FACT CHECK

From dKosopedia

FACT CHECK

Welcome to FACT CHECK, the conservative propaganda debunking database.

Articles in FACT CHECK are a lot like the ones at Liberalism Resurgent.

FACT CHECK articles answer conservative talking points with a short, easy to speak answer, and a longer one that can be copy and pasted.

How the FACT CHECK project works

Here's how it works. You come across a right wing talking point. Say, it's thanksgiving and your right-wing uncle-in-law says, "The ban on DDT causes malaria and kills millions". You want to answer it in the most effective way possible. What do you do?

You google the talking point with the prefix FACT CHECK: "FACT CHECK: DDT ban malaria" and there's the dkospodia page on that talking point. (We might come up with a better term. Maybe "debunked!" or "ask science:" )

At the top of the page is the simplest answer: literal bumper sticker slogans, ideally with facebook-friendly images, funny cartoons, and quotations. (Think "meme" images, the sort of things you'd find at [Encyclopedia Dramatica]) Use small, common words, that people would actually use in a bar or on a radio talk show. Everything designed to be memorable and copy-paste friendly.

You can look at my example page, but it's not up to the standard I'd like.

After the quick-response section is the detailed debunkery, where the evidence is provided. This part should be more like a magazine article. Short paragraphs, broken up with images. This part is also to be copy and pasted.

Test the tone: If you can't memorize and recite it while drunk, your tone is too high. Ie don't use terms like "highly disingenuous" when "BS" works just as well.

Finally, there can be the science section, if your page has stuff that makes the eyes glaze over - the charts and tables and so on. Also nuanced stuff, point out exceptions to the rule and answers to nitpickings.

And there's always a counterattack: at least a bit pointing out how a few moments of fact checking or rational thought would have prevented conservatives from believing their factoid.

The best counterattack goes beyond the limitations of the existing debate, going outside the box to propose a better solution to the problem. "This is proof that we need more funding for science, so we can invent new malaria-busters faster than the bugs can evolve immunities."

Debunking one talking point also helps with the debunking of another. Conservatism is a web of lies. The Example page on DDT also points debunks the claim that people don't need to believe in evolution.

FACT CHECK articles

Environment

There's a global ban on DDT and it killed millions of people with Malaria