Write Back to Fight Back

Use your voice however you can

I received many notes from people yesterday, talking about the cognitive dissonance they navigate because of the discrepancy between what the press reports and their own experiences. When you see an article writing up research that you know is flawed, write to the editor and the reporter and offer a correction. Write to the authors of the study, or the journal that published it, and do the same. When you read an article that contradicts the experience of hundreds of parents and kids you know, reach out. Explain that there are more sides to these stories, offer to connect reporters and editors if they’re interested in learning more. Let them know that they are only seeing these issues from one angle, when they could, if they wanted, take a more prismatic view. I know many people need to remain anonymous to maintain relationships with their kids—that’s okay. Reach out with whatever secondary email you use for these purposes, offer to talk to people off the record. (What an amazing story that is by itself—I’ve pitched it before, no dice.)

I know many of you are already doing this, but if you haven’t done it before, I offer you this advice. Make plausible deniability an impossibility.