General Discussion

SheltieLover

(57,073 posts) Fri Oct 9, 2020, 04:26 AM Oct 2020

Sacha Baron Cohen: We Must Save Democracy From Conspiracies

https://time.com/5897501/conspiracy-theory-misinformation/

A few times in my career, I have genuinely feared for my life.

In Arkansas, I posed as an ultimate fighter at a cage match and challenged anyone in the audience to take me on. When my fake ex-boyfriend volunteered, we engaged in some heavy petting, triggering a near riot. The crowd—including some recently paroled prisoners with swastika tattoos—erupted in homophobic slurs and started hurling metal chairs at us. Had I not ducked into a trapdoor and out an escape tunnel, I think the crowd would have beaten me senseless.

Moments like that are frightening. Today, though, I’m truly terrified—for the survival of democracy itself.

A year ago, I spoke out publicly for the first time in my own voice because I feared that our pluralistic democracies were at risk of being destroyed by a flood of hate, lies and conspiracies spewed by demagogues and spread by social media. Since then, this toxic brew has exploded into the open and—with just weeks until the election—these conspiracies threaten to kill democracy as we know it.

Much more at link.