- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
The best you can do is make it your life's mission to identify people who may be about to lose part of their critical thinking ability to the seductive, patriotic-sounding blather of talk radio (or any other type of reprogramming).
Before they've defined themselves as a pod person, take them out to lunch and after some polite conversation, launch into the no-spin talking point of the day by starting from a position of mutual agreement, and in the same breath lay out counter arguments that follow from there. Depending on the relationship, it may be harder to do with someone like a parent than a peer, but if you catch someone early enough in their indoctrination, a concerted effort and a series of gentle, well reasoned discussions should be very effective -- especially if you have a mutual friend who can help.
In my life, I've turned back three people who have Democratic values at heart but had waded into Green or Republican waters and were probably headed for the deep end. Big Lies by Joe Conason is a great source for anyone who wants to try it.
Jason
