Reply To: On Tyranny Lesson 9: Be kind to our language

The slogans used in propaganda also serve another purpose: to seed ridiculous ideas and normalize them so that dictators can carry out acts at a later time that will be more acceptable had the disinformation not been spread around before. An example is one that Maria Ressa has shared numerous times: “Journalist equals criminal” and “Arrest Maria Ressa”. Later, when she was arrested, there was that seed of doubt that maybe, she was a criminal. Maybe, there was something to that rumour or phrase that was circulating before. Public support is key to dictatorships, which is why dictators work so hard to spread disinformation and to silence dissent.

The “51” is a very serious threat and clearly an effort to normalize. There are still comments floating around about fentanyl from Canada which is utterly ridiculous given the actual numbers. Still, many followers blindly believe everything stemming from the administration, giving no thought to how their good friend they valued yesterday suddenly became an enemy today because the administration told them about some unknown problem that facts do not support. Once a lie is circulated, it is impossible to fully retract it, fact check it, dispute it, or erase it. The damage has been done.

Perhaps the solution, in this example, isn’t to say, “Canada will never be the 51st state”, but rather, “It is wrong for the US to start a war with Canada” or “The US administration is crazy, greedy and corrupt to want to invade Canada”