Well, that was demoralizing: A lunchtime anecdote.

[Tommy Carcetti]

Decided to get something for lunch at the Chinese place down the street. Figured I would go early to avoid the crowds given the ongoing health situation.

I get to the place around 11:45 and predictably it's almost completely empty. Just me, the waitstaff and two other customers sitting at a table.

I take a seat sufficiently spaced from the two other customers; however, because there's no one else in the restaurant, I can still hear their discussions rather clearly.

It's two men. They look most likely to be in their 70s, and they're dressed as if they had just been out on the golf course. (For all I know, maybe they had.)

And before my eggroll is even brought out, I can already surmise that they're talking politics. And unfortunately, I can't say any of it is good politics, either.

My back is turned to them, so I don't know who is saying what. They do seem to be in agreement with one another, though. It's not a debate of any sort.

And while I can't say I heard them word for word, I can hear various snippets here and there. And all of it underscores a rather sobering truth that's been plaguing us for at least six years, if not longer.

And that truth is that there are plenty of Americans who will just repeat whatever crazy disinformation they've heard without questioning it for a nanosecond if it reinforces their beliefs.

"Did you know that Adam Schiff's niece is married to George Soros' son?"

"Trump offered Nancy Pelosi 20,000 National Guard troops the day before January 6th but she refused them."

And there were a couple of other wonderful nuggets of "Did you know..." information that Old Golf Dude 1 conveyed to Old Golf Dude 2--or visa versa--that I heard as well.

What's so tragic is that it literally takes less a minute to debunk both of those stories. It's so incredibly easy.

I'm presuming this is the one about Schiff and Soros:

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/oct/11/viral-image/no-george-soross-son-isnt-married-adam-schiffs-sis/

And here's the one about the supposed 20,000 National Guard troops offered by Trump:

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/jun/13/sean-hannity/no-evidence-pelosi-rejected-trumps-authorization-2/

But we have people in this country who will refuse to listen to any sort of fact checking. And if you do bring up fact checking, they'll just claim it's biased and summarily dismiss it.

What they will do, however, is to continue to repeat these lies, even after they know it's all lies. And why? Because they don't want to rock their own precious little world.

Now, this was just two septuagenarian golfing buddies talking in a nearly-deserted Chinese restaurant. Given the demographics of my particular area, I think it wouldn't be too hard to cancel them out.

But nonetheless, that we have people in 2022 who still casually act as conduits of disinformation, who repeat lies at will without any effort to determine their veracity, is extremely sobering and depressing.

After the 2016 election, the amount of viral disinformation being spread all came to light front and center. If there was ever a time for people who were susceptible to these things to reconsider, we've had six years to do that.

But far too many of them haven't done anything in terms of logic, discernment and investigation of the things they hear. Nothing.

If I were someone of a different personality, I would have walked right up to the golfing buddies and read them the riot act, show them how they were wrong and how stupid it was for them just to bullshit-in, bullshit-out without so much as a second thought.

I'm not that type of person though.

On my way out of the restaurant as I passed them, I did mutter--and not inaudibly, either--"You guys are full of shit."

I don't know if they heard me. And even if they did, I don't know if it would have made any difference at all.

My fortune cookie for lunch read, "Pleasant experiences make life delightful. Painful experiences lead to growth."

And yet, six years post Trump, I see very little growth from the people who need it most.

[wryter2000]

1. The riot act isn't what I use when I want to confront lies

I was at an RV park with my brother in rural NV. It's customary to have impromptu parties with strangers outside someone's RV. I'd been warned not to discuss politics, which I do. This was shortly after Trayvon Martin had been murdered, and Obama had given a speech about the killing, including race. One of the guests declared, "That Obama made it worse...all about race." I calmly inserted the truth, "Martin wouldn't have been killed if he hadn't been black." There was an audible gasp from many of them. I calmly added "George Zimmerman called the police every time a black person went through his neighborhood." Silence.

The point is simply stating the facts (one fact if possible) is a better approach than getting angry. I don't think I convinced anyone, but I stopped the spread of racist BS. Afterward, the hostess checked to make sure I hadn't been offended, and I assured I hadn't.

[Beartracks]

24. Getting angry just reinforces their self-serving notion that they must be right...

... if they pissed off a liberal.



============

[inthewind21]

2. Not new, we've had people all along

That buy nonsense they are told.

Did you know George Washington cut down his fathers cherry tree and came clean, that makes him an honest man!

Did you know George Washington had wooden teeth?

Did you know Lincoln scribbled down the Gettysburg address on the back of an envelope on his way there? What a brilliant man!

Did you know Regan freed the Iran hostages?

Did you know the Clintons murdered Vince Foster?

Did you know Bill Clinton is a cocaine drug lord?

Did you know Iraq did in fact have WMD, the reason we can't find them is because they snuck them into Syria through secret underground tunnels.

