Oops... I Did it Again!

This weekend I got into trouble. The kind of trouble I promised myself I would never get into again. I know it’s a weakness of mine, and that I am prone to fall into. Worse than that, I know that it is bad for my psychological and emotional wellbeing. But there I was, like a dog to his own vomit, like a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire. (2 Peter: 2)

I was carelessly perusing my Facebook feed, and there it was. A meme – Bold black letters on a lightly colored background. It grabbed me, with all of it’s authoritative contrast… with it’s arrestingly large font. I could not help but read it. Everything I had done before that moment had led me inexorably to it. It said:

The death rate of 2019 was 2.7 mill. The death rate of 2020 was only 2.4 mill. Lowest in 10 years.

I knew from previous research that the 2020 total death count in the United States was well over 3 Million, so I knew I this was a blatant example of bad information. I went immediately to the CDC website, and like I had several times before, downloaded the large format data tables that include the state by state death statistics. I added them up, created a simple table showing the last 7 years of total death in the United States. According to the latest reported numbers, the total number for 2020, was much closer to 3.4 Million. I copied the simple chart to my virtual clipboard.

I was now fully armed with deadly accurate statistics, AND a profound sense of moral indignation. Why so profound? well, for a couple of reasons.

First, I tend to have less tolerance for bad information when it is being used to prove something that I generally agree with. That may sound counter-intuitive, but here's my reasoning. I’m no fan of lockdowns, or of government’s approach to pandemic mitigation in general. If it were true that 300,000 less people died in 2020 than in 2019, it would be a perfect smoking gun. It would be easy to argue that the so-called pandemic, was nothing more than some kind of re-arranging of causes of death to incite public panic, and willingness to go along with some kind of “power grab”. That WOULD be an easy argument to make. The problem is – it’s not true. And saying that it is, allows people who would be inclined to strictly agree with and support government’s approach to simply dismiss the counter-argument as a bunch of hacks, talking conspiracy based on wrong facts.

Second, the meme was posted by a local talk radio personality who has some national reach, and a significant following. In my opinion this means that they should automatically hold themselves to a higher standard of accuracy. Something untrue, or misleading that they post will potentially get reposted or shared with thousands of people. And because it came from a radio personality they are familiar with, they are more likely to share it as fact, further compounding the first problem. Supporting an argument with bad information makes the argument weaker, not stronger.

But back to my decision. I had my weaponized data at the ready. I was following the post, and as I suspected it was already being aggressively shared and commented on.

“Pandemia!!!”

“PLANdemic.”

“Scamdemic!”

"And people are injecting themselves with a highly experimental highly untested non vaccine for this??”

My overinflated sense of self-importance was telling me I had to act quickly. I had my chart, but what kind of comment would really galvanize this audience? Should I be polite and reserved, or witty and incendiary? I guess you already know which way I went...

“What are you people even talking about!!??”

That did it. A lively discussion ensued. Encouragingly, a few people reached out, asking for references to where they could go find the numbers themselves. One commenter even told me that he removed his shared post once he realized how inaccurate the numbers were.

Small victories notwithstanding, I watched the likes and shares accumulate, and I engaged with even more passion. I started to be accused of being a “leftist plant”, trolling Facebook for opportunities to cast doubt and aspersion upon right wing conversations. Someone suggested that I get “the boot”.

I guess I didn’t think that would really happen, but it did. The next time I visited the thread I found that my ability to “comment” on anything in the thread had been removed, and that the original poster had unfriended me. And to rub salt in the wound, the following comment had appeared.

“It’s interesting he doesn’t answer you. The Left makes a hit on someone then leaves because that’s all they wanted, just an outrage slap. Leftists are crazy. But they have no substance, what do we expect?”

I was a little bit angry at first. But as I sat there, staring at my phone, dumbfounded by the audacity of the mob to cut out my tongue, and at the same time ridicule me for not speaking, I also began to chuckle at myself. The irony was palpable. I jumped into the fray, so that I could defend the purity of my “side”, and thereby strengthen their collective position. But in a few short hours I had cemented my reputation as a spy and a saboteur, working against the very ideals I was seeking to promote.

The process whereby I became a “Leftist Troll”, was completely predictable, and I should have had sense enough to avoid it. It is truly unfortunate, but it is a side effect of the divisiveness that has come to plague our society. No longer, it seems, can an honest seeker be afforded the time required to carefully pick through the myriad information they are confronted with and come up with a measured and honest world view. One must be ALL IN, or they are automatically ALL OUT. I have spoken to people who believe we are already past the point of no return. They believe that “the other side” has become so implacable in their ignorance, and refusal to see reason, that there is no option left other than to fight. I do not agree.

No matter the momentum against it, we all have the opportunity to let our better angels prevail. We can balance our time in online “conversations” with in person eye to eye, toe to toe discussions where we can see the body language of the other person, and read the intonations of their voice. We can invest time to research and to read information that seems counter to our personal viewpoints. We can take a little more time before we respond, especially on social media. We can constantly remind ourselves that most of the time what we disagree with is not other people, but our own misinterpretations.

Bitter medicine is often the most powerful.