Despite all these limitations, however, the study paints a compelling picture. Radical-right populist parties have uniquely weaponized misinformation as a political strategy. Unlike other groups, these actors rely heavily on falsehoods to exploit cultural fears, undermine democratic norms, and galvanize their base, making them the dominant drivers of today’s misinformation crisis.
Understanding this imbalance is crucial for addressing the root causes of the problem and restoring trust in democratic processes.
I see no way of restoring trust in the democratic process so long as far-right parties, or any party representing an ideology that is aggressively hostile to democracy, are allowed to participate in it.
It’s the paradox of tolerance again.
They’ll scream and bitch and moan and say we’re ruining society by taking their voting rights away and we’re minimizing and limiting the people who can be allowed to be involved in democracy… and while that’s true, it’s only to keep them from completely dismantling democracy and removing access to be involved in democracy to everyone.
So it’s like… we’ve got to stop giving them credence of that argument: No, if your politics boil down to your in-group being able to do whatever the fuck they want, the out-group getting punished, and a total rejection of science and evidence-based reasoning, you can fuck right off and don’t get a fucking vote because that’s worse than being a fucking felon. You’re some dipshit who wants to tear it all down because it doesn’t cater to your fucking fantasy world inside your head.
We need to stop tolerating it and saying “Nope, if your whole goal is to remove democracy, and this has happened enough times in history for it to be clear what’s happening, you don’t get a vote.”
Democracy never should have meant “my uneducated idiocy is just as valuable as your knowledge and education.” It’s time to put that fucking lie to bed.
It’s the paradox of tolerance again.
I don’t think it’s paradoxical for a democratic society to be intolerant of people who are actively, overtly, aggressively hostile to democracy.
100% agree.
I’m just as comfortable in a universe with a big bang and black holes as this utterly manufactured paradox.
Reality is.
Ahh it smells like the good old paradox of tolerance in here
I’m pretty sure you don’t need a study for that
New or otherwise.
… enabled by a centrist wealthy class that doesn’t care who wins as long as democracy is removed and they keep or expand their wealth.
In other news: new study shows rain actually just water from the sky!
Oh I read about this the other day too in “Duh, Weekly.”
New?
This was going on during Cambridge Analytica back in 2016. Studies don’t do much to fix things though.
