Countering the Big Lie
10/16/2022 8:59 AM MST
psychology
Read first about the "Big Lie" here: Big lie - Wikipedia
Particularly the quotation: "His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it."
This is relevant in US politics today: Trump wants CNN to 'prove the Big Lie' in $475 million defamation case against network - Washington Times
After reflecting on the philosophy and briefly reading "Mein Kampf" to try to get a sense of Hitler's philosophy, I've crafted a counter-philosophy I hope can combat this insidious poison.
I'll call this the "Truth" philosophy (grandiose obviously, so it will need community support.)
You have to be an agent of resistance.
You have to remain skeptical.
You have to always be vigilant.
You must apply logic and wisdom to the situation.
Once you are in this state, be patient,
use temperance and act only if necessary.
Apply the measure of response:
ignore while maintaining focus;
use diversion;
communicate;
apply empathy;
maintain firmness of self;
apply a measured response
Afterwards, repeat the above steps.
Diversion is obviously not always necessary
but perhaps is wise to apply in most cases,
if dealing with someone who is believed to
be using the Big Lie against you.