Actors Quote by Barack Obama
“To the extent that our political dialogue is such where everything is under suspicion, everybody is corrupt and everybody is doing things for partisan reasons, and all of our institutions are full of malevolent actors - if that's the storyline that's being put out there by whatever party is out of power, then when a foreign government introduces that same argument with facts that are made up, voters who have been listening to that stuff for years, who have been getting that stuff every day from talk radio or other venues, they're going to believe it.”
About This Quote
Source Speech: Remarks on Political Discourse, 2015
When political conversation is dominated by suspicion and partisan bias, people become vulnerable to misinformation from foreign actors.
In simple terms: Mistrust fuels susceptibility to false narratives.
Guard against echo chambers.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- elections
- media consumption
- public debate
- foreign propaganda
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How can we rebuild trust in institutions?
- What safeguards protect against foreign misinformation?
Assumes all foreign actors are malicious, ignoring nuanced motives.