Democrats Vote To Enhance Med Care for Illegals Now, Vote Down Vets Waiting 10 Years for Same Service
Trump’s grandfather was a pimp and tax evader; his father a member of the KKK
Shocking stuff. Depending on your political views, reading one of these headlines probably caused a jolt of adrenaline, the self-righteous “I told you so”. The other may have elicited an eye-roll and an instinctive rush to Snopes.com.
These are two of the most widely shared “fake news” political articles on Facebook of 2019, based on a study by the activist non-profit Avaaz. The reach of these specific headlines was broad. The first headline (about “Med care”, “Illegals”, and Vets) was estimated to have been viewed more than eight million times. The second (alleging that Trump’s grandfather was a criminal and his father a Klansman) came in first place, with a whopping 29 million estimated views, showing yet again that no one steals the headlines quite like Donald Trump. All together, the top 100 most widely shared headlines were estimated to have been viewed more than 158 million times.
There is plenty of handwringing in policy circles about mis- and disinformation. Interest was sparked in 2016, the year of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, as both events are heavily associated (rightly or wrongly) with the spread of misinformation. The most notorious falsehood spread in the leadup to the Brexit referendum was that the revered National Health Service would receive an additional £350 million a week (it didn’t). It’s hard to pick the most egregious fake news story of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, as the entire election cycle seemed like a constant shower of half-truths. Apparently, 20% of former Obama voters believed that Hillary Clinton had sold weapons to ISIS, so I’ll go on record with that being my favourite.
However, it is one thing for misinformation to contribute to unorthodox political choices. It is quite another when it appears to cause deaths. So when the rapid spread of COVID-related misinformation seemed to increase vaccine hesitancy and promote quack cures (like eating horse dewormer), fake news quickly became a high-priority policy challenge. Canadian Federal dollars are flowing to anti-misinformation projects, and U.S. Congressional Committees are holding hearings over the matter. The most dramatic moment in recent months was the Congressional testimony of Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, about the company’s role in amplifying misinformation and sowing distrust. Overall, 73% of Americans believe that fake news is a problem, suggesting that this issue will remain top of mind in the near- and medium-term.
In fact, concern about misinformation has reached a fever pitch. The World Health Organization (WHO) deemed the spread of misinformation to be so serious as to warrant a somewhat tortured compound word: an infodemic. Some commenters even suggested that misinformation represents an existential threat to humanity. In 2020, the Doomsday Clock, a “universally recognized indicator of the world’s vulnerability to catastrophe”, moved to 100 seconds to midnight, the closest humanity has ever come to symbolic destruction. In its justification for this decision, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which manages the Doomsday Clock, specifically cited misinformation, alongside nuclear war and climate change, as the cause of the shift.
Values and Misinformation
If you are an avid reader of Values Added, I hope you immediately saw the relevance of the two fake news headlines at the beginning of this article: they were written to resonate with our moral values. This makes sense. If you are a fake news writer, your goal is to attract eyeballs. Since our moral values are central to our identities and their activation is governed by System 1 (i.e. rapid and intuitive) mental processes, we would expect articles that hone in on our values to be particularly effective. People just need to read the headline, feel the violation of their values, become outraged, and mash the “share” button. Simple.
Let’s have a look at a few of those popular fake news headlines from 2019 and discuss the values that are operational in each of them, starting with the two listed above. I’ll speak about these headlines as if they were true in order to simulate the effect of fake news resonating with our values. But please remember: all of these headline are false.
Democrats Vote To Enhance Med Care for Illegals Now, Vote Down Vets Waiting 10 Years for Same Service
The Loyalty value (i.e. people have special moral responsibilities to in-group members) is central to this headline. The key comparison is between in-group members (veterans) and outsiders (illegal immigrants, or undocumented immigrants, or irregular migrants. Pick your nomenclature). The “fact” that Democrats would give special treatment to outsiders over veterans is an act of national betrayal worthy of moral indignation (and likes and shares), particularly from people on the right.
There is a secondary value operational here as well: Fairness (i.e. people should be treated in similar ways and/or people should get what they deserve). Good medical care is part of the social contract between the state and its soldiers. When troops put their lives and well-being on the line, they expect that their country will cover their medical expenses (and even provide better-than-average support). That’s smart policy. How many soldiers would enlist if they needed to cover all of their medical expenses from combat? If the Democrats refuse to provide care after injuries are incurred, they have reneged on the deal, violating the Fairness value.
Trump’s grandfather was a pimp and tax evader; his father a member of the KKK
As an article that targets the left side of the political spectrum, it follows that the Care value (i.e. causing pain is wrong, especially to the vulnerable) would be operational. Pimps, tax dodgers, and Klansmen are harmful to society, so they deserve our outrage. In addition, there is an undercurrent of the Fairness value. A savvy reader may infer that the Trump fortune was built upon pimping and cheating. While campaigning, Trump stated that his wealth was self-made and proof of his management prowess. If his fortune actually derived from illegal activities, is it fair that Trump gets to lie and become President? Of course not! Share!
There’s a third operational value that is not commonly held on the left, but emerges in this particular headline: Sanctity (i.e. certain actions are inherently dirty and polluting). Notice the intergenerational taint that is implied to transfer to then-President Trump, like he is morally accountable for his grandfather’s and his father’s actions. It’s implied that President Trump is impure due to his familial history. This is one of the ways that the Sanctity value expresses itself for people on the left.
It’s doubtful that the hundreds of thousands of people that shared this headline would admit to holding President Trump accountable for his grandfather’s “actions,” but our values are rarely explicit. They often sit right under the surface, influencing our decisions without us knowing it. Although left-leaning people are less susceptible to appeals to their Sanctity value, they are not immune (as evidenced by this headline).
Nancy Pelosi diverting Social Security money for the impeachment inquiry
Here’s another appeal to the Care and Fairness values. Diverting money from seniors and the poor to fund a political inquiry would both harm vulnerable people – assuming Pelosi’s “actions” would undermine the social security system – and undermine the fairness-based justification for social security (people pay into the programs when employed, with the expectation that social security will be available when they need it).
Interestingly, the Care and Fairness values are more important to left-leaning individuals, but this headline is clearly targeting conservatives. This shows that, although conservatives have a more varied moral palette, they still care about Care and Fairness. In this example, appeals to these two values are sufficient to elicit moral outrage in a right-leaning audience.
AOC proposed a motorcycle ban
This headline draws its effectiveness from the Liberty value (i.e. freedom and autonomy are moral goods). A governmental ban on motorcycles would constitute a restriction on freedom. If someone wants to take part in slightly dangerous activities, such as riding motorcycles, that’s their decision. Under the Liberty value, the government has no right to tell people what to do.
In addition, there is an undercurrent of the Loyalty value (i.e. people have special moral responsibilities to in-group members). Motorcycle riding is a key part of many people’s identities, from violent biker gangs to far more benign groups of motorcycle fans. A ban would be akin to an attack on their group identity, which warrants a strong moral reaction. It’s no surprise that the author of this headline used motorcycles as a prop in this false attack on Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. American motorcycle riders probably lean conservative overall, and they are highly organized. Outrage in this community can be extremely effective for political reasons.
Conclusion
Over the past several months, I have shown that values analysis holds considerable explanatory power with regards to key political issues. Misinformation is another area where values analysis holds promise.
But so what? How can a better understanding of our moral values help policymakers combat misinformation? I’d like to answer this now, but the holidays are coming up, so this will be the final Values Added of 2021. In the New Year, I will broach this subject in a trio of articles; the first will be published on January 11. Stay tuned!