I would pretty much always change ‘you were lied to/they are lying to you’ to ‘WE were lied to/they are lying to US’
Using singular singles them out as being alone in being a duped victim, plural implies us vs the liars and we are victims together and we don’t have to stand for it.
Very small but i think it could unconsciously matter to some
Totally! My go-to sign has been the Talking Heads line “and you may say to yourself… my God, what have I done?!” But per your comment maybe I’ll make it the first person plural, with appropriate brackets for citation accuracy lol “…[ourselves] — I feel like a lot of librarians and English teachers will appreciate that gesture ;)
Right, "us/we" is an improvement. I almost wonder if it's even better to frame it in a way so that no one was "lied to." That gives away that you are intending to correct them or attack in some way. I'm trying to think of a framing that leads inevitably to that conclusion but without saying as much. "Why did they agreed to pay so much money if their reporting was accurate?" Or maybe drop a link to a video montage of FOX anchors apologizing and saying they misreported, which they did as a condition of the settlement. Just leave it hanging there.
"You do not explain. You do not brief. **You post the question and you leave.** Turn off notifications. Do not go back. The moment you start defending the question, you become the story. The question does not need you to survive. It needs you to disappear."
Smart technique! I know with my conversations with MAGAs I am mostly trying to plant a seed and not argue or over-engage. JAQing is exactly that. Thanks.
Fascist propaganda survives by lying loudly, repeating endlessly, and counting on people to become too exhausted or afraid to push back. It is not debate — it is manipulation designed to divide communities, manufacture enemies, and erode reality itself.
The playbook is always the same: invent a crisis, blame the vulnerable, flood the public with disinformation, and accuse critics of the very corruption they practice.
These propagandists depend on confusion. They weaponize outrage to drown out facts and rely on intimidation to silence opposition. Their greatest weakness is exposure.
To confront them, we must stop treating bad faith as honest disagreement.
Lies should be named as lies. Manufactured studies must be traced back to their funders.
Coordinated messaging must be exposed for what it is: propaganda masquerading as grassroots concern. When the public sees the machinery — the money, the networks, the scripted talking points — the illusion of legitimacy collapses.
Fascist movements fear accountability because their power depends on secrecy and repetition, not truth.
Every verified fact, every exposed contradiction, every act of collective resistance breaks the spell they try to cast over public discourse.
Silence enables propaganda. Neutrality protects it. The antidote is courage: call out deception, defend targeted communities, and refuse to normalize cruelty disguised as policy. Democracy survives only when ordinary people refuse to let lies become the foundation of power.
I love the article and wish I could share it with everyone who gets their “NEWS” from Fox (opinion)news. I can share a tidbit “Mike Cox” campaign for Michigan governor ad claims he wants to stop fraud in Mi elections. All 20 of the audit found votes in 2024?
Food for thought. If 6 financial institutions Blackrock, Vanguard,State Street, JP Morgan, Chase Manhattan, and Bank of America own each other’s assets, and 89% of all assets worldwide like one big private central bankers pocket. And these same institutions own both Dominion & Fox News, but the details of their settlements have what Kennedy called “ Repugnant Secrecy” with non disclosure agreements attached to the deal how do you know that whole thing was not done for optics to scare independent journalist away from the crown jewel of the monopoly stakeholder collective capitalism public & private partnership ( MSCCPPP)of the private central bankers?? After all this could be moving money from one private central bankers pocket to another private central bankers pocket with the desired effect of making sure nobody dared to question the integrity of the MSCCPPP crown jewel that is the Dominion voting system!
The problem with what Kennedy spoke about in his last speech “ repugnant secrecy” is that things like a vaccine with intellectual property protection that prevents careful scrutiny, and a voting system like Dominion that also has intellectual property protection that prevents careful scrutiny can all be the Repugnant secrecy that Kennedy was warning us about. Add top secret classification outside of our constitutional checks & balances, and those no disclosure agreements use how can anyone make a claim that the election was not stolen????
You can’t under the circumstances! And the mathematical anomalies alone certainly suggest that it was in fact stolen!
Sadly the best advice is that which Roy Cohn gave Trump, do not explain (the moment you do, you lose), not apologize, do not complain., go on the offense, stay on the offense. The defense never wins.
You may find it distasteful, but by golly it works.
Brian beutler said this morning that trump’s childish acceptance of fake awards is an insult to children, who know when things are made up to make them feel good. Ie my “honorable mention” ribbon on field day in 3rd grade lol. I think he’s right—I think “childish” is a compliment to him and an insult ti children. Not directed at you—just food for thought
Ii became a Founder subscriber so I could ask you for a "how to" on getting online and asking questions to undermine true-believer support for positions we think wrong. I have never used facebook. How do i find the fascist posts? Should i create a new identity? How do i avoid hate mail responses and threats? I and spouse are retired a d are eager to do what you have asked, but need answers first. Thank you. Richard rochester ny
This strongly reminds me of my work establishing the "veracity" metric for Ad Fontes Media. In order to give it a rating, we had to tightly define what, exactly, we were rating. We didn't (and I'm presuming they still don't) just drop scores for outright dishonesty. We also tagged them for misleading or emotionally charged interpretations of the news. There's a lot to it.
I would pretty much always change ‘you were lied to/they are lying to you’ to ‘WE were lied to/they are lying to US’
Using singular singles them out as being alone in being a duped victim, plural implies us vs the liars and we are victims together and we don’t have to stand for it.
