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I’ve been interested why so many people still *know* Trump won the election without any evidence. It’s not even a question to them. Many people know someone in this camp, often in one’s extended family. People I know with this belief are normal people who honestly believe it. 1/6
I think garbage in/garbage out model described by @dccommonsense is descriptive of what’s going on. If the data into your personal decision making model is garbage, the decisions you make will be garbage. Media that fostered the garbage deserve more blame than they've gotten. 2/6
How do we "know" anything about current affairs? We choose media sources & people to trust & broadly believe what they write/say. What happens when your media of choice tells you for two months the election was fraudulent? What happens when the leaders you trust do the same? 3/6
It’s easy to blame people for trusting certain media. But I understand why conservatives seek alternatives to the left-biased mainstream. Still, these outlets have a responsibility for what they’re saying. Many were actively promoting conspiracy theories with no evidence. 4/6
This isn't to absolve individual responsibility, but the # who believe the election was rigged (~75% of Republicans) shows something bigger is going on. The left & right really do get different news. As such, our news outlets have a responsibility on what and how they report. 5/6
When media outlets spew conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated voter fraud stories for two months straight, they have some culpability for their followers’ reactions. They’re creating the narrative about what is truth. They create the garbage in that leads to garbage out. 6/6
