Abstract:

Habermas’ public sphere is a critical architectural component of democracies around the world. In this paper, I argue that while the public sphere is important, the psychology literature dictates that the public sphere could never have existed as the ideal discursive space ruled by reason that Habermas described. I then argue that the phenomenon of denialism, where large amounts of people reject the scientific consensus on an issue, is the result of an exploitation of these specific flaws in the public sphere. I then propose that we combat denialism through two methods: (1) a bottom-up strategy which involves the construction of a web and mobile app called The Thanksgiving Playbook (TPP) which empowers users with strategies to convince denialists, and (2) a top-down strategy which involves the creation of an anti-denialism public relations organization that creates media aimed at denialists to shift the norms of denialist communities.

Full Text: The Thanksgiving Playbook: A Tool to Combat Denialism and Help You Win Thanksgiving Debates