The US Presidential Election is over. Political posts in Facebook are gone, mostly.
We saw many political ads on TV, many of them made by an ad company. According to an msn article, when someone else run fact check, the rate of the political TV ads telling truth was 12%.
12% of truth?! You are better off not believing anything they say on TV, and you are 88% right.
There are patterns in deception. Out of context, exaggeration, diminishing, focus on some other issue (red herring) , an argument without control or proper comparison, are common ones.
When what we see on TV are untrustworthy, what should we rely on in the future, like, for next election?
Let's say this trend will continue. We will see even more political "factually challenged" ads in the future. What can we do about it?
It's to guard our perception. I am imposing myself a couple of rules.
My number one defense is 'focus on the source' rule. It is not true nowadays that value of an idea does not change by who is saying it. The internet allows all people to speak up. Not all opinions are generated by great or fair minds. Too many are generated by manipulators. Too many are not even generated, but distributed by people robotically pass on lies. Too bad.
My number two defense is 'know yourself' rule. If I know I tend to lose my cool head when it comes to a particular issue (e.g. gun control, abortion, healthcare, welfare on the lazy, parasitic government programs, race issues, class issues, woman's rights, misogamy, gay marriage, student loans, housing bubble mess cleanup, bailout of big companies, foreign policies, war, military, tax, job ... anything), it helps to keep my head. You can come up with your position with your own head instead of following whatever some radical radio/TV guy says.
It comes down to "use your own head, and don't follow whatever others say."
My politically active Facebook friends. I have got enough data to judge you as a source. You can speak out as much as you want, but don't expect to be heard or taken seriously if you have been BSing too much. TV ad guys who make 12% truth ads. You, too.
We celebrated our Anniversary yesterday. It feels like one year just flew by. Amazing. During the year we published our book "Beginning Argentine Tango"; also did some other things together. We'll get some other projects done this year. Looking forward to it.
