Most academics believe at some level that we can read our way out—that if we just put the right information in front of folks they'd change their minds & do right—we've all had students for whom it happened that way—but as a result we are ill equipped to counter "evil literacy"

These Republicans speechifying & many of the coup leaders snapping selfies for Parler are not ignorant of history & they're certainly not lacking in media literacy—they are in fact literate & they are ready & willing to use their literacy to promote fascism and white supremacy

I say this as an academic who's spent today asking for your suggestions for new readings & working on a syllabus, but feeling the deep inadequacy of that work in this moment—we are not well equipped for the person who does the readings, sees the evils they reveal, & revels in it

We post a photo of the Confederate battle flag in the Capitol & the real lamentation that this never happened during the Civil War—but many of these folks see that picture, *recognize* that historical fact, & conclude, "finally, the battle flag made it to the Capitol"

it's not just the leaders—evil masterminds controlling unwitting pawns—plenty of the rank & file reactionaries are perfectly aware they're in a media/algorithmic bubble—they're perfectly aware not everything they read & believe is objectively true—& they like & prefer the bubble

Because it works for us, academics want "literacy" to solve all ills, but what if it can't? To cite a different example, is one more climate change article going to move us to action? At this point, everyone knows the science & the stakes, some just do not believe and/or care.

These folks are not media illiterate—hell, they're juggling social media platforms to avoid censor & scrutiny in ways that demonstrate more sophisticated media awareness than most—they are following beliefs, community, &—yes—love, none of which are amenable to rationalization

None of this is to say we should stop trying to teach our students how to navigate these waters—but I, at least, need to think much harder about how to reckon with the person who, when you demonstrate that X meme is entirely fake, shrugs & says "so what? I prefer the lie."

This is clarifying & resonates with my experiences in conservative evangelical churches growing up—we were taught to actively suspect anything that conflicted with doctrine—new & true information that counters the narrative paradoxically becomes confirmation of the narrative https://twitter.com/heresathought/status/1347383992434053122

Thinking this morning about how the turn toward “media literacy!” as the solution also feeds a dangerous myth that the insurrectionist were all uneducated yokels—we know that’s untrue—them wearing camo & trucker hats doesn’t negate the fact that we educated many, *many* of them

This thread has prompted many replies—I’m not going to engage folks that want to read it as wholesale abandonment of higher ed—it is pained & questioning—but I’m left ruminating on how we might engage affective qualities of emotion & community we often miss in the classroom

An example—I realize I’ve never spoken with students about how—before I left for college—I was put through church training about how to resist professors’ attempts to lure me to secularism—I wonder how many of my students have been through similar—either at church or on Q boards?

For anyone not raised in conservative evangelical churches, who might think I'm overstating the degree to which we were indoctrinated against higher ed specifically https://twitter.com/jon_fitzgerald/status/1347573389104476160

This is a fantastic thread with tips about combating misinformation—in this case regarding COVID but the lessons are broadly applicable—& gets at some of what I was searching for in my posts—addressing emotion, community, rather than just facts & information https://twitter.com/dannagal/status/1347564138738946050

Essential points from @jmjafrx in response to my thread—I wouldn’t characterize my posts as claiming history or the humanities don’t matter but aside from that hard agree with everything here. Her points about funding cuts & legislative silencing seem particularly important. https://twitter.com/jmjafrx/status/1347901425834192896