National security may rely on the ability of our leaders to tell the truth🙊. It's normal for politicians to disagree about an event and/or provide different solutions to the same problem. Yet they must be truthful to regain institutional trust and center ground for constructive national dialogue. A Homeland Threat Assessment by Homeland Security highlights how foreign actors/agents are capitalizing on false information to radicalize American sentiment.
Social media has a lot of power and has been known to do good and bad. The Net can spread information quickly (whether truthful or not) to people that are actively seeking explanations for perplexing problems. The loudest voices shouldn't define our beliefs.
Truth usually trumps falsehood as people use their good sense to to navigate the many competing viewpoints. If our politicians focus on the truth, even if not popular, they can help Americans understand problems to better find appropriate pathways to overcome those problems. Lying and manipulation lead to inappropriate understandings and solutions.
As foreign elements seek to utilize media to skew public opinion, encourage civil unrest, and undermine democracy we should ponder how our leaders have contributed to this situation (Democrat and Republican). Politics does best when closer to its rational middle. Giving people tools to differentiate truth from falsehood starts with the leaders staying close to the facts.
Our leaders have the right to debate, to believe as they see fit, and to influence the public. However, they must do so in a spirt of truth as there are large swaths of society that unquestionably pick up that information as "truth" without critical examination. Leaders that seek to rise to power should consider the long-term impact of spreading misinformation.
Lies also create a heavy cognitive load for people and they must often continue to lie and spend more resources on those lies. We don't need our leaders thinking of new ways holding a lie when they should have the integrity to simply speak the truth as they believe. Its more effective, takes less time, and allows people to share in the solutions. Here is a pretty good resource on lie detection from a more scientific perspective HERE.
Good moral conscious seems to have a place in politics and national defense. Focusing on our core American principles seems to be one method of overcoming international gas lighting.
You may read the Homeland Threat Assessment (Dec. 20, 2020).
No comments:
Post a Comment