Clearly, the qualities Poles admire in a secretary of state - foreign languages, diplomatic experience, even sense of humor - are emphatically not those desired in a head of state: So be it.
Anne ApplebaumRead
Birtherism surely increased Americans' distrust of politics, though in ways that are hard to pin down. By contrast, when anti-vaxxers persuade parents not to vaccinate children, the result can be sickness and even death.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote illustrates how misinformation can damage public trust and lead to severe consequences.
Anne Applebaum's quote highlights the detrimental effects of political misinformation, using the concept of 'Birtherism' to exemplify how such beliefs erode trust in political processes and figures. She contrasts this with the anti-vaccination movement, pointing out that the consequences of misleading beliefs about health can be dire, resulting in illness and death. This serves as a reminder of the power and responsibility of information in shaping societal trust and public health outcomes.
Themes
BirtherismDistrustPoliticsMisinformationVaccination
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about current political issues, this quote can highlight the dangers of misinformation.
More from Anne Applebaum
All quotes βAt times when people fear death, they go along with measures that they believe, rightly or wrongly, will save them - even if that means a loss of freedom. Such measures have been popular in the past.
Anne ApplebaumRead
Quite a lot has been written, including by me, about the effect of social media on politics, and in particular the way in which the algorithms built into Facebook and YouTube are more likely to spread angry, extremist and deliberately provocative political language.
Anne ApplebaumRead
As a journalist, I know what it is like to incur the self-righteous wrath of people who denounce you for things you didn't say or didn't mean.
Anne ApplebaumRead
If we can't have a public debate because the information space is so polluted, or because people are afraid of the reactions of organized trolls, then we can't really have meaningful elections anymore, either.
Anne ApplebaumRead
Elections are always a Rorschach test - people look at the results and see what they want to see.
Anne ApplebaumRead
Similar quotes
One must beware of ministers who can do nothing without money, and those who want to do everything with money.
Indira GandhiRead
My father was a statesman, I'm a political woman. My father was a saint. I'm not.
Indira GandhiRead
I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it.
Alexander WoollcottRead
The framers of our Constitution understood the dangers of unbridled government surveillance. They knew that democracy could flourish only in spaces free from government snooping and interference, and they put restraints on government overreaching in the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights. . . . These protections require, at a minimum, a neutral arbiter - a magistrate - standing between the government's endless desire for information and the citizens' desires for privacy.
Elizabeth HoltzmanRead
We have two evils to fight, capitalism and racism. We must destroy both racism and capitalism.
Huey NewtonRead
Demand the ballot as the undeniable right of every man who is called to the poll, and take special care that the old constitutional rule and principle, by which majorities alone shall decide in Parliamentary elections, shall not be violated.
John BrightRead