How to Avoid Being Emotionally Manipulated This Election Season

In the digital world we live in, information spreads faster than ever. Our brains can’t keep up and they weren’t meant to. This doesn’t mean that technology is bad, but since we can’t properly evaluate all the information hitting our screens, it makes us more vulnerable to believing misinformation. Additionally, the onslaught of information about things beyond our control can have a negative impact on our mental health. The combination of these factors can cause anxiety which makes us even more vulnerable to believing things that either aren’t true or aren’t happening. It is a vicious cycle, but there are some things you can do to feel empowered and protect your mental health as we navigate another challenging election season.

Politicians and related misinformation campaigns typically use emotionally charged statements to stir up fear. Without intentional effort, emotions overtake logic. When we are anxious and feeling under threat, our brains will be looking for safety and relief which means that whatever cure they are selling to the problems they are creating will hit our brains like a good idea. This short cuts to “What a good idea! I should vote for them!” This also means that our identity can feel under attack when we are presented with information to the contrary.

I’m not running for office and I don’t work in politics. I don’t super care about Biden vs. Trump, Republican vs. Democrat, Red vs. Blue. I care about people being manipulated. In recent years I’ve noticed our political parties being presented like football teams through social media. I was a therapist helping people navigate the misinformation campaigns and resulting anxiety related to the pandemic, vaccinations, masking, and elections. I also help people in recovery from emotional and psychological abuse and I gotta tell you, the process is the same. Whether it is politicians or personal relationships, there are people who learn your pain points so that they can use them against you and get what they want. Manipulation has become so normalized in our society that it can be hard to notice. The purpose of misinformation campaigns is not to get you to choose one side or the other. It makes you doubt truth itself. You deserve to make informed decisions based on facts, not in response to fear. Regardless of who’s running for office or what fear tactics they are using, there are some themes that emerge. Here are some things to look out for:

1. False dichotomy- Information is presented as though we only have two options and one of them is fully good and one is fully bad. A good example of this is “capitalism or socialism”. There are more than 2 economic systems. There can be some middle ground between the two options. Instead, we are presented with two options as the only options and made to believe such decisions determine the future of the country. This is false.

• Implications of enemies- Information is presented in such a way that your brain will correlate two separate topics and merge them together as though one caused the other. This taps into that fear response that there are enemies out there you need to protect yourself from but misdirects your attention. For example- immigrants being the reason you are struggling financially, the president being the reason you are struggling financially, the war on religion/drugs/any society ill. The blame is shifted to whoever they say is the cause of your pain. It feels like they are helping with your pain, but they aren’t. You don’t need to be told who you enemies are. Think about it. Did you even ask? When people in a powerful position are telling you who your enemies are, they either don’t want you to know they are one of them or that they are actually powerless to do anything to help you. They can get you to believe they are one of the good ones by making it seem as though they are on your side. What proof do you have that they care about you besides them telling you that they do?

• What aboutism- Common misdirection and deflection technique. Implies that if you care about something it means you don’t care about something else; also implies that what you care about indicates something about you as a person. Think of how much is presented to us in the form of “what about…”. Ex. Disabled veterans or gay rights, gun control or free speech, addiction treatment or cancer treatment, affordable housing or genocide. You can care about more than one thing. Most people do. These things very rarely require having to choose.

• Anything about guns, religion, abortion, free speech, the flag, military, immigration, tax dollars. They are going for the cheap immediate emotionally flooded response so that you react emotionally instead of logically. This can have us believing we are taking action against something that isn’t even a threat. We miss the real threats. Without realizing it we will sell our soul to our oppressor and feel good about it. Complex issues go beyond scanning headlines or memes. If you find yourself upset in response to one of these issues, it can feel like a personal attack and activate the threat response in your body. Try to take some deep, intentional breaths. Take a break from doom scrolling. Try to be mindful of basic facts, research the actual issues and consider the source.

Rebel well my friends. Happy voting. May the odds be ever in our favor.