Kee HinckleyJan 9, 2023

I keep seeing articles, about people trying to violently overturn election results, that use phrases like “motivated by election lies”.

They aren’t motivated by lies, they are motivated by not liking the result. Repeating the lies just makes them feel powerful because it makes them part of the grift. They think they’re fooling people.

Blaming the lies lulls us into thinking that this is an education/disinformation problem which, if addressed, will eliminate the violence.

These folks aren’t deluded. They’ve learned from their leaders that violence and lying are the route to power.

For most of my life I thought these problems could be solved by education. I no longer do. As far as I can tell, about 30% of the population believes that getting away with grifts and bullying people is proof of power and leadership that should be respected, worshiped, and emulated.

We can’t educate these folks. We can only build a society that ensures that they cannot gain control. Unfortunately, the entire human race has largely failed to do so, and we’re suffering the consequences on a planetary scale.

Every day we act as though they don’t *know* that the elections were valid, is a day we risk losing the fight for democracy, equality, and a stable environment.

#brazil #JAN6

Show threadLeaBug
@nazgul I disagree. Some people don't even know the steps in an election. Don't know what is done to secure an election. One guy scaled the walls of the Capitol thinking he was at the White House. Education is first but we have to manage the truth. Bring back the Fairness Doctrine.
Jan 9, 2023 at 9:29pmWeb
Show threadKee HinckleyJan 9, 2023

@LeaBug Unfortunately (or not) the Fairness Doctrine could only exist because the airwaves were a limited resource, and thus regulated, even though what was being regulated was speech, which the First Amendment is pretty adamant about. I don't know about you, but I haven't watched TV over the air in well over a decade. It's pretty irrelevant.

I think a more feasible approach (and the Biden administration is attempting to put some teeth into this area that has been greatly weakened over the past few decades) is to use anti-trust laws to limit media consolidation.

Show threadML2Jan 9, 2023
@LeaBug
I think @mmasnick might have something to say about the effects the Fairness Doctrine would actually have.
Short answer: it would not be doable because it had a specific reason for existing, and it often lead to the suppression of stories for which the "both sides" framework fell apart.
@nazgul
Show threadMike Masnick ✅Jan 9, 2023
@ML2 @nazgul @LeaBug fairness doctrine was a massive failure and would not solve most of these issues, would make most of them worse, and would be unconstitutional outside of broadcast TV & radio (i.e., cannot apply to internet or cable TV).