Posted on Nov 6, 2022
Election Day is coming. Here's what to think about before sharing news
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https://www.npr.org/2022/11/06/ [login to see] /election-day-is-coming-heres-what-to-think-about-before-sharing-news
As Election Day approaches and the rhetoric and vitriol increase, it's useful to remember the wise and immortal words of Smokey the Bear: "Only you can prevent wildfires." That's because anyone who's online and shares information plays some role in shaping whether falsehoods gain traction.
Now you may ask, "But I'm just one person — what about Twitter? What about Facebook? And what about politicians with huge followings who spread falsehoods and misleading claims all the time?"
It's true that our society and many others around the world are facing what some researchers call "truth decay." Bad actors can and do game social and traditional media in order to flood the zone with conspiracy theories that sometimes promote violent and extremist agendas.
As Election Day approaches and the rhetoric and vitriol increase, it's useful to remember the wise and immortal words of Smokey the Bear: "Only you can prevent wildfires." That's because anyone who's online and shares information plays some role in shaping whether falsehoods gain traction.
Now you may ask, "But I'm just one person — what about Twitter? What about Facebook? And what about politicians with huge followings who spread falsehoods and misleading claims all the time?"
It's true that our society and many others around the world are facing what some researchers call "truth decay." Bad actors can and do game social and traditional media in order to flood the zone with conspiracy theories that sometimes promote violent and extremist agendas.
Election Day is coming. Here's what to think about before sharing news
Posted from npr.org
Elections
Voting
Social Media
Conspiracy Theories
Violence
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 4
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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Just take a deep breath and remember that if you allow others to make you respond emotionally, they are more in control of you than you are. I'm not trying to prevent good conversations where adults can discuss differences in a civil manner. People can and do have different ideas on how to approach problems, the best ones can see where ideas of others can improve their own ideas as in blending ingredients to make something better but it doesn't happen if people are too emotional.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Documented cases of election fraud are extremely rare
The 2020 election was the most-scrutinized election in U.S. history. There were dozens of federal and state lawsuits challenging various aspects of how the election was conducted and in some instances, asserting organized election fraud. None of those claims was corroborated. None of the suits led to changes in the outcome of the election.
Most cases of ballot and election fraud tend to involve an extremely small number of ballots and are quickly identified. The most significant case of election fraud in the past 40 years took place in Bladen County, N.C., in 2018 when the state refused to certify the results of a U.S. House race after investigators revealed that a political operative working for the Republican candidate had mishandled a significant number of absentee ballots he had collected. The results of that contest were called into question within weeks of Election Day.
Even the broadest database of election fraud cases collected by the conservative Heritage Foundation shows about 750 cases of documented voter fraud involving approximately 1,100 people over 40 years and billions of ballots cast. Many election researchers take issue with the organization's methodology, which they view as overly expansive."...
..."Documented cases of election fraud are extremely rare
The 2020 election was the most-scrutinized election in U.S. history. There were dozens of federal and state lawsuits challenging various aspects of how the election was conducted and in some instances, asserting organized election fraud. None of those claims was corroborated. None of the suits led to changes in the outcome of the election.
Most cases of ballot and election fraud tend to involve an extremely small number of ballots and are quickly identified. The most significant case of election fraud in the past 40 years took place in Bladen County, N.C., in 2018 when the state refused to certify the results of a U.S. House race after investigators revealed that a political operative working for the Republican candidate had mishandled a significant number of absentee ballots he had collected. The results of that contest were called into question within weeks of Election Day.
Even the broadest database of election fraud cases collected by the conservative Heritage Foundation shows about 750 cases of documented voter fraud involving approximately 1,100 people over 40 years and billions of ballots cast. Many election researchers take issue with the organization's methodology, which they view as overly expansive."...
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