Why Turning Down The Volume on ICE (and praying) is Mis-information (Or How Good People Spread Bad Ideas)

We are going to dissect what seems like a harmless Facebook post (it got hundreds of likes and tens if not hundreds of messages agreeing with it) and see how truly good people spread misinformation online.

The difference between misinformation and disinformation is intent. The following post on Facebook was made by someone I know personally. I don’t want to give away the person’s identity (as a matter of politeness) but I want to express that this is an exceptionally good, exceptionally talented individual who is a member of the clergy, serves as an officer in the military and has done truly great and exceptional work for the most vulnerable in our society over decades. I can’t share the ‘resume’ but I have zero doubts that the author of this post had only positive intentions. I know for a fact the author is proud to be Canadian and is a patriot who supports Canadian democracy. Additionally this individual is highly intelligent with advanced degrees.

So what is this ‘heinous’ piece of misinformation? Well actually its quite a tame request that people protest less and it utilizes some false equivalency to do so. What one must notice is this is not a nefarious, malicious or otherwise negative message, it sounds perfectly reasonable. Until one dissects it.

This post contains both false equivalency fallacies and an argument from ignorance fallacy.
To see the empirical data of why this is a false equivalency, click here.
To see how one could discount this post via proper and rational critical thinking, keep reading.
Update: The author deleted the post in response to numerous messages within a day or two.

The Original Message

We all just need to turn down the volume on both sides of the ICE issue and remember that Obama gave the head of ICE the Presidential Medal for removing 920,000 illegal or undocumented people. And there was no mass chaos as a result.

Yet, the head of ICE today and all the ICE officers are being hated and attacked for deporting 290,000 so far, and chaos and violence seem to be everywhere.

Why does it matter? It matters because in both instances it’s the same guy doing the same job, Tom Homan, who was and is head of ICE.

So why is the left going crazy now and the right responding when they didn’t under Obama or Clinton or even Bush? All of whom had deported more in their terms in office than Trump has so far.

It’s not because of some great awakening; it’s something else. And it’s being ignited from somewhere else and for some reason that we are all missing. Maybe if we turned the volume down and all calmed down, we might find out, and then no one else would have to grieve like Renee Good’s family and now Alex Pretti’s family—the one who brought a gun to a protest—now has to.

And no other police officer would have to live with the fact and carry the burden of having had to take a person’s life. And if you think they aren’t affected by doing so, you need to look at the suicide rate among first responders.

Perhaps, rather than screaming at each other and calling each other names, we could start praying for each other. We could start by praying for the police and ICE officers who have families that fear for their loved ones’ lives every time they leave in the morning just to do their jobs arresting criminals, and then pray for the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. And then pray for those who are fearful because they are in the country illegally, and then we could pray for our leaders who clearly need it.

Who knows, maybe in the peace and quiet, we might discover what is actually behind all this chaos, because it’s clear—at least to me—that all the screaming, protesting, and name-calling isn’t working. I’m going to continue praying. What about you? And for those who think prayer is a waste of time. Please know, I’m praying for you too.

Functional and Implied Meanings

The purpose of this section is to show that with just rational thinking and by breaking a message down into its component parts we often realize it doesn’t actually make sense or say what we think its saying. The 4 key points of this message are summarized at the end of this section.

The actual words	The functional & Implied message(s) being conveyed	The rational interpretation and facts
We all just need to turn down the volume on both sides of the ICE issue and remember that Obama gave the head of ICE the Presidential Medal for removing 920,000 illegal or undocumented people. And there was no mass chaos as a result. Yet, the head of ICE today and all the ICE officers are being hated and attacked for deporting 290,000 so far, and chaos and violence seem to be everywhere. Why does it matter? It matters because in both instances it’s the same guy doing the same job, Tom Homan, who was and is head of ICE.	Because ICE has the same leader that Obama gave a medal to and because ICE is deporting less people nothing has fundamentally changed	If you are arresting and detaining more people, for a longer time, while only correctly deporting less of them, that is, well, typical Trump management. A logical fallacy is when we assert two or more things (in this case ICE then and ICE now) are functionally the same thing while ignoring significant differences. To see the facts as to why this is a false equivalency click here.
So why is the left going crazy now and the right responding when they didn’t under Obama or Clinton or even Bush? All of whom had deported more in their terms in office than Trump has so far. It’s not because of some great awakening; it’s something else. And it’s being ignited from somewhere else and for some reason that we are all missing.	As above	Extending the false equivalency from above the author acknowledges he doesn’t know the motivations for current protests
Maybe if we turned the volume down and all calmed down, we might find out, and then no one else would have to grieve like Renee Good’s family and now Alex Pretti’s family—the one who brought a gun to a protest—now has to.	Alex Pretti brought a gun to a protest so we should at least be suspicious of the victim	Alex Pretti did nothing wrong. There is a mountain of evidence including many many videos of the incident that highlight the essential cowardice and poor training of the ICE officer that murdered him. Here is the kicker though, this ‘point’ is one of those hypocritical right wing talking points. Alex Pretti was exercising his rights in a safe and constitutional way filming people in a public space while providing first aid (he is an ER nurse). Consider how in a similar set of circumstances the same people villainizing Alex defended this guy
And no other police officer would have to live with the fact and carry the burden of having had to take a person’s life. And if you think they aren’t affected by doing so, you need to look at the suicide rate among first responders.	The poor ICE agent is a victim, we should take care of him	It is true first responders have overwhelmingly poor mental health. This however doesn’t mean there aren’t first responders who aren’t bastards or worse yet, good people simply not trained or tremendously intelligent. (look at hiring standards and training under Trump in the linked page) First responders, especially those with the power and privilege of being able to curtail the rights of other individuals should be held to higher standards and the highest priority should be the protection of the safety of the public.
Perhaps, rather than screaming at each other and calling each other names, we could start praying for each other. We could start by praying for the police and ICE officers who have families that fear for their loved ones’ lives every time they leave in the morning just to do their jobs arresting criminals, and then pray for the families of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. And then pray for those who are fearful because they are in the country illegally, and then we could pray for our leaders who clearly need it.	Tone down the anger. Try to have consideration for the ‘other side’ those poor ICE officers who have families of their own. Then spare a thought for the victims being rounded up.	Side Note: A simple look at the statistics shows us that roughly 95% of ICE arrests are for civil violations. These people aren’t keeping anyone safe from crime, in fact they have literally been called out by Federal judges for falsely accusing individuals of crimes, without evidence, to justify their actions. What this really says: Instead of protesting, sharing the message, being active in civic life and a good citizen, pray. In the face of fascism don’t act, don’t stand up, don’t actually do anything useful, just pray. Prayer is exactly like masturbation. (It’s been scientifically tested on a number of occasions and we’ll do an article on that sometime). It has health benefits for the person doing it but it doesn’t help those suffering and being persecuted.
Who knows, maybe in the peace and quiet, we might discover what is actually behind all this chaos, because it’s clear—at least to me—that all the screaming, protesting, and name-calling isn’t working. I’m going to continue praying. What about you? And for those who think prayer is a waste of time. Please know, I’m praying for you too.	I don’t know what the protests are about so clearly those protesting don’t either.

The Original Message

Functional and Implied Meanings

Kyle Rittenhouse vs Alex Pretti

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