People can choose how to react to attempts to manipulate truth

Evidence

We are not post-truth any more than we are pre-truth, unless we allow ourselves to be. Post-truth is not about reality; it is about the way that humans react to reality. Once we are aware of our cognitive biases, we are in a better position to subvert them. If we want better news media outlets, we can support them. If someone lies to us, we can choose whether to believe him or her, and then challenge any falsehoods. It is our decision how we will react to a world in which someone is trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Truth still matters, as it always has. Whether we realize this in time is up to us. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 349

Categorization

• APHORISMS: Core practical takeaway: awareness of manipulation grants the power to refuse it; truth’s survival is a matter of our own choice.
• XREF: connects to: People change their own minds; persuasion attempts play a small role — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice: How to Communicate…, 215; People often resist or reverse belief updating rather than tracking evidence — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 104; Facing relentless interrogation of one’s beliefs can compel reciprocal questioning — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 868 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• People change their own minds; persuasion attempts play a small role #corroborates (0.82) — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 215
• People often resist or reverse belief updating rather than tracking evidence #complicates (0.78) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 104
• Facing relentless interrogation of one’s beliefs can compel reciprocal questioning #complicates (0.75) — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 868
• Repeated truths eventually overcome even motivated reasoners’ resistance #corroborates (0.74) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 322
• Psychological inoculation can build societal resistance to misinformation #expands (0.72) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 20