Why do we hear so many easy to disprove lies?

[JohnnyRingo]

It seems a day doesn't go by that a fresh lie doesn't emerge at high volume from the right. It's not just the rabble, Republican office holders do a clever dance around the lies when confronted to keep them in perpetuation. If someone trusted repeats the lie, for many it becomes a fact. There is no proof possible to convince people otherwise.

It's also not just the health care bill they're writing lies for, as we've seen in everything from Obama's nation of birth to gun control. They tell lies about pending immigration legislation and talking our veterans into suicide. They exaggerate and take out of context every speech given on foreign soil to give the appearance of treason. They hint that abortion clinics will be as common as Starbucks in the near future.

Almost all these lies have a common thread that runs through them. They're targeted to upset the most radical among us. Whether it's race, veterans, guns, or even selling out to Europe, these lies make some people sit in their basement shelter, TV tuned to Fox News, and steam like fajitas.

I don't buy conspiracy theories, but if someone was looking for a way to get dangerous weak minded individuals to stand up and say: "I can't take anymore, I'm going to do something to save my country!", they're going about it in exactly the right way.

It has to stop...now.
Creating a web that purposely lies to cause civil unrest and overthrow of a president is not freedom of speech, it's conspiracy.

[Swede]

1. They throw up shit,and see what sticks.

And damn it,it works. Obama's declining approval rates prove it does.

[deep1]

3. I would like to think Obama's decling approval rating....

has nothing to do with these idiots screaming their lies. I think people are losing their optimism, jobs, minds, etc. People want instant results.


But I do believe the media gives the idiots too much airtime perhaps because the MSM loves drama. It garners ratings.

[unblock]

9. "looking presidential" has a LOT to do with HOW OTHERS TREAT YOU

republicans know this. that's why they bully and cow democrats into treating their idiot leaders in regal terms, yet they malign and ridicule and belittle democratic leaders. they know that if they showed obama respect, it would enhance obama's image, so they refuse to do so.

[DJ13]

2. Theres no one to blame but the MSM

If they would fact check claims before putting them on the air the lies would never reach a nationwide audience.

[jwirr]

4. It is more of an organized attempt to distract people from listening to

the truth and to obstruct the progress of government. They will do this with anything we are trying to get passed. The pugs just want us to fail.

[shraby]

5. They muddy the water so bad it's hard for most people

to figure out the real story because they don't have time to do it.

[BattyDem]

6. The problem is ... we don't have a real news media to debunk the lies.

When reporting about the death panels they should say "Republicans claim the health care reform bill includes death panels, but that's not true. In fact, what they call a 'death panel' is actually a provision which would allow a person to get counseling on living wills and end-of-life care."

Instead, we're treated to this: "Republicans are talking about the 'death panel' provision in the health care reform bill. So, what does the provision mean for you? Will the government force you to pull the plug on Grandma? Let's discuss this with our panel."

:eyes: :mad:

The media treats an outright lie as if it was based in reality. They legitimize the lie by acting as if it's a valid topic that's worthy of discussion. So instead of people watching the news and learning that the rumored "death panels" are total bullsh*t, they witness a debate where one side is telling lies, the other is stating the facts and the "journalist" acts like they have equal standing.

[onestepforward]

8. That's the problem.

Our corporate media saves lots of money by simply handing over the microphone and whatever is said is reported as "news." It is cheaper that way vs. hiring real investigative reporters to fact check what is being said.

There has always been liars, but our media used to be the stopping point to the lies, at least the bulk of them. It is rarely there anymore. Entertainment seems to be the name of the game by pulling in more viewers thus profits.

Our media is doing a true disservice to our country and causing tremendous harm by reporting lies as "news."

[deep1]

13. "They legitimize the lie by acting as if it's a valid topic that's worthy of discussion"

BINGO! When there is NO equal standing---one is a lie, the other is truth.

[BadGimp]

7. I call it Artificial Turbulence - The Right are masters at this media manipulation technique

It's created anonymously by the right and deposited into the media slipstream the way moving a plane in front of another plane creates invisible turbulence that changes the airflow over the wings of the rear plane which thus becomes more difficult to fly.

The Right has no PLAN (for improving life in America) to talk to the sheeple about, but more than anything they want to defeat Obama at every turn at any price. Remember what Rush Limbaugh said: "I want HIM to fail". That translates easily into I want the democrats to fail. It's likely the only way the right can hold onto power or make inroads during the mid terms.

The solution is to constantly and radically change flight patterns. In essence fake them out as they try to trip you up. Obama does this well but the rank and file Dems are largely clueless, and the Dem electorate are even more clueless. This is not a critique of us Dems but a measured observation.

[omega minimo]

10. This is the legacy of "Greed is Good"

[Arkana]

11. We have a right wing that's willing to lie their asses off

and a compliant media that broadcasts their unfiltered lies to millions of Americans. Like Leroy the gun nut in that townhall meeting with Obama who said he got "all his news from cable cuz he didn't like the 'spin' from them other places."

[GreenArrow]

12. Because people believe them,

it's as simple as that.

"The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it."

[upi402]

14. neocons know what they're doing. They also know they get away with anything

and the "Dems" will do fuckall about it, save the requisite whinge and whine.

[Egnever]

15. Outstanding post

I also wonder why with such an evident pattern anyone takes anything they say seriously. Yet just today I was at a clients and listened while he cheered through Glen becks show. Glens show was redonkulous BTW.

[Cogito ergo doleo]

16. I heard it explained about 6 years ago, by a pundit telling a lie.

I can't remember what the lie was, but Tweety or someone asked him why he was telling this lie that was so easy to disprove, and didn't that bother him. The pundit laughed, saying it really didn't matter, because in the larger scheme of things,all that mattered was that the media would pick it up and it would be widely broadcast. Pukes have been setting the political agenda for years. They make issues out of nothing at all that anyone cares about, then suddenly it's the only thing that's talked about for weeks, then it's on to some new, imagined injustice. If media wouldn't play, it wouldn't work.

[laconicsax]

17. About 40% of the population believes in creationism.

That's a pretty large pool of idiots.

[AdHocSolver]

18. There are two issues here.

First, the right wing consists heavily of multibillion dollar corporations who spend a lot of advertising dollars in the media. The right wing pays the bills of the media. Would you have the temerity to expose your "boss" as a liar?

Secondly, a large percentage of Americans are credulous, if not outright gullible. This is due to the authoritarian mentality which permeates the American culture from the educational system (I do NOT blame the teachers), to academia and the corporate culture. People are "dumbed-down" from an early age (consider programs like No Child Left Behind), and the few who are allowed to "succeed" in the system are those willing to play the game by the rules of their masters with a vengeance.

The only hope of progressives and moderates is to make enough "noise" for our goals to eventually swing a slim majority to our side, or embarrass enough of the right wing/corporatocracy so that they throw us a few crumbs to get us to stop complaining.

It isn't even the overt lies that are the main problem. A serious problem exists among progressives and moderates who discuss the issues based on misinformation. For example, a misconception that really irritates is when people discuss the issue of so-called "free trade". "free trade" is on a par with "death panels". Neither one exists. World trade is controlled by corporate cartel agreements implemented by NAFTA, the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, and numerous others.

Another fiction promoted by the corporatocracy is that the stock market supports the economy. The stock market is nothing more than an efficient means of transferring the savings of the middle class to the wealthy class. It is mainly a legalized racket. It is pure supply side, trickle-down economics. All economies are demand driven. All economies rise and fall on whether people have jobs that produce goods and provide services. It isn't a failed stock market that causes a depression. It is when people lose their jobs and demand drops because they have no money to spend that an economy suffers a depression. The evidence is there for all to see, yet, even on DU, people talk right wing economics as if it existed as fact.

One more irritating misconception. This is the illusion that if you buy shares of stock in a company, then you are invested in ("own") the company. Absolute nonsense. A person who buys stock owns nothing more than a piece of paper that is only worth what another person will pay for it. If no one wants to buy the stock, the "owner" is stuck with some fancy looking toilet paper.