Conservative extremists invest a lot of time and money betting they can make you answer “five” to the title question.
But calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.
If you call a tail a leg, the answer to the question is four; if you call an ear a leg, the answer is four; if you take a piece of string and tie an antler on a dog’s head and call it a leg, the answer is still four.
No one knows exactly where this quote comes from. It’s often attributed to Abraham Lincoln. Some tell it using a sheep or a calf or another four-legged animal. It used to be a funny riddle.
It’s not “ha ha” funny anymore. It’s a stark illustration of how modern political propaganda works.
Countless millions of people have been persuaded that the answer to the question asked in the title is five. They heard it and repeat it daily. They don’t trust anyone who doesn’t believe it. And they’re ready to fight for that answer with every weapon at their disposal.
Many faiths, philosophies, and belief systems rely on the concept of “speaking things that are not as though they were.” This basically means you can “speak things into being”: you can make something real simply by saying it over and over again.
There are many proofs that the human mind does work this way. Tell yourself a sugar pill is a wonder drug and it may heal you as effectively as the actual drug would. Tell yourself that you can lift a car to save your child, and you may be able to lift the car. Tell yourself that you have the courage to do something you’ve never done before, and that confidence can blossom and manifest just as you named it and claimed it.
Unfortunately, this also works in the other direction: Tell yourself daily that you are feeling ill, and you can alter your vital signs in a negative way. Tell yourself repeatedly that you are worthless, and your self-esteem will suffer. Tell yourself that people are out to get you, and you will see monsters around every corner and under every bed.
The Bush 43 administration was not wrong when they said they would create their own reality. Now look at what happened to the country as a result of the unchecked repetition of misinformation, fearmongering, and lies.
In the face of destructive repetition, we all have a duty to push back.
Keep your eyes and ears open and your mind alert so negative frames jump out at you. Otherwise these frames get passively absorbed into the background noise of life.
Before you repeat anything, positive or negative, make your best effort to find out if it’s true.
When others repeat talking points you know to be untrue, contradict them immediately. Speak the truth out loud when you’re able. If you can’t say it aloud, correct the statement in the silence of your mind to help yourself stay centered.
Lies gain power the more often they’re repeated. If you repeat one of these tail-leg frames, even if you’re challenging or criticizing it, you’re still repeating it.
Avoid repeating any messages that help the other side. Repetition is what sells propaganda.
But repetition can also work in service of the truth.
If you hear, “Black Lives Matter burned and destroyed Democrat-run cities in 2020,” that tail is not a leg. All the big cities run by Democratic leaders still exist. No cities were destroyed.
If you hear, “The Jan. 6 event was a group of peaceful and orderly tourists,” that tail is not a leg. There are hours of video showing insurrectionists fighting with police, smashing windows, breaking through locked entrances, and looting and ransacking offices. No other tourist group ever behaved that way in the Capitol.
If you hear, “COVID is no worse than the flu,” that tail is not a leg. COVID-19 is responsible for way more deaths than the U.S. ever had from any flu, including the flu epidemic of 1918-1919.
Any time anyone says the dog’s tail makes a total of five legs, answer back. That tail is not a leg, no matter how often authority figures and media sources say otherwise.
The reality-based community does not have three 24-hour news networks or hundreds of syndicated talk radio programs, but there are many millions of us. Face-to-face and one-to-one messaging still count for something.
As individuals, we can use the power of repetition everywhere we are able: in personal conversations, during phone calls, at family gatherings, on blogs and social media.
If you can’t fight them all and need to pick your spots, just choose one. Which of the current political lies is repeated the most frequently around you? Think of a simple, factual way to push back. Practice saying your answer out loud.
Then look for opportunities to spread the truth.
spread love instead of spreading lies
Earlier in this series:
15 Oct 21 Introduction to Fact checking: what do you do when peer pressure challenges the truth?