A good thing about Fox News, OAN, etc. is that they are entities with 
boundaries.   At some point these organizations could become so radioactive 
that sponsors won't support them.   Or they could be sued, broken up by the 
government, etc. as dangers to the population.   They just aren't there yet.    
Similarly, one might ask:  What is the upside of attempts by ISIS to establish 
a state?  They have to establish a bureaucracy and mechanisms for public 
communication, fixed buildings for use, etc.   Such people and buildings are 
the basis for a target list.  They can put themselves in a position to take 
bigger losses per event.

-----Original Message-----
From: Friam <[email protected]> On Behalf Of u?l? ???
Sent: Tuesday, January 5, 2021 9:02 AM
To: FriAM <[email protected]>
Subject: [FRIAM] truth, reality, & narrative

Yes, I know. I'm a broken record. But playing off SteveS' recent post about 
QAnon being gamified "social reality", the recent exchange with EricS regarding 
the necessity but insufficiency of merely assuming a stable reality to be 
converged upon, I think I may have a way to listen to the election deniers with 
empathy. I'm only engaged in this *because* all the credible sources refuse to 
address the *arc* in all their debunking. It's akin to why arguing facts won't 
change the minds of the religious. Their debunking addresses the parts, but not 
the whole. If we are ever to build a logic that validates against human 
reasoning, we'll have to do both, treat the parts and the composition of the 
whole from the parts. Anyway, my remedial rhetorical trajectory goes like this:

Coming back to Walsh & Stepney's project: 
https://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319647128

Plus stories that predispose: 
• Appel, M., & Richter, T. (2007). Persuasive effects of fictional narratives 
increase over time. Media Psychology, 10(1), 113–134.
  
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Persuasive-Effects-of-Fictional-Narratives-Increase-Appel-Richter/bf1c7e56694d797444a16606d46f9d0910e60d3dhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeper_effect

Plus analytical (Freudian & Jungian) vs. narrative (conspiracy theories and 
occult causation) persuasion:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transportation_theory_(psychology)

Plus "social reality": 
https://undark.org/2021/01/01/book-excerpt-seven-and-a-half-lessons-about-the-brain/

Finally, trying to steelman Trump's Georgia call:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/03/politics/trump-brad-raffensperger-phone-call-transcript/index.html

Basically, since he believes the down-ballot R's won on his coattails, it's 
paradoxical that he didn't win. To resolve the paradox, by faulty inference to 
the best explanation: the race between him and Biden (but not the down-ballot 
races) was manipulated, by hook or crook. Occam's razor might suggest that he's 
simply *not* as popular as the down-ballot candidates. But that's faulty 
reductionism. There's overwhelming evidence that Trump's "advocacy" amplified R 
rhetoric. So Biden-Trump race manipulation remains.

Shifting from steelmanning Trump to steelmanning his supporters: Of course, if 
Trump is the "discounting cue" ... that adds an interesting wrinkle. Everyone, 
even his ardent supporters, know he's incredible (!). But his incredibility 
both 1) makes the bullsh¡t he says more believable (by the sleeper effect) and 
2) argues for keeping him around as the coal miners' canary. He "speaks truth" 
even if he's incredible and embarrassing.

--
↙↙↙ uǝlƃ

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