[gab13by13]

3. Their latest lie about the 20,000 National Guard troops,

Ari Melber had a GQP Congressman on his show who spouted the same lie to Ari about Speaker Pelosi turning down the Guard and Ari responded, "well, OK then." Jen Psaki would have known how to respond, give her Ari's slot.

[Mariana]

4. Debunking would not matter a bit, because they don't care whether any of it is true.

Plenty of these people know perfectly well they're spreading lies. There's a very good chance that both of these people knew that none of what they were saying was true, but they were both pretending to believe it. My father and his friends used to do this all the time. Why? I have no idea, but it really is a thing that "conservatives" do.

[birdographer]

18. Exactly

If moron MAGAts cared about the truth, they would check on a few of the more outlandish claims. And, having checked on them and found several to be false, they might begin to question the sources just the tiniest bit. And then they would find out that they have been duped for years. And then they might tell one of their MAGAt friends and they would be drummed out of the cult. They prefer their willful ignorance, it works out better for them. I guess we are just funny about not being total idiots.

[RevBrotherThomas]

21. They LOVE spreading lies

It's a cult. They don't care if anything is true, only if trump/maga approves it or not.

Remember trump's 1st debate with Hillary? She fact checked him relentlessly, pointing out time and again in glaring detail, where he was wrong/lying. It had absolutely no effect because the truth doesn't matter to MAGA and never has; it all gets dismissed as fake news or downplayed into nothingness.

MAGA doesn't deal in facts and doesn't care about truth. They are thrilled at the prospect of lying and getting away with it aka "owning the libs". Just like dear leader.

[BSdetect]

5. Suggest to them something so outrageous that they react in disbelief. Then laugh as you walk.

The Earth is flat might trigger them.

[AngryOldDem]

6. That's why the hearings won't penetrate some people's brains.

They’re like parrots. Whatever Fox News, Breitbart, Alex Jones, etc., say just has to be the TRUTH.

[gratuitous]

7. Shoulda gone all Luke Skywalker on them

[Justice matters.]

8. Two out of 74-million something who voted for the orange crook.

These 74-million something are present in all 50 states and territories.

That's a lot of Qultists who don't care about honesty.

[Joinfortmill]

9. Too entrenched in dem or repub. S/b about truth.

[Cozmo]

10. You can't reason with stupid. Is the population dumber or more compelled to show their ignorance?

[Nululu]

11. Don't be too saddened

It may be a case of two longtime friends. Where one is hoping the other will recover from the insanity and long ago gave up pointing out reality.

[Bayard]

12. Facts are just so boring,

Compared to hysterical fairy tales.

[LudwigPastorius]

13. You should have hit them on the way out with a modified Billy Madison admonition.

"At no point in your rambling, incoherent conversation were you even close to anything that could be considered rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having overheard it. May God have mercy on your souls."

[Alien Life Form]

14. My sister told me..

the election was stolen and she saw boxes of ballots being taken out from under tables.. and of course she assumes they were for Biden..
She tells me millions of people believe the election was stolen just like she does.. I told her there are millions of stupid people

Now we dont speak...

My daughter in law told me Biden is senile

and my best friend from many many years ago showed up here with a new car.. I looked inside and saw his audio system tuned to Alex Jones!

Depressing and discouraging how so many can buy into such crap

[panader0]

15. I know a couple guys like that, in their 60's.

If I point out their error and tell them they can easily fact check their opinions, they tell me that
the fact check sites on the internet are fake news and false info. I gave up. I figured time would
reveal the truth to them, but even if tfg and his cronies are indicted, it would only prove to them
that Nancy and Chuck and Joe are all crooked and enemies of freedom.

[qazplm135]

16. half the country

is at or below average intelligence statistically.

The percentage of them voting Republican is pretty darn high.

[ShepKat]

17. oh how I look forward to 6 years post trump.

[Grins]

19. Not "...full of shit."

They’re MORANS!!*

I get stupid like this from my college roommate. Who’s a dentist“; i.e. he’s literate! And I scream at him: Do you EVER check out this bullshit before you Fwd, Fwd, Fwd crap like this????

(* Spelling per a famous 2008 Republican.)

[milestogo]

20. I used to have a friend who would send me this kind of BS in emails

that were making the rounds with her right wing relatives. She believed everything they said and she tried to convert me.

And I would try to prove that every single thing she was spouting was untrue.

Nothing changed her mind, and nothing changed mine. I gave up.

[inwiththenew]

22. A majority of republicans thought President Obama was a Muslim from Kenya

There is is no fact checking them or getting through to them.

[hunter]

23. It's really sad that's all they have to talk about.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. Adam Schiff's niece is married to George Soros' son?

I have no idea if this is true or not. If true, or, if false, why would anyone care?

Unless one was interested in starting a relationship with Schiff's niece, or with Soros' son. Then, it would be useful information.