Stephan: The disinformation trend is one of the greatest corruptors of American democracy. Mostly it gets discussed and analyzed from the perspective of how disinformation operations like Fox and InfoWars manipulate Americans as if they were passive ignorant easily manipulated children. The reality, however, is that as our society changes there is a large percentage of White Americans who motivated by hate and resentment brought on by these changes actively seek out purveyors of such disinformation because it confirms and supports their biases.
The way to deal with this is to foster wellbeing at every level so that those biases are marginalized and become irrelevant.
President Donald J. Trump participates in a town hall interview taping with Sean Hannity of Fox News Thursday, June 25, 2020, at Green Bay-Austin Struble International Airport in Green Bay, Wis. Credit: Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour
Perhaps it was inevitable, but now it’s certain: Three months out from the violent insurrection Donald Trump incited at the U.S. Capitol, the majority of Republican voters have settled on a story that they can use to justify supporting what Trump and the rioters did. According to a poll released this week by Reuters and Ipsos, belief in conspiracy theories about the insurrection is widespread among Republican voters, with 55% claiming to “agree” or “somewhat agree” that the rioters were really “antifa” in disguise. Another 51% of Republican respondents agree or somewhat agree that the rioters — who look to have killed one police officer, violently assaulted hundreds of others, and were chanting “hang Mike Pence” as they ransacked the Capitol — “were mostly peaceful, law-abiding Americans.” And a full 60% agree or somewhat agree with […]
