Make it “us against them.” The other side is not just biased, they are lying to you. These are evil people. Perhaps they even deserve to be physically assaulted or thrown in jail. In this environment5, one can sell an alternative narrative of reality even when there is no evidence to support it, and a mountain of refuting evidence to suggest it’s not true. As long as the narrative appeals to the emotions of what your team WANTS to believe – and they have been conditioned to think that is what a loyal team member is SUPPOSED to think – you can get them to assert the truth of almost anything. This is why distrust, and not just doubt, is the prime objective of a denialist campaign. Mere doubt can be overcome with evidence, but distrust cannot.” [****** REARD THIS – YOU have seen this done, repeatedly, 2015-2024.]
McIntyre: “Denialism has now become a political litmus test for the Republican Party. And its highest expression is MAGA. Trump’s call to arms January 6 was unsuccessful…Yet in another sense, #StopTheSteal has been a ringing success…and it is far from over..”
McIntyre: “66% of Republican voters still think the 2020 election was stolen..Trump is the rightful president. A stunning 147 Republican members of Congress still refuse to publicly acknowledge..Joe Biden is the legitimately elected president…. Why do they believe these things? Because Donald Trump wants them to.”
McIntyre: “#StopTheSteal is not merely an attempt to overturn the last election – it is a propagandist effort meant to undermine voters’ confidence there IS such a thing as a fair election, so that Trump can steal the next one.
“Trump’s propaganda campaign..achieved its intended purpose…why..did so many people..believe him? Trump..had mastered something no one else had ever succeeded in: the application of Russian-inspired disinformation tactics to U.S. politics..”
McIntyre: “As Bannon put it, “The Democrats don’t matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”
“Two of the most common tactics..Trump borrowed from Putin’s disinformation-fueled leadership style are the “firehose of lies” and “whataboutism.” [***YOU’VE seen much of this, 2015-2024 !!!!!!!!]
McIntyre: “..the overall goal is not simply to persuade but to so confuse and disorient your opponent..they become cynical and break into different camps over how to respond. As Avramov ..put it, “the more fragmentation and atomization the better you can manipulate a population. This goes back to totalitarian measures and techniques for population control.” [note: is 2024 America fragmented into camps and tribes????]
McIntyre: “Trump has used these truth-killing techniques – and a plethora of others borrowed from Russian intelligence – throughout his MAGA campaign.”
McIntyre: “The idea..is to create a sort of false equivalence, which undermines the idea that it is possible to offer an objective answer to any factual question. If all truth is narrative, then one narrative is just as good as another, right? And if the truth is unknowable, then what is the point of pursuing blame and accountability?” {Note: and thus a book, “The Death of Truth.” And – if truth is “unknowable” – why send YOUR kids to school???]
McIntyre: “..as historian Timothy Snyder has said, “a failed coup is practice for a successful coup.”….Steven Levitsky..co-author of “How Democracies Die,’ citing Vladimir Lenin’s quote..the Russian Revolution of 1905 was the “dress rehearsal” for the October Revolution of 1917…noted..not only have Republicans found that “their base won’t punish this sort of behavior, they’ll likely applaud it..none of this stuff can be unlearned.”
McIntyre: “This same warning is echoed..in Barton Gellman’s January 2022 cover story in the Atlantic, “Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun.” By hollowing out local election machinery, changing state laws, and making sure..all good Republicans in Congress..hew to his big lie, Trump is preparing the ground for what comes next. Fascism. Authoritarianism. Autocracy. What did you think this was about? Just one election? What is the point of killing truth and swapping your own version of reality unless you want something enormous?
[Note: in the 3/17/24 New York Times, this article, by Jim Rutenberg and Steven Lee Myers, appeared: “Trump Allies Are Winning War Over Disinformation….. Their Claims of Censorship Stymie Efforts to Tamp Down Election Lies Online” YOU owe it to YOURSELF to access this piece, and, think very hard on what they say, what Kakutani and many others have said – what Lee McIntyre is saying here.
America has a choice in 2024 – WE can reject a man and his enablers who are campaigning. and will be governing if elected on LIES and DISINFORMATION. THINK. Is this what Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Eisenhower did? is this why over l million American men and women died in OUR military services??? THINK: why did many of Trump’s former close government associates call him “unprincipled” and “unfit” to be president???
If WE, the People, “elect” Trump, again, in spite of his adult track record – what does this say about US???
What does it say about America – that we have even seriously listened to this LYING CON MAN??? ]
With Justice For All 