this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2025
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Look at the atheist vs creationist debates on YouTube. When it is a neutral playing field; (like it was in YouTube’s early days) truth wins. But in a shifted playing field where by appealing to people’s already existing (or easily radicalized) beliefs greater engagement occurs. (Like YouTube is doing now) The truth doesn’t stand a chance.
So our only chance is if we can make a level playing field and encourage everyone (including those who we are fighting against) and then let the truth win by virtue of being true.
And we have the problem that none of us is as cruel as all of us are.
I'd argue this is true temporarily.
A lie is like putting something on a credit card. It can make things look better in the short term, but the debt builds. Maybe you can get lucky and win the lottery (or get a pandemic to use as an excuse) and pay off the debt temporarily, but keep following the same strategy and the debt will build again. And when the debt grows larger than what you can repay, and people figure this out, they start to get pissed.
Maybe Trump can survive the current crisis in his popularity, but eventually he's going to be no more popular that Pol Pot is today.