Battling the Big Lie: How Fox, Facebook, and the MAGA Media Are Destroying America

One of the most intellectually lazy comments or observations you could possibly make is the following: “The Republican Party is biased, but so is the Democratic Party. They both occupy their own independent realities.” Let’s call this the neutrality bias, which is one of the most annoying forms of relativism you can find.

Not everything is by default equivalent; sometimes, one group is more biased or manipulative or delusional than another. But since we love to over-correct problems, we’ve replaced extreme ideological bias with a pathological need to appear objective even when doing so sacrifices accuracy and honesty.

Obviously, there is plenty of bias with the Democrats (and plenty to complain about regarding their overall show more strategy). But only one party is the party of disinformation, conspiracy theories, religious fundamentalism, anti-science, and voter suppression. Only one party uses disinformation as a clear political strategy, and has admitted as much to those paying any attention.

And it’s clear why. Here’s everything you need to know about the Republican Party in one paragraph. As Pfeiffer wrote:

“One of the primary purposes of this disinformation strategy is to paper over a potentially fatal contradiction. The Republicans depend on a populist working-class base, but their policy agenda asks those very same working-class voters to pay for tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. This tension is simply irreconcilable. If elections were centered on the contrasting economic positions of the party, the Republicans would get clobbered. So, they obfuscate and distract. They move the conversation to the cultural issues that unite their base and divide ours.”

Pfeiffer continues:

“If there is a fair hearing on the issues, Republicans will lose. They must defame Democrats, hide their own positions, and keep their shrinking white base fired up with a steady dose of racist agitprop.”

We need to remember that objectivity and civility only apply to interlocutors of good faith. If someone honestly and genuinely disagrees with you, they deserve to be heard. Conservative media plays off this good faith from reasonable people.

But bad faith actors, who are intentionally lying or manipulating the truth for their own benefit, do not deserve such niceties. And we don’t need to bend over backwards to create the impression that we’re covering “all sides of an issue” when one side is not intellectually respectable. It would be like a history professor devoting equal time to holocaust denial or a biology professor spending half the semester on creationism in her evolutionary biology course.

I sincerely hope that this book shakes people out of their need to prioritize appearing objective when doing so forces them to spend equal time considering bullshit ideas. The left has allowed the right to dictate the conversation for too long, playing nothing but defense as conservative media has, in Steve Bannon’s own words, “flooded the zone with shit.” This book is a critical wake-up call to what the right is actually doing, how we’ve let it happen, and what we can do about it moving forward. show less

Dan Pfeiffer's Battling the Big Lie is a look back at how, and how effectively, the Republicans have weaponized disinformation as a key element of their strategy. This is not a new occurrence but it has been amplified in large part to the echo chambers now prevalent.

While Pfeiffer's willingness to call the GOP by the various names they have earned will irritate some readers, he backs up those claims with facts. I even saw where someone whined that this is a book full of opinions. Well, yes, there are a lot of opinions here, informed opinions, and they are supported by the facts. He does present facts, though some will only accept as a source a right-wing source, which obviously don't trade in facts, so they can claim, disingenuously, show more that "good" sources weren't cited.

What is the most important part of this book is where we learn ways to help minimize the damage. Even the most absurd lies gain credibility simply by being repeated, even if repeated in opposition. Don't spread the lies by sharing posts, use other methods.

I would recommend this to anyone who still wants a democracy in the US. In other words, while Republicans might learn a bit, they have become de facto anti-Democracy, so they will, wait for it, lie about what is in here, often without even reading it. Go figure, they love an orange menace that can barely read and has no comprehension abilities, so...

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. show less

Solid, if predictable, survey of the rise of media bubbles, their impact on politics and on civic health.