When I listened to Vice President J.D. Vance’s remarks defending a homicidal ICE agent, I identified inaccuracies. Curious about the depth of Vance’s deception, I asked AI to generate the logical fallacies, propaganda and lies he used. The results were that Vance used five logical fallacies: victim blaming, hasty generalization, straw man, false cause and appeal to emotion. Five propaganda techniques were employed: scapegoating, demonization, law-and-order rhetoric, media enemy narrative and deflection. He also made four false or unsubstantiated claims. Because of this paper’s word limit, I cannot supply the evidence that was used to justify these conclusions. However, one can surely look it up using the parameters I used.
Social media is full of one-sentence MAGAs making their declarations of belief without substantiation. Many repeat the nonsense of hosts in conservative media and politicians. They use far-right buzz words or phrases like socialism, law and order, fake news and lame stream media, and they will repeat slogans, a common thread of indoctrination by fascist parties. They repeat the same insulting tropes and seem to have been “educated” by memes. The lies are believed, and the propaganda techniques and logical fallacies breeze over their heads.
The late Sen. Patrick Moynihan from New York said, “You are entitled to your opinion. But not your own facts.” An opinion based on lies, logical fallacies, and propaganda isn’t credible; one based on sound logic, expertise, and facts is.
MAGA’s ignorance is not to be confused with merely being poorly educated. Most within the MAGA cult received the same K-12 education as others. Their ignorance is willful. They can read books, check facts, watch educational videos and television, and seek more truthful sources. They choose not to. Instead, they bob their heads in agreement with those who seek to control their minds.
Cheryl Fields
Brainerd
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