The “Do Not Associate” List

Fact-checking and debunking myths almost always spreads the disinformation we are trying to defeat. They trick us into delivering their messages beyond their media bubble. Here is how that works, how to stop doing it, and what to do instead!

The Association Game

My social media feeds today are chock full of outrage about lies and disinformation being spread by Trump, Elon Musk, and RFK Jr. We are trying to point out how awful they are behaving, but we’re really helping them. This seems counter-intuitive until you understand the brain science behind it.

I have written about this extensively in the past, but it is well worth repeating. The fact is that words operate independently of the sentences that you use them in! They light up parts of people’s brains, and that has an impact at the subconscious level that often runs counter to what you are trying to express at the conscious or rational level.Using a word lights up and strengthens the part of the listener’s brain (the frame) that houses that concept or topic.

Activating a frame repeatedly makes it seem inevitable or good, or at least less bad. We know this as “normalization.” Right now, we are experiencing the normalization of concepts like ‘Nazi’ and ‘dictator’ and behaviors like using your government position for personal financial gain.

Mere exposure to disinformation, even as you try to debunk it, plants the seeds of doubt and eventually creates false equivalence, turning established facts into just one side’s opinion.Right-wing propagandists are masters of the art of association. They achieve normalization and false equivalence by combining familiar and judgment-laden words in new and different ways, such as ‘teachers’ and ‘grooming.’

Using two terms in the same sentence or conversation associates those terms whether you want them associated or not. It builds a physical bridge between them in people’s brains, which causes people to automatically think about them together. This makes their brains subconsciously think of them as being related even if they are absolutely not related.

When people see this:Their brains activate and connect this: When people see this: Their brains activate and connect this: When people see this: Their brains activate and connect this:Don’t Say This

As you comment online or repost articles from the News, check first to make sure you are not helping to associate concepts that we do not want associated. All of these posts were recently shared on Bluesky by our people. The frames being associated are circled in red.

The “Do Not Associate” List 

Post this instead:Condemning and correcting just spreads the DISINFO we are trying to defeat. Here is how to stop doing it, with a LIST OF TERMS WE SHOULD NEVER USE in association with vaccines, Ukraine, immigrants, etc. and WHAT TO SAYINSTEAD: ReframingAmerica.Substack.com/do-not-associate

DO NOT ASSOCIATE:

TRUMP with DICTATORTRUMP with TARIFFS. (See below.)

SEN. MARK KELLY with TRAITOR.

MEASLES with VITAMINS or POOR DIET AND HEALTH.

CANADA with FENTANYL LABS.

GEORGE SOROS with TESLA PROTESTS.

PROTESTS with ILLEGAL or ANTI-AMERICAN SPEECH.

MAHMOUD KHALIL with CRIME or HAMAS or TERRORIST.

VACCINES with AUTISM.MEDICAID with WORK REQUIREMENTS.

IMMIGRANTS with CRIME or HIGH HOUSING COSTS.

UKRAINE with X CYBERATTACK.UKRAINE with PROVOKING RUSSIA.

ZELENSKY with DICTATOR.

REPUBLICANS with FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE.

REPUBLICANS with FREEDOM OF SPEECH or RELIGION.

SOCIAL SECURITY with PONZI SCHEMES.

FEDERAL WORKERS with LAZY.

AIRPLANE CRASHES with DEI or DISABILITY.

USAID with RADICAL LUNATICS or CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION.

MUSK with GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY (OK to use “DOGE.”)

The FEDERAL GOVERNMENT with WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE.

TRUMP with MANDATE.

THE RICH with CREATE JOBS.

BALANCE THE BUDGET with CUT SPENDING

DO Say This

Here are some examples of the kind of associations we DO want to make. The first one gets extra points for repetition!The “Do Associate” List

DO associate:

MEDICAID with RURAL HOSPITALS and PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES.

MEDICARE with MOST COST-EFFECTIVE HEALTH PLAN IN AMERICA.

SOCIAL SECURITY with RETIREMENT SECURITY and LOCK BOX.

VACCINES with SAVING LIVES or PREVENTING MEASLES or MEDICAL MIRACLE.

ZELENSKY or UKRAINE with HEROIC.

The PEOPLE OF UKRAINE with FIGHTING and DYING FOR THEIR FREEDOM.

