Cervantes wrote Don Quixote part 1 in 1605 and part 2 in 1615, It is regarded as the first of modern novels. Keep in mind when this book was written. I want to update it to today and a person that you will know well in the story:
“In short, Don Quixote (Donald Trump) became so absorbed in his books (cable news programs) that he spent his nights from sunset to sunrise, and his days from dawn to dark poring over them (his cable new stations particularly on Fox) and with little sleep and much reading (watching) his brains got so dry that he lost his wits. His fancy grew full of what he used to read (see) about in his books (on his cable news stations) enchantments, quarrels, battles, challenges, wounds, wooings, loves, agonies, and all sorts of impossible nonsense; and it so possessed his mind that the whole fabric of invention and fancy he read (watched) was true, that to him no history in the world had more reality in it.”
The story of Don Quixote is a story of delusion, paranoia, illusion, and the attacking of people who are giants who turn out to be windmills. Trump has had his own windmills of everyone who would not accept the fact that he lost the election.
Why do lies stick? I think that we need to understand the nature of lying, paranoia, illusions and delusions.
Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf that slogans should be persistently repeated until the last individual has come to grasp the idea.” Joseph Goebbels, spokesperson for the Nazi Party, followed this rule in his propaganda.
Why did it work then? Why does it work now? What we can do about it? Most of the research on this phenomenon occurred at Villanova University in 1977 and Vanderbilt University in the work of Lisa Fazio.
First, we need to understand why it is so baffling to us that people would believe the Big Lie of Donald Trump. The Big Lie is what cognitive scientists refer to as the “illusion of truth effect.” It is something that Hitler knew before cognitive science even understood it. It is based in repetition of the lie. Repetition of a lie creates a certain fluency of thought. What we know now is that fluency of the lie creates a familiarity with it. Familiarity can trump (pun intended) reason.
Once people “believe” the lie because it has become so fluent and familiar, it is very difficult to change our perception. One of the people who was interviewed on the news was asked why she believed Trump’s lie. Her answer was that she saw it on TV on the news. One of the very difficult things for people to do is to realize that a lie is a lie because they get defensive and don’t want to admit that they had fallen for the con. Their reason for being right trumps (pun intended) the reason that they are wrong. Being wrong can attack their integrity. It can also cause them to create a paradoxical effect that the more the lie is refuted in the press, the more people will believe it. Our minds travel quicker to the familiar and feelings than they do to reason.
Ironically this almost happened on Tucker Carlson’s Fox show in an interview with another Republican in trouble. Carlson is the master at keeping the lie alive as long as it doesn’t get personal to him. Recall that when Matt Gaetz was on his show and promoting the lie that he sometimes paid for dinners and plane flights for his girlfriends, he made a comment to Carlson. He said, “Remember when we (Gaetz and a girlfriend) had dinner with you and your wife.” Carlson quickly responded to Gaetz, “I don’t ever remember having dinner with you.” Carlson then referred to his conversation with Gaetz as the strangest interview he ever had. What worked for Gaetz with others didn’t for a second work with Carlson.
What the researchers see as the answer to the Big Lie is to do things differently. It’s simple but conforms to how the brain acts. Instead of starting with the Lie, start with the Big Truth and keep that in front of people although we are late in the game for that. “The truth of the matter is Joe Biden won the election.” Don’t even mention the word, lie, or put it in the middle of the statement as opposed to right out of the box in the front.
In a Psychology Today July 23, 2018 online article: “UC Berkeley Cognitive Linguist George Lakoff is one of the most prominent figures to promote this idea. He suggests that when reporting one of Trump’s lies, we should always talk about the truth first. Then, we should briefly note the lie before going back to the truth. He sometimes refers to this idea as a Truth Sandwich.”
Notice that Trump has reversed this on the loyal opposition. He wants us to refer to Biden’s election as the Big Lie keeping that lie language alive and well.
Let’s start a campaign that talks about a Truth Sandwich. It is something that people can remember.
We are late out of the gate because 70% of the Republicans now don’t see the truth. Neither did Don Quixote. Keep in mind that the word “Quixotic” comes from the Cervantes tale which are ideas that are unrealistic and hopeless. That is the tragedy of delusion, illusion, and paranoia as the person identified as such and those around them are destined for a downfall. In our case, unless we check it, our democracy will become fragile. We need the Truth Sandwich before it is too late.
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