In the past few weeks, I’ve been doing deep dives into organizations that I support politically and those I support that do good in my community. This week I want to focus on the Truth Brigade (TB) and why its mission is important. I’ve already written a post about “Truth Sandwiches” where I describe TB’s strategy for correcting misinformation via truth sandwiches. If you haven’t read that post, please do.The primary purpose of the TB as an organization, created by the national Indivisible movement, is to disrupt disinformation. Truth Brigade’s mission as stated on their website is “Grassroots-powered lie-stopping. Person by person; mind by opened mind.”
About 14% of the misinformation spreaders who read or hear truth messages are open to changing their minds on an issue
About 14% of the misinformation spreaders who read or hear truth messages are open to changing their minds on an issue.
Some of the 600 members of TB specialize in posting truth sandwiches on social media. To date, more than 500 million message have been posted on sites like Twitter, Bluesky, Facebook, and more. Some members focus on disrupting disinformation in conversations with family, coworkers, and friends. According to the Truth Brigade, about 14% of the misinformation spreaders who read or hear truth messages are open to changing their minds on an issue.
There is also a long-form group of Truth Brigaders who prefer to specialize in writing op eds, news briefs, or pieces on Substack. This is where I come in. As a writer, this task is a good fit for me. To that end, another Truth Brigade member and writer, Christine, and I, both members of our local Indivisible chapter, created a Substack to promote messages from the TB each month. Our Substack is called “Truthify” (Please read, comment and subscribe.)
Each month, TB creates a campaign geared toward the disruption of a focused area of disinformation, distributing graphics and other resources to members. Our true words, however they are used, are a form of dissent. The concept is that those who love democracy are compelled to dissent when there are efforts to destroy it. The July campaign focused on dissent specifically as a patriotic act. As a result, Truth Brigaders have promoted four truths.
Dissent is patriotic:
· When Voices are Silenced
· When Neighbors are Vilified
· When Science is Attacked
· When War is Reckless
My August post on Truthify was related to attacks on science. As a scientist by training and experience, this is important to me. My research uncovered too many attacks to count, but I focused in my post on the most disturbing or egregious.
There will be a new campaign released next week, and I’m eager to see what our focus will be. In the meantime, I’m working on a piece for Truthify disrupting disinformation about election integrity. There has been quite a bit of disinformation and circulating conspiracy theories about election fraud that are simply not true. I’m amazed that so many people cling to such hogwash despite having no concrete evidence to support their theories.
As a Texas resident, I’m horrified that our legislature, overwhelmingly Republican, has obeyed the edict from President Trump to “find him five more seats” in the House. I’m not sure I have the words to describe that sh**show.
It used to be the case that gerrymandering was done under the pretext of making elections more secure or fairer. In this case legislators have been open about their goals in an unprecedented mid-decade redrawing of districts: to give President Trump five more seats in the House. There was never any question of what was fair or what was good for Texans. It’s madness. (See Christine’s post on Truthify about gerrymandering here.)
Put simply, the Truth Brigade proposes to promote truth. Unfortunately, in the 21st century, truth has become to many “what feels right to me.” Objective truth is too often not sought or believed. While some will never accept truth if they prefer to believe lies that are more engaging, there are still some Americans whose minds are open to learning.
All this reminds me of something Neil DeGrase Tyson once said about science: “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” This brings me comfort. Truth is still true, despite circulating disinformation. It’s true whether I understand it or not. What scares me now is the trauma being caused by truth-deniers.
In the end, I can’t control what others believe, but I can do my part in disseminating what is true and hope for open minds.
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Janice Airhart 