Russia gave us (what should have been) a gift. They wasted their money on Unsubstantiated Propaganda. What more could a nation hope for than having a most significant possible military opponent waste their money on useless commercials. The problem? We fell for it.
Unsubstantiated Propaganda should never have gotten through to our minds. But after generations of listening to American politicians’ promises (without delivering), hearing what “nine out of ten doctors” recommend, and purchasing goods that are sold by scantily clad women, we still haven’t learned. It seems that many of us feel duped.
And now, instead of realizing that there is a substantial lacking in our nation’s ability to think critically and articulate an argument logically, we’re blaming Russia. The United States has overthrown a democracy for economic purposes (Iran), supported nationalist rebels, and meddled in elections all around the globe. As the old saying goes, “If you dish it out, you should be willing to take it.”
Our best defense against Russian meddling in our elections is not increased legislation, it’s not sanctions against Russia, nor any form of thought control. Our best defense is to learn how to think critically. If our nation remains too gullible to see through clearly false propaganda then we will deserve what we get.
Some possibilities for improvement:
- Any thing a politician says should not be considered news. Only their actions are relevant, and only their actions need be considered.
- We should create critical thinking and argumentation classes in our middle and high schools.
