How do you weaponize truth to break through disinformation, when Wrong-Wingers have been weaponizing disinformation since forever? George Lakoff knows how to do it, with science! Based on his research, he invented the first Truth Sandwich that has evolved into the primary weapon of the Truth Brigade.
The Classical Greek definition of disinformation is
Making the worse appear the better cause
a specialty of the Sophists, and one of the bogus accusations against Socrates, along with corrupting the youth and teaching that the Sun is a stone. Actually, they objected to him showing many of the more pompous Athenians to be fools, and also to his student Critias, who became a leading member of the Thirty Tyrants.
Oct 21, 2021 — Berkeley linguist George Lakoff recently came up with the strategy that he decided to call the truth sandwich. Here’s how to build one:
- Lead with the truth.
- In the middle of the report, briefly describe the falsehood.
- And then fact-check the misinformation and repeat the truth.
That’s the version for reporters in print, on the air, or on the Web. The Indivisible Truth Brigade adds to the filling calling out hypocrisy, and to the second slice some form of action that one can take, to verify the truth, to act on it in one’s personal life, or to affect public policy. We prefer not to take on the liars head-on. Sometimes reporting them to their social media platform is the right thing to do, and then to think of an appropriate Truth Sandwich to counter their harmful ideas without giving them more oxygen.
Continuing from PBS:
Lakoff has said that he thinks media organizations are unintentionally spreading misinformation when they repeat lies or quote politicians who are asserting falsehoods.
“Avoid retelling the lies. Avoid putting them in headlines, leads or tweets,” Sullivan wrote of Lakoff’s advice. “Because it is that very amplification that gives them power.”
This goes against the clickbait theory of the Web, and the old newspaper maxim
If it bleeds, it leads.
Rachel Maddow does the best job in TV on starting with truth, sometimes very far back indeed, a hundred years or more, and is wonderful on calling out hypocrisy and suggesting what we can do. When she has seemingly bad news to report, she often invites a guest to talk her down from the fears, like talking a would-be suicide off the ledge..There are a few others that report some of the news in something like Truth Sandwiches. Please thank them whenever you can. We need many more of them. Also, we need to tell the others that Democrats are investing in the US and The People, not spending.
The Truth Sandwich: A Better Way to Mythbust - Medium
Oct 29, 2020 — Linguist George Lakoff described this approach as a better way for political journalists to report on, well, lies (can’t imagine why they’d need it!). But we think it’s also a great tool for particularly sticky health misinformation.
And here’s an example of how it could play out in health materials:
Never drink bleach.
You may have heard that bleach can kill the coronavirus, but this only works on surfaces — not inside your body. Drinking bleach can cause serious illness and death, and it doesn’t cure COVID-19.
How to serve up a tasty 'truth sandwich?' - Poynter
The secret sauce is emphatic word order.
I want to lend my support to an experiment on how to solve a serious reporting problem. Important people tell lies. Journalists seek to expose those lies and the bad intentions behind them. The exposure of a lie can spread the lie. Do I ignore the lie and hope it does not become poison in the body politic? Do I report it, check it against the facts, and leave it to the public to render judgment?
Or is there another way?
I am late to the game, but my tardiness has now let me examine the opinion of journalists, scholars and critics, represented in a Twitter sequence that cites New York University professor Jay Rosen, PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor, retired UC Berkeley professor of linguistics George Lakoff, CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter, and Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan.
Start with the truth. The first frame gets the advantage. · Indicate the lie. Avoid amplifying the specific language if possible. · Return to the ...
CNN @ReliableSources: Brian Stelter talks tq George Lakoff about a Truth Sandwich
Lakoff: “Denying a frame activates the frame.”
Stelter’s panel has no idea what the topic of conversation is, and reverts to false dichotomies.
How to Fight Disinformation With a 'Truth Sandwich
May 21, 2020 — George Lakoff invented a construct called the Truth Sandwich in order to effectively frame the truth and negate a lie.
Find out more:
George Lakoff is Director of the Center for the Neural Mind & Society and retired Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, where he has taught since 1972. He previously taught at Harvard and the University of Michigan. He graduated from MIT in 1962 (in Mathematics and Literature) and received his Ph.D. in Linguistics from Indiana University in 1966. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller The All New Don’t Think of an Elephant!, among other works, and is America’s leading expert on the framing of political ideas.
You can follow him on Twitter @GeorgeLakoff.
George Lakoff: The Truth Sandwich | Future Hindsight S10 E2
Jul 12, 2020 — George Lakoff is an emeritus professor of cognitive science and linguistics at UC Berkeley whose research includes the language of politics ...
Future Hindsight: George Lakoff: The Truth Sandwich - YouTube
The idea is to start with the truth, then state the claim, and follow that with more reality.
Skipping the first step and just putting the falsehood first and then debunking it, linguist George Lakoff told CNN and the Post, may reinforce it in the minds of audience members. Starting with the truth, then reporting the claim and then adding more fact-checking, helps avoid that problem.
Further Reading
The All New Don’t Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate, by George Lakoff