Very small but i think it could unconsciously matter to some
thanks Rebekah - carrying that example to Protest signs on March 28th ✊
Totally! My go-to sign has been the Talking Heads line “and you may say to yourself… my God, what have I done?!” But per your comment maybe I’ll make it the first person plural, with appropriate brackets for citation accuracy lol “…[ourselves] — I feel like a lot of librarians and English teachers will appreciate that gesture ;)
Good point
Right, "us/we" is an improvement. I almost wonder if it's even better to frame it in a way so that no one was "lied to." That gives away that you are intending to correct them or attack in some way. I'm trying to think of a framing that leads inevitably to that conclusion but without saying as much. "Why did they agreed to pay so much money if their reporting was accurate?" Or maybe drop a link to a video montage of FOX anchors apologizing and saying they misreported, which they did as a condition of the settlement. Just leave it hanging there.
I personally like to use the puzzled old grandmother tactic. "But what about this letter she just sent to the courts yesterday? I'm so confused!"
“I’m so confused” has been a new arrow in my quiver and it’s pretty powerful.
This is how it's done:
"You do not explain. You do not brief. **You post the question and you leave.** Turn off notifications. Do not go back. The moment you start defending the question, you become the story. The question does not need you to survive. It needs you to disappear."
Smart technique! I know with my conversations with MAGAs I am mostly trying to plant a seed and not argue or over-engage. JAQing is exactly that. Thanks.
Fascist propaganda survives by lying loudly, repeating endlessly, and counting on people to become too exhausted or afraid to push back. It is not debate — it is manipulation designed to divide communities, manufacture enemies, and erode reality itself.
The playbook is always the same: invent a crisis, blame the vulnerable, flood the public with disinformation, and accuse critics of the very corruption they practice.
These propagandists depend on confusion. They weaponize outrage to drown out facts and rely on intimidation to silence opposition. Their greatest weakness is exposure.
To confront them, we must stop treating bad faith as honest disagreement.
Lies should be named as lies. Manufactured studies must be traced back to their funders.
Coordinated messaging must be exposed for what it is: propaganda masquerading as grassroots concern. When the public sees the machinery — the money, the networks, the scripted talking points — the illusion of legitimacy collapses.
Fascist movements fear accountability because their power depends on secrecy and repetition, not truth.
Every verified fact, every exposed contradiction, every act of collective resistance breaks the spell they try to cast over public discourse.
Silence enables propaganda. Neutrality protects it. The antidote is courage: call out deception, defend targeted communities, and refuse to normalize cruelty disguised as policy. Democracy survives only when ordinary people refuse to let lies become the foundation of power.
Pre-Bunk whenever possible. We often know what they are going to do and how they will respond
I love the article and wish I could share it with everyone who gets their “NEWS” from Fox (opinion)news. I can share a tidbit “Mike Cox” campaign for Michigan governor ad claims he wants to stop fraud in Mi elections. All 20 of the audit found votes in 2024?
Food for thought. If 6 financial institutions Blackrock, Vanguard,State Street, JP Morgan, Chase Manhattan, and Bank of America own each other’s assets, and 89% of all assets worldwide like one big private central bankers pocket. And these same institutions own both Dominion & Fox News, but the details of their settlements have what Kennedy called “ Repugnant Secrecy” with non disclosure agreements attached to the deal how do you know that whole thing was not done for optics to scare independent journalist away from the crown jewel of the monopoly stakeholder collective capitalism public & private partnership ( MSCCPPP)of the private central bankers?? After all this could be moving money from one private central bankers pocket to another private central bankers pocket with the desired effect of making sure nobody dared to question the integrity of the MSCCPPP crown jewel that is the Dominion voting system!
The problem with what Kennedy spoke about in his last speech “ repugnant secrecy” is that things like a vaccine with intellectual property protection that prevents careful scrutiny, and a voting system like Dominion that also has intellectual property protection that prevents careful scrutiny can all be the Repugnant secrecy that Kennedy was warning us about. Add top secret classification outside of our constitutional checks & balances, and those no disclosure agreements use how can anyone make a claim that the election was not stolen????
You can’t under the circumstances! And the mathematical anomalies alone certainly suggest that it was in fact stolen!
Sadly the best advice is that which Roy Cohn gave Trump, do not explain (the moment you do, you lose), not apologize, do not complain., go on the offense, stay on the offense. The defense never wins.
You may find it distasteful, but by golly it works.
He seems to have forgotten one aspect of this advice — he whines and complains constantly.
He can't help it, he is a child and his feelings get hurt when people reject or make fun of him.
Brian beutler said this morning that trump’s childish acceptance of fake awards is an insult to children, who know when things are made up to make them feel good. Ie my “honorable mention” ribbon on field day in 3rd grade lol. I think he’s right—I think “childish” is a compliment to him and an insult ti children. Not directed at you—just food for thought
Yes, however children do get their feelings hurt, when rejected and made fun of, do they not. Adults too.
My sister sent me this related story today about book banning in Florida, and how one guy flipped it on them by submitting the Bible in all school districts: https://www.reddit.com/r/bannedbooks/comments/1s2qhs5/florida_rewrote_its_book_ban_law_because_one_guy/
He's got a methodology figured out, too.
Ii became a Founder subscriber so I could ask you for a "how to" on getting online and asking questions to undermine true-believer support for positions we think wrong. I have never used facebook. How do i find the fascist posts? Should i create a new identity? How do i avoid hate mail responses and threats? I and spouse are retired a d are eager to do what you have asked, but need answers first. Thank you. Richard rochester ny
This strongly reminds me of my work establishing the "veracity" metric for Ad Fontes Media. In order to give it a rating, we had to tightly define what, exactly, we were rating. We didn't (and I'm presuming they still don't) just drop scores for outright dishonesty. We also tagged them for misleading or emotionally charged interpretations of the news. There's a lot to it.
What is Part 2 of this series called?
Herd, JAQing Off, and Discrediting are the three so far