<story><title>The Lies that can Undermine Democracy</title><url>https://martinfowler.com/articles/202101-lies-and-democracy.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>igammarays</author><text>A lie is intentional. If a person legitimately believes the election was fraudulent, even if it was not, it&amp;#x27;s not a lie. It&amp;#x27;s a mistaken belief.&lt;p&gt;Calling the other side liars is precisely the kind of polarizing rhetoric that can undermine democracy. They are not liars if they legitimately believe what they are saying. 70% of Republican voters and some 10% of Democrat voters actually do believe there was election fraud [1].&lt;p&gt;The way to combat mistaken beliefs is to allow them to voice their views, then refute their arguments, not to call them liars and suppress their views. And even if they do not accept the refutation, the arguments should be left up for people to read and make their informed choice.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.politico.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;09&amp;#x2F;republicans-free-fair-elections-435488&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.politico.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;09&amp;#x2F;republicans-free-fa...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>charlesu</author><text>&amp;gt; The way to combat mistaken beliefs is to allow them to voice their views, then refute their arguments, not to call them liars and suppress their views. And even if they do not accept the refutation, the arguments should be left up for people to read and make their informed choice.&lt;p&gt;I don’t think this a good approach.&lt;p&gt;It takes real effort to refute a bad faith untruthful claim, but just it takes a single breath of air to make one. Lies scale better than the truth. And the people making bad faith arguments &lt;i&gt;know&lt;/i&gt; this.&lt;p&gt;Maybe ridicule isn’t the answer but it’s something more than just facts and truth. Perhaps shame?</text></comment>
<story><title>The Lies that can Undermine Democracy</title><url>https://martinfowler.com/articles/202101-lies-and-democracy.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>igammarays</author><text>A lie is intentional. If a person legitimately believes the election was fraudulent, even if it was not, it&amp;#x27;s not a lie. It&amp;#x27;s a mistaken belief.&lt;p&gt;Calling the other side liars is precisely the kind of polarizing rhetoric that can undermine democracy. They are not liars if they legitimately believe what they are saying. 70% of Republican voters and some 10% of Democrat voters actually do believe there was election fraud [1].&lt;p&gt;The way to combat mistaken beliefs is to allow them to voice their views, then refute their arguments, not to call them liars and suppress their views. And even if they do not accept the refutation, the arguments should be left up for people to read and make their informed choice.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.politico.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;09&amp;#x2F;republicans-free-fair-elections-435488&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.politico.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;09&amp;#x2F;republicans-free-fa...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>baumandm</author><text>Republicans have been voicing their views on the election since November, and countless refutations have been made for many if not all of their claims.  I&amp;#x27;m not arguing for suppression, but it&amp;#x27;s clear that many people are not interested in changing their minds.&lt;p&gt;Calling the average voter-fraud-believing American a liar is obviously counterproductive.  But that&amp;#x27;s not the same as a politician who should know better and doesn&amp;#x27;t appear to be operating in good faith.</text></comment>