"If you tell a lie big enough and tell it frequently enough, people will eventually come to believe it". What is an example of this happening today?
"If you tell a lie big enough and tell it frequently enough, people will eventually come to believe it". What is an example of this happening today?
I would really rather that these were actual examples, and not conspiracy theories. We all have our own unsubstantiated ideas about what shadowy no-gooders are doing, but I'd rather hear about things that are actually happening.
Anyone that says J6 was a "peaceful protest" that "got out of hand"
We all saw the footage of that day. There were gallows and calls to hang a sitting vice president.
It was an insurrection, fomented and encouraged by Donald Trump's speech and actions leading up to that day. Plain and simple.
The right-wingers who say it wasn't as serious as it was are gaslighting their base.
Edit: Victims of gaslighting in my replies
A KGB spy and a CIA agent meet up in a bar for a friendly drink.
“I have to admit, I'm always so impressed by Soviet propaganda. You really know how to get people worked up,” the CIA agent says.
“Thank you,” the KGB says. “We do our best but truly, it's nothing compared to American propaganda. Your people believe everything your state media tells them.”
The CIA agent drops his drink in shock and disgust. “Thank you friend, but you must be confused... There's no propaganda in America.”
The concept of trickle down economics. Anyone with a functioning brain can tell you that it would never work. But somehow people as a whole in the US still think giving corporations and rich cunts extra money, and tax breaks somehow lead to the 99% reaping a benefit.
It has never been true because the basic function of capitalism is to get as much money as possible, while spending the least amount of money to do it. There’s no room for passing on the extra profits to your employees, clients, or vendors.
Israel is defending itself against an antisemitic terrorist group which attacked it for no reason
That Israel is not a colonial state. All it's founders defined it as a European colonial project. It was and is allied with all the colonial powers and projects like Britain, the US, apartheid south Africa, and Rhodesia. Its funding association was called the Palestine Jewish colonization association. It's bank was called the Jewish colonial trust. The Jewish national fund and the Zionist project at large was from the beginning concerned with building segregated colonies.
First, lands were bought with foreign funding from feudal land lords, and their inhabitants were entirely dispossessed, kicked out. Then when awareness of the ultimate goals of the Zionist project crystalized and resistance against Palestinian dispossession mounted, the lands were ethnically cleansed by force and the people massacred. 700 to 800 thousand Palestinians were ethnically cleansed in one continuous military operation that spanned two years from 1947 to 1948.
Zionist leaders fully acknowledged that Palestinian demographics were a core issue to the Zionist project, that the Palestinian population had to be removed at any cost, which is exactly what Israel did. What lead to the Palestinians being defenseless in this situation? Colonial Britain abetted the formation of heavily armed Zionist militias with soldiers numbering in the tens of thousands. The arms of Britain's colonial military presence were inherited by the Zionist forces that it supported. All this while Britain summarily excecuted any Palestinian found in possession of a firearm.
This is not to mention the enthusiastic support of european antisemites for the Zionist project, or its strict early opposition by antifascist jews.
The idea that Israel has any right to exist on Palestinian land is a lie that has been so heavily proliferated, it has to be debunked when it should be paid no consideration at all.
"Your socioeconomic status is a measure of work ethic, sacrifice, and ability to make good decisions. Poor people deserve to be poor, and suffer, for making bad decisions."
Birth lottery which includes not just wealth but family connections is the biggest metric. We are way down the list of developed nations in terms of upward mobility. Only the outliers that prove to be of the greatest service to entrenched capital are granted entry. Most Americans, religious or not, have internalized the dogma of the prosperity gospel, itself an absolute parody of the dogma of Christianity it claims to be part of.
Go to any local fast food restaurant at rush hour, hell, go to any produce field at harvest, and tell me how much that studious hard work pays off. conversely, please regail me with tales of how hard it is to be a capital landlord,
making investmentsgambling with insider information with capital gained from previous exploitations, and then merely expecting an endless steam of capital for NO labor into what generated it. It's like we were conquered by the traveling snake oil salesmen of old.It's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.
"Owning a car = freedom"
"You need a big truck/SUV to haul things" (it's just a coincidence that people drove much smaller cars before a multibillion dollar deluge of advertising)
"It's consumers' responsibility to reduce plastic pollution by recycling, and recycling is effective" (whoever came up with this one belongs in the PR scumfuck hall of fame)
The belief that colour blind glasses work
See megalag's videos
Donald Trump claiming executive privilege for his various crimes. It seemed like everyone was laughing about it even a couple months ago, like how can it be executive privilege when this is about things he was doing before and after his presidency? Then there was a narrative shift and now the media is back to hand-wringing over whether or not you can prosecute a former president. I don't think anyone is expecting any of it to stick anymore.
communism means no freedom / no food / whatever. anti-communist propaganda was a massive and very successful effort in the west
Off the top of my head:
- That little triangle embossed on your plastic container says it has been / can be recycled.
