This year’s midterm elections, trending as they historically do towards a gain of seats by the party not in power, are in a position to create a seismic shift in the way our government functions. Because of this, the competition for your vote will be fierce. Sadly, illegal and unethical, even violent strategies have become the norm.
The perfect storm of high stakes, sophisticated technology, and low ethical standards for political behavior has led us to the unfortunate necessity of having to question the motives, as well as the facts, behind every statement we encounter as we look for a trustworthy source to help us make the important decisions that face us as voters.
It’s a bipartisan problem, since we’re all human and humans like to feel like they are in charge, but part of feeling in charge, in this era of division and rancor, includes calling the members of the opposing party losers and morons, mocking and dismissing whatever they believe in. This is a manifestation of what psychologists call “confirmation bias,” in which we believe without question the statements we already agree with, either accepting the vaguest of evidence or not asking for validation at all. It just “feels right” because we want to believe it.
This is a serious problem in our current situation because of the lightning speed with which both information and disinformation can spread. We watch or read something, we “like” it, and we “share” it. This enables bad actors, like Russia for example, to use fake social media accounts to post provocative attacks or false stories, which enflame readers who literally spread it like a wildfire. Each time you respond, with a click or a comment, to a post you haven’t verified, you are playing into the hands of people who are trying to stir up conflict and confusion.
For example, there is significant and well-documented evidence that Russia tried to influence the 2016 Presidential election. They did not alter votes or voting procedures, but they attempted to sway public opinion, damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and amplify social discord. If the minds of the voters can be successfully manipulated, there’s no need to engage in voter fraud, and no answers will be found by re-counting ballots.
You can teach yourself the skill of critical thinking if you desire to be less of an easy mark for the influencers, whoever they might be. Critical thinking simply means you ask certain questions of a piece of information before you decide if you’re going to believe it. “Critical” in this case does not mean negative, but rather that you consider the possibility that you do not have all the necessary information to decide what to believe.
So how can you verify, rather than simply trusting what you see, hear or read? I tend to turn to ChatGPT first, even though it’s definitely not perfect. The speed advantage is the main reason, since it draws its conclusions from multiple sources and distills them for me, rather than my having to “google” a question and open multiple websites just to see what they say.
Now trusting ChatGPT completely can be as ill-advised as trusting a Facebook post completely (like the time it insisted that Pope Francis was not dead and that there was no such person as Pope Leo), but it gives you a place to start and resources to explore. I asked Chat GPT to recommend other websites for fact-checking, and learned about Snopes.com, PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, and AFP Fact Check.
More challenging and concerning than checking facts, however, and requiring even more critical thinking than reading an advertisement or a post, is the issue of deepfake photos and videos.
I remember my surprise at seeing a video of columnist George Will speaking about some political issue in a much more pointed and negative manner than he typically uses in his columns. I started looking more closely and noticed that the person who had posted it was not George Will or a national news source; then I noticed that every few seconds he made a very small move of his chin and mouth that was exactly the same as the one before. It slowly dawned on me that this was an AI video that was impersonating him, using his voice and his image from other videos.
Since then, I’ve been watching for signs that a video is fake, and finding a depressingly high number of them, though it’s not taking me as long to recognize a fake. Sometimes commenters help clarify that a video is AI, though many others are obviously engaged with the video as if it were real. It is truly chilling to recognize the impressive technological skills that are now being used for deception and manipulation. “Identity theft” has taken on a whole new meaning.
Back to the midterm elections. In our own dear Texas, the GOP may be worrying a bit that a blue wave in November could seep through our strong red borders, leaving a bit of purple here and there. Expect to see videos of James Talarico emerging from a brothel or snorting cocaine. The big Republican money in Texas is going to be cascading through the state, especially aiming at the contests for US Representatives and the one Senate seat that is up for grabs, but focusing on statewide races as well.
Political power and wealthy folks are cozy bedfellows in Texas. Don’t let them roll over on you and suffocate you. Hold your own party, not just the other party, up to close scrutiny before you swallow everything they want to feed you. It’s truly your social responsibility.
Share less, question more.
Susan Hull is a retired psychologist, a horse trainer and an Independent voter. She is the child of an electrical engineer and a librarian, so facts are very important to her. She hopes they are important to you, too.
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