Republicans have decided to use fear of Ebola as a political weapon ahead of the November elections. Judging from the articles and comments I've seen, this is apparent to just about everyone here.
Why? Ebola is scary and they want Obama to be scary. It's the same strategy used with the Reverend Wright, Benghazi, the IRS scandal, etc, etc. Nothing new.
I'd like to instead talk about our response. Here’s a couple comments that seem to represent convention wisdom on how to respond to these attacks:
“I do my best to educate them with facts.”
“Can’t feel sorry for intentional ignorance.”
“I just listen to health professionals who have cited that travel bans will make things worse. Conservatives are a partisan virus. They are reactionaries.”
“EBOLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
“Cable news executive's dream: Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 discovered hijacked by ISIS with Ebola patients onboard.”
The responses I’ve seen so far generally fall into three categories: facts, mocking, and mocking the media.
If we’re correct that fear is the emotion being put into play, are facts or mockery the best strategy in your day-to-day conversations?
Here’s a few thoughts on mitigating fear.
Strategy #1: Acknowledge the fear with concern.
I posted this at the end of a long back-and-forth thread started by a conservative (trolling for people looking to call him stupid) and several liberals who called him stupid.
Notice that by acknowledging the fear, two things happened. First, several people liked the comment. Both liberals and conservatives. Second, there is a blank comment box after my comment because the thread ended.
Suddenly, we are both on the same side against fear and Ebola. I didn't have to agree with any solutions. I didn't have to say anything I didn't believe in.
I share their concern. No one wants Ebola.
At this point, one of my friends usually says: "I'm not going to be nice to them." Them meaning conservatives.
While I do like to believe I'm nice, this has nothing to do with being nice. The people I talk to on a day-to-day basis simply are not my enemies.
Am I angry at the people fanning the flames? Absolutely. But those aren't the people I generally speak with. The people I speak with are not on Fox. They’re not Rush or Hannity. I'm not talking to Alex Jones. I'm talking to my neighbors and people in my community.
I'm talking to people like my dental hygienist. I was at my dentist’s the other day getting my teeth cleaned and she had the TV on FoxNews 24/7 Ebola coverage. My hygienist said, “I don’t believe that it can’t spread through the air. How else would those nurses get sick?”
I mentioned that health experts said it couldn't spread through the air. She told me she couldn't believe nurses could get it any other way if they took the proper precautions. Trying to counter her claims was not going to help with the fear. I decided to try changing my approach and just said “I’m with you. I don’t know. Nobody wants to get Ebola.”
I said it with as much finality as I could muster and then I paused. She paused as well and for a few seconds there was dead air. Instead of trying to fill it, I said nothing. A couple seconds later, she stepped up and changed the subject. I then suggested we watch something a little more upbeat. She laughed and changed the channel and we were back talking about our families and what's going on in our lives.
Now if you genuinely don't have any concern, don't lie. Never say anything you don't believe. I simply believe Ebola is a genuine concern and I don't think a similar belief is going to be a problem for most people.
When people are afraid, some of the best strategies I can think of are strategies that simply de-escalate the fear.
Other strategies
Here are several other thoughts:
- Talk about something a bit more … how shall I say it … upbeat.
- Ignore the bait. Remember Lakoff’s “Don’t think of an Elephant”? What happens when you try to tell people “Don’t fear Ebola!”
- Throw a party or buy someone a beer. Seriously.
- Say nothing. To paraphrase my parents: If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all. Sometimes this is not a bad strategy. Don't give their argument free air time.
- If you have to talk about Ebola, ask them what they’re worried about. Chances are it might be a shared concern. Or if it’s really Obama, you’ll soon find out.
- Provide an action they can take to help. “I’m glad you’re interested in helping fight Ebola, UNICEF is taking donations. Here’s the link to donate.” Or AmeriCares. Or Samaritans Purse, a Christian organization. Or the International Red Cross.
We’ve got people telling us they’re afraid of Ebola, why not show them how they could help or at least de-escalate their fear.
Lead instead of following the rocket ship to planet fear.
Some science
If you're interested in some science, check out Brendan Nyhan’s research on the futility of using facts to counter fears about vaccines causing autism.
B-b-b-b-but they want to smear Obama
Now at this point, you may be saying: “But they don’t really care about Ebola. They just want to smear Obama.”
Sure. This is quite likely true about some of the people you know.
If this is the case, here’s what happens when you engage with them to work together to fight Ebola: they will go away.
Why? Because they don’t really care about fighting Ebola. They want to smear Obama.
If you care about Ebola and all they care about is smearing Obama, guess who holds the moral high ground?
Here’s the trick though. It doesn’t work if you point out that they’re smearing Obama. That’s the right/left game. They bait. You call them out on it. You’re both talking about their issue.
It works when you shift the discussion to how do we work together to fight Ebola. If you say “Let’s set partisan politics aside and talk about what we can do,” you set the terms of the discussion. If they go outside these boundaries, simply bring them back to the goal: fighting Ebola.
With people like this, if you just keep bringing up different aid organizations and ways to help, five will get you twenty they will go away.
Why?
Because they want the partisan fight. They want Ebolama. They don’t really care at all about Ebola. At least not the Tea Party crowd.
Hopefully this helps with some options to 1) de-escalate the fear, 2) shift the discussion to the fight against Ebola, or 3) end the partisan politics.
Instead of arguing with facts, mocking people who might legitimately be concerned, or mocking the people stoking the fear (ok, you can still mock these people, just choose your audience wisely), play a better game with the people you know.
If you've had conversations like this, please share. Both what's worked and what hasn't. That's how we learn.
And remember. You. Are never. Not powerful.
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For more strategies on winning over the people you know and shifting the political landscape, read The Little Book of Revolution: A Distributive Strategy for Democracy.