yeah unfortunately what people "feel is true" tends to override actual truth. a lot of people seem to want to believe things like violent crime is out of control despite actual data that shows its fallen dramatically in the US in 2024. or that immigrants commit more crimes. it's not true but it "feels" true to people who bathe in fear and disinformation. it's very hard to get people to change core beliefs. especially when they make it part of their personality.
it's not exclusive to more right leaning people either. i think people just aren't built to handle the sheer amount of information thrown at us every day.
i don't have a solution. maybe something more along the lines of decentralized community moderation. idk. i don't think centralized content moderation or AI content moderation will solve the problem. taxing billionaire's money away and removing the financial incentive for poisoning people's minds probably will. unfortunately that won't happen any time soon. too many people still think their grifter god kings will save them. the idea that someone will come along and fix all your problems without you having to be inconvenienced can be really seductive.
the far right has been using technology to communicate since before there was a public internet. in the US at least, i'm less familiar with other countries, has spent decades building parallel institutions. Think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and Claremont. Home schooling and fundamentalist Christian religious schools that raise kids in a bubble. Media outlets, including book publishers, talk radio, internet communities. there is a ton of funding behind these institutions. a truly shocking and scary amount when you start digging in. traditionally more "left" coded institutions like public health, public schools, and mass media are either underfunded or in the process of being dismantled. as we've seen billionaires like Bezos buying up newspapers and pretending they care about making the world better is just making the problems worse. the rich are never going to support movements that result in their money and power decreasing.
anyways, i'm still feeling very shocked and devastated. but i'm also angry and looking for ways to make positive contributions. probably sending money to mutual aid organizations and looking for local community organizations where i can get involved. Hopelessness will get us nowhere. doing something about it gives us agency which is good for mental wellbeing.
Some reasons for hope and an evergreen article from the 1940's.
https://popular.info/p/through-the-darkness-some-rays-ofhttps://margaretkilljoy.substack.com/p/the-sky-is-falling-weve-got-thishttps://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/Also this for keeping communication secure.
https://ssd.eff.org/