Why the Lies Win—and How We Take Our Country Back
The internet didn’t make us stupid. It made our worst instincts go viral.
By Dr. John Petrone
The Fog of Falsehood
We are living in an age where truth itself is under siege. Lies don’t just spread—they dominate. They are crafted to hijack your emotions, engineered to exploit your brain’s shortcuts, and pushed into your feed by algorithms that reward outrage over accuracy. Then those lies get laundered on cable news and weaponized by foreign governments. This is not random chaos—it is an attack on reality. And if we don’t fight back, democracy won’t die in one dramatic moment. It will rot quietly from the inside out.
Why People Believe the Unbelievable
Smart people fall for dumb lies every day because our brains are wired to trust repetition, reward tribal loyalty, and react to emotion faster than evidence. When a story makes you furious or triumphant in seconds, critical thinking shuts down. Psychologists call this identity-protective cognition—rejecting facts that threaten your sense of belonging. Once falsehoods get tied to identity, people defend the lie more fiercely than the truth. Even when presented with undeniable evidence, they dig deeper into the falsehood. That’s belief perseverance—clinging to a debunked claim despite verifiable facts. And often, the correction itself makes them double down, a dynamic known as the backfire effect.
The MAGA Cult Factor
No movement illustrates this more than MAGA. This is a textbook cult of personality—a leader elevated above truth itself. Loyalty is not measured by principles but by your willingness to repeat whatever Trump says. Was the election stolen? Say yes, or you’re a traitor. Was January 6th a patriotic protest? Say yes, or you’re cast out. Did Trump end wars he never fought? Say yes, or you lose your tribe.
This isn’t politics. It’s psychology. MAGA followers experience cognitive dissonance when reality contradicts their beliefs. Instead of resolving the tension by changing their mind, they reject the evidence to protect their identity. That is belief perseverance in its rawest form. And when fact-checkers present hard evidence, many don’t reconsider—they lash out and double down. That is the backfire effect in action.
The Weapons of Deception
Lies travel because they are armed.
Repetition turns nonsense into slogans.
Amplification makes rage go viral while truth lags behind.
Laundering dresses lies up as “news.”
Foreign exploitation recycles our own lies back into our feeds, aimed at splitting us apart.
How to Spot the Fakes Before They Spread
You don’t need a PhD to defend yourself. Science shows the warning signs.
Check the source. Real outlet or knockoff site?
Watch for emotional bait. If it makes you feel before you think, be suspicious.
Look for receipts. Real stories cite data, documents, and quotes. Lies demand blind faith.
Verify the date. Old news is often recycled as “breaking.”
Examine visuals. Reverse image search exposes doctored or stolen photos.
Cross-check. If it only circulates in fringe or foreign networks, it’s false.
Pause before sharing. Lies win by speed. Delay is defense.
How We Fight Back—Together
At the personal level, control your attention. Don’t reward liars with clicks. Make skepticism your civic duty. Teach your kids that loud isn’t the same as true.
At the community level, rebuild immune systems of truth. Host local “fact circles” where neighbors bring in viral claims and investigate them together. Replace rumor mills with truth networks.
At the civic level, demand accountability. Push lawmakers to confront lies in their own ranks. Demand transparency from tech platforms. Don’t tolerate leaders who treat misinformation as strategy.
At the national level, treat disinformation as the national security threat it is. Foreign adversaries don’t need tanks when Americans willingly share their propaganda. Combating this should be funded as seriously as defending our power grid.
Daily Habits of Resistance
Verify before you amplify.
Ask: does this inform me, or just inflame me?
Diversify your media diet. Don’t live in a bubble.
Celebrate corrections. Reward humility.
Call out lies respectfully, but firmly.
Show that changing your mind is strength, not weakness.
The Call to Action
MAGA thrives on belief perseverance and the backfire effect—loyalty tests that make truth the enemy. We must break that cycle. This fight will not be won by institutions alone. It will be won by millions of daily choices: what we click, what we share, what we demand, and what we refuse to tolerate. If you are tired of being manipulated, tired of being divided, tired of being played by algorithms and cult leaders alike, join me. Subscribe, share, and bring three friends with you. Democracy will survive only if enough of us choose reality over rage, neighbors over narratives, and country over cult.
WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
THE TIME FOR ACTION WAS YESTERDAY
Let’s cut to the chase. The majority of the Democratic Party has failed its constituents horrendously. When almost 100 of them vote to honour rabid racist Charlie Kirk, at the same time that Republican radicals are casting unwarranted blame on anyone seemingly left, you should know those political hacks don’t represent your salvation from MAGA madness. There needs to be a SHUTDOWN, that is orchestrated by the people. You don’t need politicians to be the flag bearers in your righteous crusade for justice. YOU hold the power. This needs to be a continuous effort that doesn’t waver until basic human dignities and rights are returned. You can’t pencil in a period of a few days and then relent, expecting there to be any significant impact. The public needs to rise up nationwide. You are the majority several times over. If you are not willing to temporarily sacrifice and suffer now, you had better prepare yourselves, your children and your grandchildren to be permanently under the dictator’s boot. Project 2025 is in hyper drive, but the public is still acting shellshocked. You need to snap out of it. You do not have months to strategize. The time to rise up was yesterday. Haven’t you witnessed enough to realize where the country is headed? The Billionaires are playing you for suckers. They need a shot of cold hard reality, to remind them that this is your damn country. Waiting for elections in 2026/28 is a sucker’s bet, that they are counting on you falling for. Let the politicians squabble endlessly, while they witness the massive swell of the peoples’ outrage in the streets. They need to be reminded that it is YOU who pays their huge salaries, covers all their expenses and gives them the security of lucrative pensions, regardless of how terrible they perform. They are drunk on their self-inflated importance. They were elected to serve. They have failed miserably. They have sold you out at every turn, while enriching themselves and their cronies. Don’t you believe you deserve better? Don’t you believe it is time for major changes? Don’t you believe the world could be a better place? Don’t you believe this fight is just? It is time to realize that there is no calvary coming in this B grade saga. The only hope of a happy ending is if the collective masses demand to dictate how this drama ends. Thanks for reading john king! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.