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled
https://www.earthday.org/plastic-recycling-is-a-lie/
-Anything involving babies and incubators is immediately suspect. (Or babies and bayonets, for that matter).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayirah_testimony-And this one is pure conspiracy, and I know it's not what you asked for... but it's ridiculous and 'tis the season. My mother in law is convinced that the lyrics to "Oh Christmas Tree" (O Tannenbaum) were changed by people who wanted to erase the true and original lyrics. By who? Big Tree financiers? Communists who are stealing Christmas and replacing it with trees?
Anyway...
The original lyrics, according to this conspiracy, praise God and never mention trees at all. It's completely ridiculous and always ends with the whole family singing along with the "true lyrics" from a badly photocopied paper that she hands out. I hope this doesn't come up again this year because it really makes me want to fight. Which would make me the bad person, because who initiates fights on Christmas? The next couple of days are going to be tough.
- That little triangle embossed on your plastic container says it has been / can be recycled.
"Once all the boomers are dead everything will be better!" Yeah, corporations will still rule your life, inflation will still outstrip income, you won't be able to afford a house, and your politicians will represent whichever special interest pays them the most. Also you won't ever be able to vote in progressive candidates because every year there's going to be some vile ghoul like Donald Trump, but somehow worse, and the Democrats just need you to close ranks and vote in whatever corporate liberal whose turn it is to sit in the Big House this time so a literal fascist doesn't get his finger on the button and attempts to dismantle what little democracy our republic has over night.
Grandma and grandpa being six feet under doesn't change these things. And, guess what...you probably won't change them either because you're too lazy and apathetic to do anything other than shitpost on the internet about how badly your life sucks.
the entire history of past socialism
The Toungue map.
The idea that different parts of the tongue are responsible for feeling different tastes. This blatantly false idea was made up in 1901 out of thin air and then made its way into biology classrooms somehow. It was taught to schoolchildren (including me) for about 100 years as a biological fact, even though every human being in that time proved it false by experiment thousands of times by eating things and tasting them with the "wrong" parts of the tongue. It doesn't quite count as an example of this happening today, because we finally realized that it simply wasn't true and have stopped teaching it, but still: 100 years is a long time to realize that something is false when every human being in the world is confronted with physical evidence several times every day.
People, no matter the inteligence or schooling, are more likely to believe what they hear more often. (If 10 people you know swear that eating mint will keep you from going bald it might just be true)
This makes sense and is normal, at least until the modern world.
Now add social media and an algorithm that its only purpose is to increase clicks/likes/interactions. Suddenly everything everyone is talking about is whatever you clicked on last time. A positive feedback loop occurs. The more videos you look at on the same topic, the more those get served, the more you view them, the more you believe them.
Experiment : Try creating a brand new Google account and watching 3 videos on YouTube on a single topic. Refresh YouTube page, or check back tomorrow.
America might be flawed but it’s still overall a force for good in the world.
Biden might suck but we should still vote for Democrats on the state or local levels and participate in the [nonexistent] primary to put pressure on Democrats because they are clearly better than Republicans and progressives would never lie to us (cough bernie cough fetterman cough AOC).
Communism is impossible because it goes against human nature.
China is capitalist.
Organizing for revolution in the USA is hopeless.
It’s impossible to scientifically understand human societies, even though humans are part of nature and nature can be scientifically understood.
We can solve all our problems with technology alone. There’s no need to change anything else.
Things will be better in the future even if I don’t actually do anything to make them better. (This one has been an issue for me. “The future” for a Marxist like myself isn’t terribly different from religious visions of paradise.)
Literally anything regarding China, especially Xinjiang if you talk to anyone from
I was talking to a mate about Palestine and he immediately went for the "bUt TiAnAm3n SqU@r3 k1LLeD oVeR tEn Th0uSaNd" and the "Ch1n@ cEnOcIde iN UygHuRs Th0" with the swiftness of a 737 flying into the 2nd tower. They will disregard who originally makes these claims and are 100% unfazed by say, World Uyghur Congress being totally in support of the genocide in Gaza, the response being either dismissal or "you're too much into politics and also ableism".
"we are free"
the vast majority of americans believe the obvious lie that buying things can make you happy
Death to America
"This war is different, this war is nessasary" "This is the most important election of our time" "Invasive surveillance is done for your protection" "We only censor misinformation"
That the 2020 election was stolen.
There's a TVTropes page for things like this, of course.
Capitalist realism
That the 2020 election was stolen via widespread voting fraud.
Liberalism.. that is classical and neo-liberalism, as they were invented by a bunch of lords and sir's who were angry that the monarchy was getting a cut. It's the preferred ideology of the finance industry, as they can't have liberationism or lazze fair capitalism because the guillotines would roll out much too quickly. But they sure can define global markets and the value of currencies.
