October 17, 2024

Engaging With Others Matters

Vice President Kamala Harris boldly journeyed in front of the cameras of Fox News last night, and declared matter-of-factly that, “My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.” While not disavowing any of the current President’s actions over the past four years, she gave details on how her economic agenda would be different from her current boss’s, stating, “Like every new president that comes in to office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas.”

The interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier occasionally grew contentious, with some moments where the two talked over each other — particularly as Baier continued to dwell on immigration questions. A highlight of the conversation was during a section on why Trump is polling so well, despite being branded as “dangerous” and “unstable”. Baier asked Harris if she thought his supporters were “stupid” or “misguided”, to which she immediately responded with:

“…I would never say that about the American people. And, in fact, when you listen to Donald Trump, if you watch any of his rallies, he is the one who tends to demean and belittle and diminish.”

In reality, she probably changed few minds with her appearance, but given how tight the race is, even a few minds might make a difference.

LINK

Pronouns Matter

Last night, former President Donald Trump appeared at a town hall hosted by Univision. The event didn’t go tremendously well for him, but the most troubling part was how he framed an answer regarding the rioters on January 6th. Ramiro González described himself as a Republican, but one who felt that the riots and Trump’s actions on that day in 2021 were a deal-breaker. Trump made no apologies for his actions, and instead, linked himself to the rioters on what he referred to as a “day of love”, stating:

“There were no guns down there; we didn’t have guns. The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns.”

First thing to note: That’s a lie — the rioters most definitely had guns and other weapons (including a gallows). But secondly, and more importantly, he considers himself as being on the same side as the rioters by using the first-person-plural pronoun of “we”. (A definitely darker take on “Ich bin ein Berliner.”) It should also be noted that the audience, shown below, was thoroughly unimpressed.

LINK

The Truth Matters

As we careen towards Election Day, NPR gently tapped the brakes by putting together an excellent guide on how to stop spreading misinformation online. I strongly recommend reading the full article, but here are the bullet points:

• If you react strongly to new information, pause. A lot of misleading information is designed to generate strong emotional reactions — and both on a positive and a negative basis. If something immediately seems either outrageous, or solidly reinforces your worldview, it’s still a good idea to do a quick search on the web to verify that it’s true.
• Consider how trustworthy your source of information is. Once you have a piece of information, it’s a good idea to see if it’s being reported by multiple sources. And if not, it’s a good idea to find out how your source handles reporting errors. If a source posts corrections to bad information, that’s a better sign of reliability than if they just delete items — or worse yet, let them stand. Also, watch out for sources that have been translated or forwarded through multiple sources.
• Be wary of what photos and videos are supposed to “prove”. In this day and age of AI-generated photos and videos, seeing should no longer directly lead to believing. And even with images that are not created, they can instead be mislabeled or otherwise used to misrepresent their original purpose.