Hey what’s up Thinkers! Kathy Gibbens here…
I want to start off by reviewing a fallacy we covered earlier this season, the Appeal to Common Practice. Ok, I encourage you to hit pause real quick and see if you can remember what this fallacy is! The Appeal to Common Practice is saying that b/c most people *do* a certain thing, it must be right or it should be done.
Question to ask yourself: “Does the fact that everyone else is doing it make it right?”
If you want to review or hear more about this fallacy, go back & check out Episode 121.
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Alright,We are on part 2 of a miniseries on Propaganda Tactics and today’s tactic is another one that relies on distraction or diversion, by shifting attention away from someone or something under scrutiny. Today’s tactic is called Muddy the Waters. Someone is said to have Muddied the Waters when they bring up irrelevant facts to confuse or complicate an issue, which would otherwise be simple and easy to understand. Where do they get this name? Imagine a small pond where the water is clear and it’s easy to see the bottom and to see the fish & other life that’s in the pond. Now imagine someone coming and dropping a big rock into the pond. As the rock hits the bottom of the pond, it stirs up a bunch of dirt and mud and now you can now longer see what’s happening in the pond because the waters have been muddied. It’s making a clear, simple thing complicated unnecessarily, or in order to confuse the issue.
Here’s a simple example: You and your friends are trying to decide what game to play. You want to play Clue, but your friend wants to play Monopoly. In an attempt to get your way, you start saying things like, "Well, we could play Monopoly, but it's missing some pieces, and it could get boring, and besides we might not have enough time for it." What you're doing here is "muddying the waters." It means you're making the situation seem more confusing or complicated than it actually is. You're adding doubts and uncertainties to make it harder for your friends to make a clear decision. This way, you hope your friends will give in and play Clue because they're not sure about the other option anymore. It's a sneaky way to try and get your way by making things seem confusing or uncertain.
The problem behind the Muddy the Waters tactic is that it’s distracting from the facts or from the real issue at hand. It’s an attempt to try to get you off track so that you’re not thinking about the real facts of whatever the argument is supposed to be about. When someone tries to use misleading or confusing information to create complexity, doubt, or uncertainty around an issue, it makes it hard for people to see the clear truth. They do this in hopes of influencing opinions and hindering people from making informed decisions. Recognizing this tactic is important so you don’t fall prey to manipulation and misinformation.
Here’s another example of what Muddying the Waters can sound like: You're watching a commercial for a new brand of cereal. The commercial claims that this cereal is "healthier than ever" and "packed with essential nutrients." However, when you look closely at the fine print, you see disclaimers like "compared to our previous cereal formula" and "as part of a balanced diet." In this case, the company is "muddying the waters" by making broad claims about the cereal's health benefits but adding qualifiers and fine print to make it less clear what those claims actually mean. The intention is to make the cereal seem healthier than it might be, even though the fine print suggests otherwise. This tactic can be used in advertising to make products appear better than they actually are.
Question to ask yourself if you think you’re facing the Muddy the Waters tactic is this: “Are they just trying to distract or confuse me?” *repeat*
Remember: When you learn HOW to think, you will no longer fall prey to those who are trying to tell you what THEY want you to think and it all starts with asking one simple question: “Is that really true?”
