Poison Pens Rule

AI generated pic.

(2.5-minute read)

Then came the internet.

            Did anyone see this coming? 

The amount of mind-numbing garbage and lies that can be spread instantly and be widely distributed every few minutes?  All the people writing big fat checks did.  Hostile foreign powers did.  Political operatives did.  People that just enjoy fucking stuff up did.  Evil certainly did.  That’s where we are today.  And it’s getting worse.

            Artificial Intelligence (AI) takes falsity to a whole new level.  AI generated material is already showing up in the media and filling up social networks.  There is a veritable digital fountain of misinformation, disinformation and lies.

            Negative messaging works.[1]  Even with food![2]  People will say that they don’t like negative messaging but it has been proven time and time again that people do respond to it more than positive messaging.  People will deny that but experience proves otherwise even when it isn’t real. 

Perception becomes reality.

Back in the day.

            Years ago in the days before social media, a conservative Republican friend was seeking office in a small Kansas town.  Things were looking good for him election-wise.  The Democrat running against him came out with a “poison pen” flyer in the last couple of days of the election.[3]  They contracted with someone that didn’t live in the community to do the distribution to the entire city.

            It was a close race but my friend lost.  I did some post-election canvasing to check things out.  Much to my surprise I discovered that people were swayed by the last-minute poison pen flyer.  Most of what was in the flyer was innuendo and questions.  Who paid for what?  What did such and such mean?  Was this a coverup?  Stuff like that.  There were answers to everything and the entire flyer was a big nothing burger or so I thought. 

Nothing burger becomes something burger.

DonOLD personifies negativity and hate.

            Every rally of the rapist Trump is a feast of hating and denigrating America, government, democracy, immigrants (Hispanics), Dems, individuals, electricity, women, you name it because the list goes on and on.  MAGA presents something new to hate on a regular basis. 

            This presents a dilemma in dealing with the rapist Trump.  He’s a fountain of evil spew.  His lies need to be called out but he tells the same lies day after day to the point where I think that even he believes them.[4]  Like the 2020 election lie.  In private Trump admitted that he knew he lost.[5] [6]  In a lengthy video interview with a group of historians in July, 2021 in addition to his usual grandiose claims about his accomplishments and non-accomplishments he candidly admitted he lost a couple of times and once with a disclaimer.[7]  His cult refuses to believe Trump lost. 

Trump is a walking, talking poison pen.

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[1] https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/23596969/bad-news-negativity-bias-media

[2] https://thedebrief.org/negative-messaging-is-more-powerful-even-when-it-comes-to-food/

[3] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poison-pen

[4] https://www.politifact.com/article/2022/jun/14/jan-6-hearings-what-insiders-told-trump-about-him-/

[5] https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-finally-admits-defeat-i-didnt-win-election-1695339

[6] https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-cassidy-hutchinson-meadows-january-6-supreme-court-2020-election-2022-10?op=1

[7] https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/MC230_c23023-98269