Misinformation is Taking Years Off Our Lives We've shared many examples on this blog of misinformation hurting real people. This week's example is Lindsey Taylor. Until recently, Taylor was the registrar, the person responsible for running elections, in Buckingham County, Virginia. She quit that job after being hounded for defending the integrity of elections. “There were people saying that they had heard all these rumors — that the attorney general was going to indict me,” Taylor told NBC News. “Mentally, I just — I couldn’t take it anymore.” The people harassing Taylor bought into former President Donald Trump's false claims of election fraud. We're seeing similar stories play out across the country. It doesn't matter that, in many cases, these claims of fraud are happening in counties that Trump won. In Buckingham County, Trump won 55.9% of the vote. Instead, this is happening in places where Republicans are a majority but the elections are run by Democrats or, as in Taylor's case, independents. This is further evidence that these election system takeovers by Trump supporters are not really about supposed fraud but about the power to control elections. Misinformation Lowering Life Expectancy Misinformation is also harmful to our health. CNBC reports that average life expectancy in the US has seen a significant drop since 2019, from 78.8 years to 76.1 years. Countries with a similar GDP per capita didn't see the same drop. FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf argued its due partly to misinformation, including but not limited to covid misinformation. “You think about the impact of a single person reaching a billion people on the internet all over the world, we just weren’t prepared for that,” Califf said. “We don’t have societal rules that are adjudicating it quite right, and I think it’s impacting our health in very detrimental ways.” Fox News For the latest on the Fox News turmoil, here are three articles I recommend: NPR: After the 2020 election, Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier pitched an hour-long Sunday evening special to debunk election myths and Trump's claims of election fraud. Fox execs didn't reject the pitch outright, but also never gave Baier an answer. Reuters: Fox News settled in its defamation suit by a Venezuelan businessman who was falsely accused of helping to rig the 2020 election. Vanity Fair: This profile of Rupert Murdoch has lots of interesting tidbits, which you'll especially like if you're watching HBO's Succession. PsyPost I love reading PsyPost. It's a niche publication that just covers Psychology research. You may have noticed we cite it here often because it occasionally reports on topics we care about, such as social media use, conspiracies, and hyper-polarization. Here are three recent posts you'll appreciate: TikTok and Instagram users who are highly immersed also have high levels of depression and anxiety. Personality traits may play a bigger role in conspiracy belief than ideology.  Voters dislike politicians who engage in name-calling. Though, there are some partisan differences: "Democratic participants were consistently disapproving of candidates who employed name-calling, regardless of their political party, while Republicans were only disapproving of Democrats using offensive language but not of their own partisans using the same approach." Consider a $3 donation to support our critical work >> Looking for a thoughtful Book Club community? NEW BOOK: High Conflict by Amanda Ripley How do we move from "high conflict," where our differences are framed as "us versus them" or "good versus evil" to "good conflict," which helps us navigate our differences and deal with complex problems. This is the subject of Amanda Ripley's High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out, the next book for the AVC book club. Get your copy and join us, beginning April 24, 8pm eastern. Be sure you're signed up to get updates in the AVC community. Learn more about the author and book here. Check out our Book Club Enjoy a classic Lincoln quote (that often leaves off the last two words)... on a classic 16 oz. pint glass. All proceeds benefit AVC's vital work. Order Now     American Values Coalition | 2250 Double Creek Dr. #6661, Round Rock, TX 78683 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected]