This phenomenon describes an instance where attempts to hide, distort, censor, or deny the existence of an act, deed, or object brings more attention to that act, deed, or object. It is the law of unintended consequence, Newton’s third law of physics in psychological form. Every social action has an equal and opposite social reaction. In the Streisand effect, the action is to suppress knowledge and the reaction is greater publicity than what previously existed.
It was named after the famous singer who filed a $50 million lawsuit to have pictures of her Malibu mansion removed from the internet anyone could see it. Prior to the lawsuit, the photo of Barbra Streisand’s home had only been downloaded four times. It was downloaded two more times by her attorneys. The suit was filed in the courts and became public record. Suddenly, everyone was aware of these pictures Barbra did not want them to see. The result was an additional 420,000 people who downloaded a picture they would have never known existed without someone trying to suppress it.
Every time Donald Trump decries the investigation into Russia’s influence over last year’s election and possible ties between Putin’s government and Trump’s campaign, I think of the Streisand Effect. Every time he tries to discredit the investigators, I believe the news a little more than I did before. The more he tries to bury the story the more I think there is a real story there. If it was all fake news as he frequently claims, he is not doing himself any favors drawing so much attention to it.
Besides, it cannot possibly be all fake news.
There were multiple meetings between Russian government officials, lawyers, and oligarchs and Trump’s kids, advisers, attorneys, and members of his campaign. The details of what was discussed at those meetings may never be known but the meetings did happen. Many from Trump’s inner circle who participated in those meetings also lied about their contact with the Russians. That is not fake news. Several of these people eventually came clean and admitted the contacts they previously denied. This is not fake news. Trump’s organization was trying to obtain permits to construct the world’s tallest building in Moscow while Trump was denying any business dealings in Russia. That is not fake news. Putin had a favorable opinion of Trump during the campaign, and Trump’s policies were overtly pro-Russia. That is not fake news.
When there are so many provable facts reported by mainstream media dismissed as fake news, reasonable and rational people understand the fakest news is the president’s accusations of fake news. At this point, anything Trump calls fake news is something I will consider more credible than if he said nothing about it at all. Whenever Trump refers to the investigation into Russia’s meddling as a witch hunt, I cannot help but think “yes, and you are the witch.”
If there really are no correlations between Trump’s campaign and Russia’s attempt to influence the election, if there was was zero collusion between Trump’s camp and Putin’s regime, then Trump should have kept his mouth shut. He should have let the investigators do their jobs. If there is nothing there, then there would be nothing for the FBI and DOJ to find. They would conclude the investigation with no evidence of wrongdoing. If that is the truth, why would anyone need to work so hard to deny the existence of anything? President Trump, as Shakespeare once wrote, doth protest too much.
The more Trump imitates Frank Drebin “nothing to see here, please disperse,” the more I want to know what IS there. Because it is obvious that there is something there.
President Trump is the Streisand Effect in action. The only thing he will accomplish by working to obstruct, hide, distort, and openly lie about Mueller’s investigation, the more attention he will draw to it. Pretty soon, it will be too big to ignore.
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