Trego's Mountain Ear

Not all facts are equally acceptable – particularly during political season.  The term “Illusory Truth Effect” is the tendency to believe false information after repeated exposure.  It feels familiar, it supports a pre-existing belief framework – so we can accept something that is false as fact.

This year, I’ve been seeing announcements of Trump as Hitler and others of Kamala as communist.  The Trump as Hitler allegations have resulted in a couple of local dems announcing that the folks in red MAGA hats are the same as the Ku Klux Klan – and, of course, Kamala, with a father who fits in as a Marxist Economist is in an equal spot for the illusory truth effect.

There’s another term – preference falsification – that might even apply to answering pollsters.  The definition is “misrepresenting private beliefs and thoughts in public.”  It was why the polls taken in South Dakota showed a greater opposition to abortion than the balloting on the issue did – the folks who were trying for more restrictions couldn’t understand why their issue lost the election. 

I’m used to the explanation that there’s the Stupid party and the Evil party – and that bipartisan actually means that they have passed legislation that is both stupid and evil.  Still, I’m getting a bit tired of the attack ads – and realizing how every attack ad makes the next bit of false information that much more acceptable.

I’m looking at a presidential election that has two flawed candidates.  Hell, I’m looking at a choice between flawed candidates for both the Senate and the House.  Just because my neighbor weighs any of the pairs differently than I do isn’t a reason to call my neighbor a closet Kluxer or Commie – we just have looked at the same candidate from different perspectives.

Where the candidate stands on gun control, on the second amendment, is a big part of my decision. In 2016, I knew where Hilary stood and hoped Trump would be better.  He was.  It doesn’t mean I write off friends who voted against Trump – he wasn’t my perfect candidate then.   He was just better than Hillary or Slow Joe.  Strange, isn’t it, that in a nation of 330 million people, these are the choices we get?