Are You Ready for FUD?

I originally posted this in the Blog Oklahoma Newsletter: Oklahoma Primary Election Results (June 24, 2024)

.With the primaries (mostly) done, we must prepare for a new deluge of political junk mail, robocalls, and media advertising as we barrel headlong toward the General Election on November 5, 2024.

This being a presidential election year, I’m confident the mudslinging will be terrible. You are about to be bombarded with a new round of finger-pointing, misdirection, mischaracterizations, misinformation, faux-anger, and FUD.

If you’re unfamiliar with that last term, it stands for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. It’s one of the key ingredients to riling up “the base.” The goal of many political campaigns is to spread as much FUD as they can. They really bury it in the minds of their followers. Fear of the other, uncertainty in the economy, and doubt in their political opponents, to name a few.

If you’re unsure what FUD looks like, watch a few minutes of primetime Fox News or Newsmax. I apologize in advance for putting you through that. And that is just on the right side of the political spectrum. The left does the same, but I’m not drawing any equivalents here. In my opinion, the FUD from the left is typically in reaction to highlight the FUD from the right. Yay, politics. Sheesh!

I encourage everyone to do their due diligence regarding anything put out by someone running for office.

Fun Fact: FUD is also the brand name of a global meat company under Sigma Alimentos, which also owns BAR-S. So, technically, both versions of FUD deal with baloney.

More later. Time to go make a sandwich. Baloney sounds good for some reason.

.(I couldn’t find the right image for “Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt”, so I just put one together using OpenMoji.)