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Remaining silent on dishonesty does nothing to silence dishonesty

I often times find myself disagreeing with fellow progressives on the reporting of news or opinions I (we) may not personally like. If I report a story about the National Rifle Association (NRA), Fox News, Sean Hannity, or the Tea Party, I am often times greeted with comments like, "Don't give them a voice," "You're only helping their cause by posting that," or "Why should I care?" 

These comments rub me the wrong way, because no matter what our beliefs or how strong they are, it does us no good to live in a little information bubble or to turn a blind eye as others do similarly. The NRA is a powerful organization. Whether I post a story about them or not, they're not going to just go away. So what does it hurt to try and hold them accountable? ...to spread the full truth about their rhetoric and practices? ...to combat the extremely slanted and partisan bent the group tends to use to report their news? How can inaccurate claims be quashed if we remain silent on these inaccurate claims? Also, what good does it do for us to remain ignorant about conservatives' perspectives? How can we reach any person of a different political persuasion if we're not at all informed about what it is they believe? 

Look, I can't stand Donald Trump, the NRA, Fox News, etc., but it does me no good on any front to try and be ignorant about them. Sure, it might seem more comfortable to live inside our own little information bubbles, but the smaller that bubble is, the greater the impact when it finally bursts. What would we rather have, temporary discomfort in reading and hearing about perspectives drastically different from our own or ignoring them and increasing the odds of Donald Trump winning another election? I'll go with the former every time.

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