SUPPORTING UKRAINE with KEEPING OUR WORD and HOLDING UP OUR END OF THE AGREEMENT. (See Budapest Memorandum.)

SUPPORTING UKRAINE with PROTECTING OUR NATO ALLIES (who fought with us after we were attacked on 9-11.)

PUTIN with DICTATOR.

RUSSIA with DICTATORSHIP, INVADING UKRAINE, THREAT TO EUROPE.

CANADA or MEXICO with NEIGHBOR, FRIEND, and ALLY.

MAHMOUD KHALIL or DEMONSTRATION with FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

CREATE JOBS with INCREASE DEMAND and INCREASE WAGES.

BALANCE THE BUDGET with RAISING REVENUE.

RENEWABLE ENERGY with STABILIZING THE CLIMATE.

CRYPTOCURRENCY with PONZI SCHEMES.

DO associate TRUMP with:

ABUSE OF POWER.

CRASH THE ECONOMY, RECESSION, STOCK MARKET PLUNGE, INFLATION.

START A TRADE WAR (with our neighbors and allies.)

BETRAY OUR ALLIES, ISOLATE THE U.S. from the rest of the world.

BETRAY THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE.

AMBUSH, ATTACK ZELENSKY.

THREATEN TO INVADE CANADA, GREENLAND.

TRAITOR.

DEMENTIA.

COMPROMISED BY RUSSIA, PUTIN.

ENDANGER OUR NATIONAL SECURITY.

ABUSE HIS POSITION to ATTACK POLITICAL OPPOSITION, REWARD FRIENDS.

ABUSE HIS POSITION to CASH IN ON CRYPTO.

USES HIS CRYPTO to ACCEPT SECRET BRIBES.

POLITICIZE THE FBI, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT.

MAFIA STATE, MOB BOSS, EXTORTION, THREATS, BRIBERY.

VIOLATE THE CONSTITUTION.

PARDON CRIMINALS (especially J6, Silk Road Founder)

SELL US OUT TO BILLIONAIRES, SOLICIT BRIBES.

BETRAY WORKERS.

CHEATED HIS CONTRACTORS.

BANKRUPTED HIS BUSINESSES.

SOLD the PRESIDENCY to ELON MUSK.

DO associate MUSK with:

CONFLICT OF INTEREST and ENRICHING HIMSELF.

HOSTILE TAKEOVER.

BAD MANAGEMENT, BREAK THINGS, RUIN X, RUIN TESLA.

ROCKET CRASH, TESLA CRASH, PLANE CRASH.

VIOLATING OUR PRIVACY and STEALING OUR DATA.

STEALING OUR TECHNOLOGY.

RECKLESS and DANGEROUS.

UNELECTED and UNCONFIRMED.

POLITICIZE the INDEPENDENT CIVIL SERVICE.

DO associate GOVERNMENT with

WORKING TO:

TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER.

IMPROVE OUR QUALITY OF LIFE.

INVEST IN OUR FUTURE.

SUPPORT FARMERS.

DO CANCER RESEARCH, MEDICAL RESEARCH.

INVEST IN MANUFACTURING. BUILD ROADS AND BRIDGES.

STAND UP TO BIG CORPORATIONS, FIGHT MONOPOLIES.

PROTECT OUR RIGHTS AS CONSUMERS.

KEEP BANKS FROM DEFRAUDING CUSTOMERS.

PROTECT OUR RIGHTS AS WORKERS.

MAKE OUR ECONOMY MORE FAIR.

KEEP OUR FOOD SAFE.

FIGHT THE SPREAD OF DISEASE (here and overseas).

MAKE IT SAFE TO FLY ON PLANES.

DELIVER MAIL TO EVERYONE.

EDUCATE EVERY CHILD, FEED KIDS.

MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR PEOPLE TO GO TO COLLEGE.

RETIREMENT SECURITY, SOCIAL SECURITY.

FIGHT CRIME AND CORRUPTION.

GIVE MORE PEOPLE ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE.

STABILIZE THE CLIMATE and SLOW THE INCREASE IN DANGEROUS WEATHER.

DO associate WASTE, FRAUD and ABUSE with:

PRIVATE CONTRACTORS.

OUTSOURCE TO FOR-PROFIT COMPANIES.

WHITE COLLAR CRIMINALS.

MEDICARE ADVANTAGE.

These are incomplete lists, but you get the picture. In solidarity,   Antonia Scatton