At the end of Monday night’s candidate forum, we got 90 seconds to give closing statements. I took the moment to remind people my name and my background.
“In 2017,” I said, “when I attended the Women’s March…” and several people leaned forward.
Yes, I attended the Women’s March in 2017. See the picture with this post? That’s me in Washington, D.C. carrying a sign that says, “Because Love.” South Carolinians will recognize the tiger paw and the purple and orange. My alma mater, the Clemson Tigers, had just won the National Championship in football with Dabo Swinney at the helm and Deshaun Watson in the pocket. It was a time of celebration and satisfaction for my family, we’ve been devoted Clemson fans for generations.
Politically, it was a time of uncertainty, not unlike the nine years that have elapsed since. Donald Trump had just defeated Hillary Clinton in a presidential election that was the nastiest, meanest display of politics I had ever seen. I wanted to share the hope and love that I was feeling with the people who had gathered in Washington, D.C. in a spectrum of despair. The other side of the sign said, “because Hope.”
After I posted this image on Facebook, I received a number of comments. Again, a spectrum. They ranged from full-throated support of the event and my message to condemnation for my being there and accusations that I’d somehow participated in some kind of disgraceful display. The footage of the event shown across media networks writing their own narratives was startling.
Here’s what I know: 1) I found peace and humanity in the event, 2) I learned every image, every word can be weaponized, and 3) I understand that the nastiness of 2016 was just the beginning.
The unbridled internet – citizen reporters, uncredentialed and untrained, speculative and fighting for clicks and likes – is here to stay. Content creators will say anything to keep their audience engaged. It’s their business to grow and maintain their audience.
We, as audience members, must curate our experience. We must discern the truth, reject false narratives and baseless claims. We have to work harder to understand the world around us in the flood of misinformation.
As good-intentioned as so many creators are, we have been playing “two truths and a lie” since 2016. Because the truths are true, we believe the lie. And it’s on us, as consumers, to do our own research, check sources, ask for receipts, and question credibility.
In Monday’s 50501 candidate forum in Lincolnville, people walked into the room with assumptions that had been fermented by that unbridled internet. Assumptions they mistook as knowledge. We are living through an era of persuasive misinformation where everything said, published, repeated and retweeted has incentives. We must ask “Why?” for everything. Why is this being said? Why is this being done? Why are people opposed to it? Why are people in favor of it?
We must seek first to understand and then to be understood. This new political landscape, less than a decade old, is rife with bold-faced lies. From the top down and slithering in all the grassroots. And when we see them, we should question them. All of them. The narrators have incentives. It feels a little X Files: Trust No One.
People keep asking how we can restore public trust and I’ll tell you, it’s easy:
- Do what you say you’re going to do.
- Don’t promise things you can’t deliver.
- Tell us when you don’t know something.
- Own up to and correct your mistakes.
It’s not weak to be uncertain. It’s weak to double down on the lie you believe even when shown the evidence of its falsehood. It’s weak to assume that because a lot of people believe it, it must be true. And it’s weak to perpetuate the same charade over and over.
I told the people in the 50501 forum that I would tell the truth. I am committed to that. And if I speak a falsehood, I hope to be corrected and change my own mind. But I expect the same of our South Carolina voters. When they learn new information, let them be changed by it. Let education liberate them. Let knowing liberate us all.
Learn more about the Kasie, South Carolina campaign here.
Unapologetically X 