I overheard a conversation the other day. Someone said Republicans think COIVD is fake news. There may be a few of those, but everyone I know accepts that this Flu exists, and it is a mortal threat, but not the threat advertised to a majority of Americans. It is also not the biggest threat.
Related: COVID19: Shutting Down the Economy Is Tyranny
The political response is a bigger threat to America and Americans than SARS CoV2. And we’ve covered that. Our readers know this, and a lot of the people they associate with know this as well. But too many people do not, and they are some of the same people who think we think this is fake news.
How do you reach them when the censorship of opinion outside the approved narrative is real?
We roll out charts, graphs, data, research, doctors, pundits, and the rest of it. We even apply the emotion of losing basic liberties and the undocumented or underdocumented loss of lives and livelihoods. But their fear is still a bigger motivator.
Secretly, I think a lot of America is ready to get past it, but the machine won’t let it go. And why would they? Politicians drawn to power are as unlikely to relinquish it as are editors unwilling to give up the page views, clicks, or eyeballs that peddling that political fear affords.
Replatforming away from Twitter, Facebook, Fox News, the Alphabets, or any other publisher is a start, but they still control the narrative and dominate the reach.
Even with new media alternatives like ‘Grok.
We appreciate that you come here to look for a different view of things, and we try to reward you with resources no one else provides. Still, it’s not enough.
States are winding up winter-long lockdown schemes, which we know will make matters worse, not better.
They are expanding mask mandates, which we know do nothing but provide a false sense of security and no protection from contagion.
But we also know that nearly 100% of the population will have little if any complications from this flu. So, what are the messages that reache the ears and the hearts of Americans?
The political response is a bigger threat to Americans than the virus. We know this. How do we sell it in a way we have not already tried? What’s the missing ingredient?
Brainstorm it. What can we do to reach these people in a meaningful way?
Original Image: Wendy Richardson – modified for this piece.
