From Russia with Love (NOT!)

I recently experienced firsthand the divisive power of fake news. I received a text from my sister with a beautifully written and powerfully negative diatribe she posted in response to a meme shared on Facebook by my cousin. The content is not important here. What is important is that these two beautiful women who are at opposite ends of the political poles were divided in a very personal way by inflammatory information from an unknown source.

I’m writing this with regret because, in the heat of the moment, I encouraged my sister (whose views I share) to post her vitriolic response to my cousin, so I was as much a pawn of this disinformation campaign as any of the tens of thousands of others who shared, commented, or railed about the meme.

It wasn’t until after my knee jerk support of my sister that I checked this bit of fake news on Snopes and learned that it was false. And it was only then that I realized I had been played. This type of stuff – and if you’re on social media you’re bombarded with it – is a powerful tool in the hands of those who want to undermine American democracy. What better way to ensure continued political chaos in our country than to pit cousin against cousin in an un-civil civil war of words and ideas? Whether this evil bit of chicanery was generated in Russia or New York is immaterial. What matters is what we do with it when we see it.

Rather than mount our high horses of righteousness, as so often happens on both sides of our polarized political debate, perhaps we should sit down and humbly ask questions. Rather than being the pawns of evil-deed-doers who sow dissension through disinformation, we could be the powerful agents of dialogue, seeking to know and understand our brothers and sisters who see the world through a very different lens.

Here are three ways I plan to approach this conundrum in the future:

1. Ask anyone who shares a powerfully negative post how sure they are of the source and truth of the content and how confident they are that they are not a pawn in someone’s campaign against democracy.

2. As much as I may disagree with what they’ve shared, I will not challenge with anger but invite with questions in the hope of creating dialogue – the only true way to change perspectives.

3. Cancel my Facebook, Twitter, or other social media platforms that feed this negative cycle and empower those who work for the destruction of our union.

On second thought, start with #3. I am.