Which Political Ideology is Knowingly Deceiving their Audience?

Currently in America, it seems that those involved with politics cannot agree with the opposing side on essentially anything. Of course, disagreements have always been a natural part of the political environment, but not like this. We are not arguing two ideological beliefs, but rather two separate realities. Which begs the question, “Which side is right?”

To someone who is not familiar with politics, it would be understandable to believe that both sides of the political spectrum are equally as wrong, therefor you might as well split the blame and compromise in the middle. That belief however is unfounded. Questions about different moralities or arguing the percentage of tax policies can be debated and compromised. Facts though, are not disputable. Truths cannot be compromised with falsehoods. For those with the privilege of reaching wide audiences, it is imperative that they give the facts without distortion. Those that choose not to, or who knowingly mislead their audience about simple well-known truths, should never be trusted. They should automatically be written off when they later try to state their opinion on any subject. This is especially true and thus critically more dangerous when these individuals are political leaders or commentators who captivate the ears of millions daily.

My argument with this piece is that one side of the political spectrum is flawed but at least understands facts and debates opinion, while the other side knowingly misleads and lies to their audience and supporters for money, recognition, and power.

To show that you cannot say “both sides are equally at fault” or “one side says this, another side says that”, we are going to need a topic that has no politics behind it, one that has no opinions, that uses the scientific method of questioning, researching, hypothesizing, experimenting, observing, reaching conclusions and having it all peer reviewed to make sure all the findings are duplicatable. This topic must also have great name recognition, where everybody across the political landscape has heard and understands what is being referred to. That topic is Climate Change.

Climate Change describes the negative ramifications of human controlled burning of CO2 and the impacts it has on the Earth’s climate. A simple way of thinking about climate change is we (as a global society) are using energy that is trapped in the ground (CO2), burning it, and releasing the once trapped energy into the atmosphere (remember, thanks to the first law of thermodynamics, we know that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred.) The once trapped energy that is now released into the atmosphere then returns in many forms, including, increased heat, winds, storms, tornados, and hurricanes. Making each weather event more severe and more frequent than it would have normally been. Meaning the burning of fossil fuels is directly leading to an increase in forest fires, oceans rising, severe droughts, flooding, and hurricane devastation. What I am stating is not an opinion. Over 99% of the thousands of scientific peer reviewed academic studies published in accredited journals all show substantial evidence that the climate is changing because of the burning of fossil fuels.

My entire goal of this article is not to convince you that climate change is real, rather, it is to show how those with power who claim that this serious issue is a hoax or a conspiracy should not be trusted, not only when it comes to topics regarding the climate, but also when it comes to every political topic.

Everyone regardless of influence has a worth that comes with their word. If someone is knowingly and actively misinforming and trying to trick you, then everything they state should be worth absolutely nothing from there on after.

Climate change is not a source of debate outside the States. There is no serious political party whose platform is “climate change is a hoax.” because the only time when facts become disputable is when you are actively trying to deceive someone.

Those with the power to influence millions, have the responsibility to be as well informed as possible.

· Not to use their platform to make an easy buck because they see an untapped market.

· Not to keep silent because they fear they will lose some supporters and thus ad revenue.

· Not because they fear a loss of power and what that may mean for the crimes that they have committed.

Sadly, the three listed above is exactly what is occurring in the United States with Donald Trump and the conservative media. If you are wondering why everything is so polarized, look no further.

First, let us start with the President of the United States, who in November will have over 60 million people vote for him. Mr. Trump with regards to climate change has said…

· “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing noncompetitive.”

· “I believe in clean air. Immaculate air. But I don’t believe in climate change.”

· “When will our country stop wasting money on global warming and so many other truly “STUPID” things and begin to focus on lower taxes?”

For those that will try to justify his words with the argument “he does not know better.”

(1) He absolutely does.

(2) Even if he did not, shouldn’t the most powerful person in the world surround himself with knowledgeable people that can explain to him a simple fact???

(3) He has been called out many times on why his belief is wrong, and he simply doubles down on his swindling nonsense.

Rush Limbaugh, in my opinion, is the original commentator who back in the 80s started the concept of knowingly misleading and lying to his audience for money.

Quick disclaimer — I try to watch or listen to conservative media every day (Rush included), sometimes it is for a few minutes and other times for a few hours. I started originally many years ago because I was so curious where some of the people in my life were getting their beliefs from.

Rush Limbaugh may be the most shameless political commentator within the conservative media. He takes absolutely no issue lying, misleading and being an all-out political hypocrite. His radio show is currently on over 600 stations and has knowingly mislead millions for decades. His quotes on climate change are…

· “If there ever is scientific proof — and see, I don’t need scientific proof because to me the people who are promoting manmade global warming are a bunch of frauds. They are liberals, they lie. It’s not a generalization. It is an undeniable truth of life.”

· “We know global warming is a hoax, and we know that elements of NASA have been part of it. And we know that the regime runs NASA.”

It does not matter who we are referring to when it comes to conservative commentators… Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, who ever you pick, basically anyone of FOX or OANN, the radio or internet, writing articles or making podcast, does not matter! ALL conservative commenters dismiss climate change as a falsehood.

Why do they do that? Is it because they can scientifically explain why an increase in CO2 would not affect the climate? Of course not, so they go into absurd conspiracies or dumb statements like “how can climate change be real, if it’s cold in blah blah blah?”

These shows get funded by a handful of giant oil and gas companies, so they make it seem that the hundreds of thousands of scientists simply doing their job are the ones purposely lying to you (the same scheme was used back in the day to make it seem cigarettes were not harmful to smoke.) Then they feed their audience with the same repeated nonsense, and due to the confirmation bias, their audience will continue to watch, read, or listen to the people that share their beliefs. Thus, the political commentator’s ad revenue increases, which means they have a higher marketing budget, and therefor reach more and more people by the day. What is appalling about all of this, is that the misinformation cycle will only continue spreading false information, so that a select few can have the power, recognition, and income that they desire.

Honestly, I do not believe I will change anybody’s belief on their favorite political celebrity. It is extremely difficult to find someone who is open to changing their mind when presented with a different point of view, regardless of the overwhelming evidence. We all like to think we know best, which makes it that much tougher to swallow our pride and admit we made a mistake. A quarter of this country will vote and defend to their death Donald Trump regardless of the mountains of evidence placed in front of them.

For those on the fence, or for those not planning on voting because they do not see any difference between the candidates, or they think their vote will not make a difference. Just remember, millions if not billions of lives will be affected by this election. It is so important that we have someone in the white house and congress (Federal, State and Local), who listen and trust actual experts. Those that lie on climate change should not be trusted with political power, instead they prove that their word is worthless because they have no problem deceiving their audience.

This November, individualistic suffering can be dramatically reduced. Please, everyone, register and vote. Every single ballot matters.