Liars, Damn Liars and Facebook Friends

Ours is a credulous age. We too often judge statements as true or false based simply on who made them, and whether or not they fit neatly into our belief systems. Those who agree with us are friends. Those who disagree we see as wicked enemies. This is because our political parties and their allied journalists now condition us to value ideological purity over healthy skepticism. They have trained our busy, striving population to rely on easily understood and memorable ten-second sound bites.

Enter social media. It uses increasingly sophisticated, artificial intelligence-driven algorithms that feed us more of what we already “know,” then reinforces our tribal political allegiances with warnings of how “others” (always sinister outsiders) are bent on harming us and ruining our country. Psychologists have long known that anger is the most efficient emotion when motivating people to action. In the wrong hands, social media could be used to turn us into a violent cult of political zombies and destroy our democratic society. It’s a good thing we can trust Messrs. Musk, Trump and Zuckerberg.

I have a friend who frequently cites posts he’s seen on Facebook to challenge arguments I’ve made against policies of the Trump Administration. We’ve also discussed the importance of relying on original, primary sources in making our arguments, and to be alert to any hidden motives that might make an author’s conclusions suspect. But pointing out to him how Facebook trades extensively in highly suspect data that focuses more on winning arguments and stoking outrage than discovering truth has been ineffective.

I recently challenged one of his dubious, Facebook-inspired defenses of President Trump, by wagering $100 that a lawsuit charging alleged corrupt testimony by a prior plaintiff will overturn Trump’s convictions, will never be brought to trial. So far, he has not accepted the challenge. This got me thinking.

An astute gambler will always try to stack the odds in his favor before placing a bet. I suspect my friend might be holding back, out of a reasonable concern that his Facebook sources really aren’t all that reliable, at least not good enough to risk money on. I also suspect he’s not alone in this suspicion, and that it’s shared by many hard-eyed partisans on both the left and the right.

I have a theory about why these suspicions aren’t logically pursued into skepticism and honest intellectual inquiry. It is fear of becoming “the other,” that sinister outsider who if discovered, will be purged from the ranks of the True Believers and banished into the outer darkness. Political orthodoxy is actually a loyalty test. Our side must always be right.

Then there is the issue of cognitive dissonance. At what point do the “Truths” of our political gurus become so ridiculous that we’re willing to admit they’re bullshit? I think Mark Twain had this thought in mind when he commented, “It’s easier to fool a man than to convince him he’s been fooled.” And having reached this point, we may have to admit they’ve been hoodwinking us all along; not good for our self-esteem. It’s far safer to just suppress our doubts and travel on with our fellow lemmings.

Are the days of “loyal opposition” in politics over? It’s beginning to look that way. Our Constitution is based on the assumption that we are an intelligent, educated and well-informed people. It relies on our willingness to dispute, debate and compromise to achieve political consensus.

I’m no longer sure there are enough of you willing and able to this, to sustain our democratic republic. Keeping the MAGA and Social Justice zombies at bay long enough to find out is what keeps me awake at night.