A thoughtful, well written piece. Thanks for sharing your own very personal journey.
In marketing science, there is an often used truism: “perception is reality”.
And of course there is the Joseph Goebbels’ rule: “Tell a big enough lie often enough and people will believe it.”
Both come into play here, as do social media company algorithms that feed their customers only what they think they want to see, acting as a hyper-accelerant for echo chambers of “alternative facts”.
We’re living in a world of different realities, where members in each group sincerely believe the “others” have been fooled by the big lie.
Civics, ethics, critical thinking, and the scientific method need to become integrated into public education at the earliest grade levels. “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” is a good start.
Knowing how our system of government works (or is supposed to), what ethics are and why they are important, how to tell fact from fiction, and that science is not a belief system or religion, but a methodology to achieve ever closer approximations of truth...will all help unite people in a common understanding of reality. Without that, progress will become ever more challenging.
What a sad day. This brought me back to my childhood too, growing up in a developing country, I witnessed an attempted coup on TV more times than I cared to understand why. I just never thought I’d be living through one on American soil.
“Lies must be called out as lies." And we must respect and honor "truth, reason, and tradition."
Thank you for the unifying words. But what do you do when even good people refuse to see truth as truth, and rather believe the lies and completely false allegations, and worse yet, act on them? Either with force or with their vote? What do we do with that? How do we listen and understand and accept? That’s what Americans are dealing with now... how do we unify like that... 💔
It is so hard for me to take a side, we have forgotten about the things that Trump has given to us. I really feel that he loves this country and has tried to remove lots of wrong things that take place in our government. Yes when doing so he made lots of enemy. Money talks. Our long time upright people that serve us in government have became very wealthy some have even forgotten the right direction for the country Unless it serves there agendas and maybe there pockets. Those I feel sorry for. But, I steal believe in this country and I am glad to be an American.
Well said, JRob. I was shocked yet also not surprised in the least. What a weird day.
I do understand that people feel like "normal" is slipping away and feel helpless to the change. That same feeling of helplessness was also the exact reason why we had protests and riots this past summer.
Have some compassion for others. Let's help support everyone in society as others might have a more difficult time than yourself.
A thoughtful, well written piece. Thanks for sharing your own very personal journey.
In marketing science, there is an often used truism: “perception is reality”.
And of course there is the Joseph Goebbels’ rule: “Tell a big enough lie often enough and people will believe it.”
Both come into play here, as do social media company algorithms that feed their customers only what they think they want to see, acting as a hyper-accelerant for echo chambers of “alternative facts”.
We’re living in a world of different realities, where members in each group sincerely believe the “others” have been fooled by the big lie.
Civics, ethics, critical thinking, and the scientific method need to become integrated into public education at the earliest grade levels. “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” is a good start.
Knowing how our system of government works (or is supposed to), what ethics are and why they are important, how to tell fact from fiction, and that science is not a belief system or religion, but a methodology to achieve ever closer approximations of truth...will all help unite people in a common understanding of reality. Without that, progress will become ever more challenging.
What a sad day. This brought me back to my childhood too, growing up in a developing country, I witnessed an attempted coup on TV more times than I cared to understand why. I just never thought I’d be living through one on American soil.
“Lies must be called out as lies." And we must respect and honor "truth, reason, and tradition."
Thank you for the unifying words. But what do you do when even good people refuse to see truth as truth, and rather believe the lies and completely false allegations, and worse yet, act on them? Either with force or with their vote? What do we do with that? How do we listen and understand and accept? That’s what Americans are dealing with now... how do we unify like that... 💔
It is so hard for me to take a side, we have forgotten about the things that Trump has given to us. I really feel that he loves this country and has tried to remove lots of wrong things that take place in our government. Yes when doing so he made lots of enemy. Money talks. Our long time upright people that serve us in government have became very wealthy some have even forgotten the right direction for the country Unless it serves there agendas and maybe there pockets. Those I feel sorry for. But, I steal believe in this country and I am glad to be an American.
Well said, JRob. I was shocked yet also not surprised in the least. What a weird day.
I do understand that people feel like "normal" is slipping away and feel helpless to the change. That same feeling of helplessness was also the exact reason why we had protests and riots this past summer.
Have some compassion for others. Let's help support everyone in society as others might have a more difficult time than yourself.