Brandolini’s law

It took exponentially more effort to research and debunk claims that it did to make them in the first place. And that time and effort could’ve been better used to help people who desperately needed help. In fact, it likely dissuaded some of those folks from even seeking available assistance.

What’s the solution to this mess? Well, the easy approach would be to quit listening

Lately I’ve been having trouble with leprechauns.

It goes beyond the holes I’ve found dug beside the house – holes my friends attribute to groundhogs, a naïve theory if I’ve ever heard one, for I have filled the holes, yet find them open again a day or two later. A groundhog would just move on, so the logical answer is that scheming conniving leprechauns are afoot, as there are other signs.

My 401(k) has been taking a beating. I tripped on my doorjamb a few weeks ago and tore off a toenail. These are some of the classic signs of a leprechaun curse – unseen misfortune, loss of wealth, psychological torment, etc.

I set out a trap with some old Chuck E. Cheese coins and a box propped up with a stick with string tied around it with a bell on it. At the other end of the string, I watch and wait, sometimes wondering if Lucky Charms or bitcoin would be more appealing bait for the little S.O.B.  When that bell rings I will catch him and hold him by his little ankles and shake all the gold out of him. Then I will turn him over to ICE.

Now, my problem is obviously groundhogs, not leprechauns. Thing is, while any sane person would agree leprechauns do not in fact exist, it’s impossible to prove they don’t. As the old saying goes, you can’t prove a negative.

Living here in the golden age of internet hoaxes, that’s a real problem, with real consequence.

This brings us to

. Coined by Italian programmer Alberto Brandolini in 2013, the law states “The amount of energy needed to refute bulls--t is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.”

Wikipedia offers an example of Brandolini’s law during the COVID pandemic, when a Canadian disinformation journalist was fact checking a YouTube video on the topic, stating the poster "… makes all kinds of different claims. I had to check every single one of them. I had to call relevant experts and talk to them. I had to transcribe those interviews. I had to write a text that is legible and interesting to read. It's madness. It took this guy 15 minutes to make his video, and it took me three days to fact-check."

COVID is a good example of Brandolini’s law. Bring up the topic and it’s like a porcupine brandishing a thousand quills of arguments on vaccine effectiveness, how school systems responded, masking or not masking, on and on. You’d think there might be a little more talk that at least 1.2 Americans died in the pandemic, maybe a little more talk of how to respond when the next pandemic rolls around.

That does not seem to be the dialogue. Brandolini's law rides again.

A more recent example is the devastation Helene left on Western North Carolina and the official response to the disaster.

For those not familiar with Helene, it was a truly biblical storm, leaving vast swathes of the mountains without a tree standing, rerouting streams and physically changing the area’s geography in places, not to mention killing dozens of mountain residents. Cleanup and helping those whose lives were disrupted will take years moving forward.

The focus on that herculean effort was derailed from the jump as the misinformation machine cranked up to 11.

N.C. state Rep. Lindsey Prather, D-Buncombe County told HuffPost, “The biggest issue is rumors and fake memes and photos of people being trapped in areas around the county, and we send folks out to rescue them, and there’s no one there to be rescued.” State Sen. Kevin Corbin, R-Macon, took to Facebook with a plea: “Will you all help STOP this conspiracy theory junk that is floating all over Facebook and the internet about the floods in WNC.” Examples he listed included “FEMA is stealing money from donations, body bags ordered but government has denied, bodies not being buried, government is controlling the weather from Antarctica, government is trying to get lithium from WNC, stacks of bodies left at hospitals, and on and on and on.”

True to Brandolini's law, it took an exponential amount of effort to research and debunk claims that it did to make them in the first place. And that time and effort could’ve been better used to help people who desperately needed help. In fact, it likely dissuaded some of those folks from even seeking available assistance.

What’s the solution to this mess? Well, from the view in this corner is that the easy approach would be wise to quit listening to people who say leprechauns are responsible for, say, the high price of eggs. It’s also probably wise not to argue with those folks, who have likely made up their mind on the matter and can’t be moved off their position.

The hard approach affirms Brandolini’s law – do the work to make sure leprechauns are not in fact manipulating the poultry market. You may not be able to use that research to change the minds of Leprechaun Theory proponents, but at least you’ll affirm you’re not crazy. Perhaps that’s cold comfort but it’s better than nothing.

OK, I must sign off now.

Heard a bell ring.

Jim Buchanan is an editor of The Sylvia Herald, former Editorial Page Editor for the Asheville Citizen-Times and writes for Carolina Commentary.