Watch US pundits harp on and on about the monarch's of Europe, but not a squeak about the aristocracy or the barons. It's also funny to note that because of goal post moving, liberalism which technically is slightly right from center, has become "left wing". So when you tell Americans that technically they have two right wing parties, they lose their absolute shit.
98% of everything that Americans especially but the people of white countries in general have heard about North Korea is false, and the general ethos of being some kind of psychotic tin-pot dictatorship with no grip on reality is purely an American invention (with the help of the sellouts and agents in the South). There is plenty to criticize the DPRK for -- even including stereotypical lines about the less-social elements of its Confucian heritage coloring state ideology all the way back to Kim Il-Sung -- but the image that most "westerners" have in their heads is fundamentally a fabrication, despite how confident they are in it.
There is no war in Ba Sing Se.
The council of nicea verifiably, empirically did NOT collect the gospels to make the new testament as we know it. The gospels were already being bound together, seen as a whole, etc before the council, and after the council there was still a bunch of what's now considered apocrypha.
The Tesla truck is already there and just needs to be built at scale.
Full self driving has been fully achieved in 2017 and will reach end consumers next year (as claimed by Tesla every single year since then).
It is desirable that SpaceX rockets fail hard instead of succeeding in their missions.
Musk has truly mastered this principle and only now are people getting impatient. Most investors still regard him as too big to fail. Either Elon will be able to present sufficient success in the next few years or that bubble will burst very violently. He has almost used up the good will he has built up over years (earned our not).
Trickle down theory
This does remind me of the standard conspiracy or creationist reversal, if something is said frequently enough it must be a lie. (except it only applies to their specific hangups)
This sounds like a question from a homwork worksheet
the Hitler was an atheist seems pretty popular, also that Einstein was religious.
I don’t know … all of it 🤷
Seriously, our world and reality are complex enough that we make up ideas and theories that are useful but likely untrue in some way that isn’t negligible. But so in need of useful operating theories are we that we peddle and believe them.
Constantly questioning everything is way too tiring for a species that’s still very much in the survival mode or stage of evolution.
That there are no extreme right wing/nazi elements in both sides of the Ukranian conflict.
Since the Russians used the dishonest method or calling their war "denazification", a "useful lie" for both sides was to claim their armed forces and government were completely clean and it is the other side boasts swasticas.
The sad truth is that full blowm nazism permiates in armed forces of both sides, and that both government have some very strong right wing revisionism going on (Russia is worse than Ukraine on this matter, but Ukraine is also far worse than most other countries on the continent regarding this)
Orbán
That corporations doing bad things are anything other than individuals doing bad things and hiding it in the anonymity of the “corporation”. Corporations are not people. People are people, and people have a sad tendency to do horrible shit to other people, especially those outside their social circle.
"Belgium sucks."
Yeah, it has its imperfections, but that's what makes it so much more special from most other European countries. I absolutely love that place.
Also, some people genuinely think that this country "doesn't exist" for whatever reason.
The whole Shohei Ohtani fiasco from Toronto's perspective. Wow, people bit hard on that. To be fair, everyone was waiting on confirmation. But, seriously, a writer for the Dodgers makes the first call, then people are checking Flight Aware, there's a restaurant reservation rumoured, and on and on.
Finally, the flight lands and one of the Dragon's Den guys hops out. Word comes down that he's signed with the Dodgers.
Seems to me like it was misreported on purpose, using Toronto as a foil.
Bonepressing
Horse and Sparrow Theory.
The WEF really is infiltrating governments with their pawns. One of Canada's national papers is finally acknowledging this, and its the more left one.
George Santos.
In behavioral economics we call this phenomenon 'availability heuristic' or 'availability bias'. A related concept is the 'illusory truth effect'. You'll easily find examples for both when searching the web.
An often cited example of the availability heuristic is the belief that airplanes are unsafe because of media reports on plane crashes and the public attention they receives, although statistical evidence shows that flying in a plane is much safer than, say, driving a car.
Here's one that I saw on Facebook just yesterday: People getting upset and kicking up a fuss about the installation of a protected bike lane on a street, claiming that it causes traffic congestion and blocks emergency vehicles. This is truly a triumph of brainwashing or motivated reasoning. The pictures clearly show cars causing the congestion, and it's the carswhich would block the emergency vehicles. It's just that cars are so normalized and internalized that people can ignore the evidence provided by their own eyes, with the help of self-told lies about how another lane would fix congestion.
Religion
The correct usage of the word "c*nt" in Australian culture.
Wow, this thread is tankies sucking each other's cock. Pretty funny shit.
Ukraine will win. Israel will win. Capitalism of today will survive. USA/NATO empire will survive (spoiler: they will end up worse than USSR).