Week 14, Entry 2
Aug. 26th, 2022 09:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
goatgodschildHere are some things that a person named Teddy once told me. I think that they may be useful to me and others.
Our brains love black and white thinking, it's very comforting to them. It's also something with huge negative impacts. And regardless of the cause, even if it's for progressive reasons, those impacts land most heavily on marginalized and vulnerable people.
So whenever you see something that makes you really mad, you HAVE to step back and ask yourself if you're being manipulated. If you need help doing this, it's okay to ask a friend. But you have to ask the friend if it's okay to consult them on those things. Some people don't have the emotional bandwidth. If something looks super black and white as it's presented to you, the creator of the thing is probably hiding something. It's always super complicated. The more extreme something is, the more research you need to do before you give it your signal boost of sharing it.
No one race, gender, or orientation has a monopoly on evil.
Those who present the world aren't into reform, they want reorganization so things are unequal and they get the power instead. Remember also that there is an ongoing Russian election disinformation campaign just as there was in 2016, and China is also seemingly concerningly interested in the election as well. If you can't back it up with REPUTABLE news sources, like BBC, Reuters, AP, NPR, or the Washington Post or New York Times, don't believe it. I'm leery of Snopes because they're not very transparent in what they are, but checking there is better than nothing.
Be dubious of everything. At a baseline, if you're going to get your politics on social media that day -- and on more than one site! [Asking yourself "Who benefits by my reacting to this?"] is exactly what professionals combating mis- and disinformation recommend! Does it elicit a strong emotional reaction? The professionals say that's your cue not to believe it -- go check if it's a real thing.
Another thing. I'm neurodivergent, so nuance is sometimes hard for me. I make up for this by keeping myself well informed about news and its sources. This lets me identify potential biases in what I'm reading because I'm familiar with its source; and what that source wants me to think.
Also be super suspicious of the guilt trippy social justice type posts. Anything that plays on the "I'm more oppressed than ANYONE" isn't arguing in good faith. They're trying to guilt you into uncritically accepting their often questionable argument. File it away for future reference but don't necessarily believe it without doing your own research.
Our brains love black and white thinking, it's very comforting to them. It's also something with huge negative impacts. And regardless of the cause, even if it's for progressive reasons, those impacts land most heavily on marginalized and vulnerable people.
So whenever you see something that makes you really mad, you HAVE to step back and ask yourself if you're being manipulated. If you need help doing this, it's okay to ask a friend. But you have to ask the friend if it's okay to consult them on those things. Some people don't have the emotional bandwidth. If something looks super black and white as it's presented to you, the creator of the thing is probably hiding something. It's always super complicated. The more extreme something is, the more research you need to do before you give it your signal boost of sharing it.
No one race, gender, or orientation has a monopoly on evil.
Those who present the world aren't into reform, they want reorganization so things are unequal and they get the power instead. Remember also that there is an ongoing Russian election disinformation campaign just as there was in 2016, and China is also seemingly concerningly interested in the election as well. If you can't back it up with REPUTABLE news sources, like BBC, Reuters, AP, NPR, or the Washington Post or New York Times, don't believe it. I'm leery of Snopes because they're not very transparent in what they are, but checking there is better than nothing.
Be dubious of everything. At a baseline, if you're going to get your politics on social media that day -- and on more than one site! [Asking yourself "Who benefits by my reacting to this?"] is exactly what professionals combating mis- and disinformation recommend! Does it elicit a strong emotional reaction? The professionals say that's your cue not to believe it -- go check if it's a real thing.
Another thing. I'm neurodivergent, so nuance is sometimes hard for me. I make up for this by keeping myself well informed about news and its sources. This lets me identify potential biases in what I'm reading because I'm familiar with its source; and what that source wants me to think.
Also be super suspicious of the guilt trippy social justice type posts. Anything that plays on the "I'm more oppressed than ANYONE" isn't arguing in good faith. They're trying to guilt you into uncritically accepting their often questionable argument. File it away for future reference but don't necessarily believe it without doing your own research.
