If you always assume their argument is wrong, you'll be right 95% of the time

Whatever the crisis (Global Warming, Masks, Mandated vaccinations, school closures, Seizure of gas stoves, White Supremacism, CRT being taught in school, Trans demonstrations in school, IRS and DOJ suppression of political opponents, Tech companies censoring speech at the behest of the government, etc.) we are told via propaganda that 1) its not what it looks like, 2) we're misunderstanding, 3) its not happening, and 4) we are bad for questioning the argument.

And we keep being proven right.  Eventually.

In fact, a usefully accurate rule of thumb for any extraordinary claim by government, mainstream media, activists, and academia these days would be to declare; No you are wrong, that isn't true and it didn't happen that way and the public consensus opinion on the issue is correct.  Nine times out ten you will be correct it seems.

A few years ago the Smithsonian rolled out a document listing a series of admirable traits said to be characteristic of white supremacist culture.  Heinous things like individualism, nuclear family, objectivism, self-control, autonomy, hard work, being on time, displaying a sense of urgency, savings, etc.  All said to be characteristics of white supremacy.

No sooner shoved into the light of day than did the mockery begin and the program wilt.  This was clearly racist propaganda.  There was no effort to demonstrate that the designated attributes were either particularly championed in European culture nor whether they represented some aspect of the putative white supremacist movement.

People did not overlook the fact that the declared attributes of white supremacists were racist against whites and against blacks.

The whole shameful event was so absurd that the Smithsonian quickly made the usual excuses that it had been misunderstood, there was more to the messaging than people had understood but that they were withdrawing the program out of an abundance of caution.  

From The Failed Rehabilitation of "White Supremacy Culture" by Yassine Meskhout, we have the revelation that we were all right all along.  There was no science or evidence behind the propaganda.  It was all made up.  

As I wrote at the time, the lessons imparted by this purportedly “anti-racist” infographic are virtually indistinguishable from what real life white supremacists would argue. The List immediately offended everyone and the Smithsonian quickly walked back, claiming it was misunderstood.

Fast forward to a few days ago when Ryan Grim published an exclusive interview with Tema Okun, the original creator of The List, claiming that everyone got it “all wrong.” If the goal was to get me to click well it fucking worked because I listened to the entire podcast episode and…I have no idea in what way Okun’s work was at all misinterpreted or otherwise gotten “wrong”.

There was no misunderstanding.  This was made-up racist propaganda and it was exactly what it appeared to be when it was deployed.  Again.  Despite all the protestations of the government, academia, advocates, and mainstream media.

Meskhout's piece is worth the read as an example.  Meskhout spends the time listening to the entire podcast that claims to clear up the misunderstandings when in fact it reinforces there was no misunderstanding in the first place.