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Hear a lie often enough and it seems like truth.
This psychological reality makes disinformation dangerous.
On June 3, Breezeline News online performed a service to our area. It featured a story from Yahoo.com educating readers about a long-running scheme devised by Fox News.
Journalist Jon Ward chronicled astonishing lies, oft repeated, designed to misinform, then incite viewers.
The article, through links, presents evidence for its conclusions.
The scheme promoted two primary allegations:
1. Elements of the federal government have been "weaponized" against former President Donald Trump.
2. The corrupt political figure is Joe Biden, not Donald Trump.
Many Central Pennsylvanians are obsessed with Fox News. I feel that I understand why devotees turned to Fox initially.
My best friend Norman told me many years ago that he could no longer abide any source of information except a particular conservative newspaper from Washington, D.C.
At the time, I commented supportively, "Why upset yourself with what makes you uncomfortable?"
Over time, I learned that it is foolhardy to rely on only one source -- especially when that source is biased and often inaccurate. You become ill-informed and closed-minded.
As a proponent of neuroscience-based psychology, I perceive that Fox News addicts the brain and stultifies the mind.
Passively, propagandized viewers become dogmatic, utterly certain about unjustified conclusions.
Americans currently enjoy freedoms unavailable under autocratic regimes. But if misled by lies, we are bound to make disastrous electoral choices.
There is no substitute for the truth.
Joseph Silverman
Hollidaysburg