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Via Vox: Sean Illing interviews linguist George Lakoff about how journalists can respond to Trump’s strategy of lying to distract from the truth he doesn't want covered
A linguist explains how Trump uses lies to divert attention from the “big truths.”
Read the interview, but first read this piece Lakoff wrote A Blitzkrieg Strategy Of Lies and Distractions
The piece has lots of citation links, so do read it. But this is the core:
“Trump counts on reporters to chase his lies and distractions like dogs chase balls. Too often, they meet his expectations.”
A linguist explains how Trump uses lies to divert attention from the “big truths.”
Journalists could engage in what I’ve called “truth sandwiches,” which means that you first tell the truth; then you point out what the lie is and how it diverges from the truth. Then you repeat the truth and tell the consequences of the difference between the truth and the lie.
Read the interview, but first read this piece Lakoff wrote A Blitzkrieg Strategy Of Lies and Distractions
The piece has lots of citation links, so do read it. But this is the core:
“Trump counts on reporters to chase his lies and distractions like dogs chase balls. Too often, they meet his expectations.”
It’s a numbers game. The more he can get his key terms and images repeated in the media — even as “fact checks” — the more he wins. That’s just how our brains work. The more we hear about something, the more it sticks. Even if it’s not true. When I say “don’t think of an elephant,” it forces you to think of an elephant. Repeating lies, even to debunk them, helps spread and strengthen them. The scientific evidence is clear.
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