(Dis)Information.(?)

How would you live if social media didn’t exist? How would you get your news? What social circles would you be active in and how? How would you voice your opinion over important matters?

The age of information has vastly changed how information is acquired, understood, and shared. We have become more connected as a society and as a world, but also more disconnected—both socially and physically. Many people hardly have friends outside the internet, beyond their immediate work/family sphere. We can get online and say whatever we want, whenever we want, and even be rude and condescending, because there are no consequences (usually).

Whether or not social media is good or evil is impossible to say. It can be used for both. On one hand, propaganda and disinformation can use it to spread like wildfire. All of a sudden, millions of people believe vaccines have microchips, buses of Antifa are inbound, and the election was stolen so they need to storm the Capitol… Even educated people might believe lies like “Israel is just defending itself from Hamas,” or “Democrats have no way to get past Republican obstruction.” The best lies, after all, contain a grain of truth.

Most Americans had no idea until recently that for 50 years the US has helped Israel murder innocent civilians in Gaza. When 9/11 happened, we were lead to believe that some crazy terrorists just hated our way of life. No one in the mainstream media was going to report on Osama Bin Laden’s grievances over Gaza and they controlled all of the information. Now, that’s changed. People trust independent journalists more than the MSM. We can share news stories, evidence, and debate instantly.

When the current fascist government arrested a judge in Milwaukee, activists had created a protest within an hour. Think about that; within an hour a protest was created to counter an action in progress, which was then seen and shared by thousands of people nationally, even if they didn’t live anywhere near. We can very much use social media for a great deal of good. There are certainly things the government should be doing to regulate disinformation on social media, but until that happens I think it comes down to the number of truth-tellers versus truth-killers.

Lee McIntyre talks about truth-killers in his primer On Disinformation. He makes it clear that these perpetrators aren’t just sharing disinformation (that’s the useful idiots), they are going after truth to kill it. They want to discredit the experts, call their political opponents liars, and push conspiracies that immerse their victims in an alternate reality. They flood the zone with the “fire hose” technique and get prominent figures to repeat it. They play on fears and create a target—an Other that can be seen as the enemy (despite being an obvious scapegoat). They don’t need to be believed, they just have to sow doubt in all information, so that the very idea of “truth” will be mistrusted.

The thing about the truth though, no matter if you paint it a different color, cover it up, bury it—it still remains under it all; pure and whole. All you really have to do is scratch the surface. Someone makes a claim, ask for a source. Check different sources to see how varying media is portraying the issue. Consider what they’re not talking about. Consider how they word their headline and what that might lead people to think. Find an actual expert or two, maybe even someone just with lived experience. Pretty soon, the picture becomes focused and the truth rings out like the pure note of a bell. But don’t stop there. When you’ve discovered the truth, you’ve got to share it.

All of us have almost certainly been prey to misinformation at some point. Maybe even disinformation. The former is an honest mistake, the latter is on purpose in order to push an agenda. I think there may be a tendency for honest folks to fear they may be wrong and so they don’t add to the conversation at all. This is a mistake. The truth-killers are hard at work and they don’t care if they screw up, they just create a new account and keep going. Anyone can pretend to be anything online. If we want to counter that, we can’t be timid.

That means speaking outside of social media, as well. You know, the real world. The majority of the people who are being mislead, but are still able to respond to reason, live in information deserts. They don’t “follow” the news and especially not politics. They get what little information they have from their neighbors, co-workers, and families. Then they vote accordingly. That’s a huge gap in the current Truth-Teller network, because we’re largely speaking in spaces (like this one) where most of our audience already knows the truth. We need to branch out, but that means having the courage to speak in everyday situations.

There are some things you can do to prevent a misstep into misinformation. First, if your info is unverified, say that. I saw a comment about how no inmate had ever left the El Salvador CECOT facility and I shared it in another discussion, but made it clear that I did not have a source. Someone shared the Human Rights Watch report in reply. Boom, truth-tellers helping one another. If you mention something in a personal conversation that you’re not sure of, let them know you’ll try to verify it. Then go home and do the research and text them what you found. If they were going to do it themselves, you wouldn’t have needed to have the conversation in the first place.

Another thing you can do is save your sources—which is why I had the above link available. I have a notebook in microsoft onenote that’s full of sources for various information. So much so that I need to go reorganize it, so that I can better find what I’m looking for when I need it. I can argue against disinformation on a wide number of subjects almost instantly, because I’ve done the effort to find good sources and save them. I even have arguments ready to copy/paste.

We can drive a better narrative of truth, equality, peace, and prosperity. We can stand against disinformation designed to tear us apart, exploit and destroy. But we have to be intentional about it. We have to consider what we’re doing right now and whether that’s helping or hurting. We have to consider where we’re getting our info and if we are being discerning or not. But most of all, we need to realize who the real audience is. We’re not trying to get the liars to repent—we’re trying to get the ignorant to move.

Movement, action, resistance. That’s the real goal. What matter if we’re right, if that knowledge doesn’t bring change? The liars don’t care that they’re liars. They don’t care that they argue against reality. While we’re busy arguing, they just continue enacting their agenda. We need to be able to shift from truth-telling, to truth-action. The Truth-Teller mission statement should be, “Knowing the truth, what are we going to do about it?” It is easier to destroy than to build and our enemy knows this. The main thing we have on our side is numbers. As bad as the world can be, most people want a peaceful, prosperous society that cares for everyone. They just don’t think they can do anything to bring that about.

Truth should be about what we can do just as much as what facts are true. I have been sharing guides from the ICNC on non-violent resistance, research from Erica Chenoweth, anti-corruption legislation from Represent Us; all truth in action. This is how scientific research creates breakthroughs that help humanity overall. Which is also why the current fascist regime is attacking them so blatantly. Find a truth; develop an action. Preventing disinformation from taking root is just the first step. We have to move to the offensive or we’ll be stuck forever on defense—as fascism erodes our nation, our liberties, and our world bit by bit. We can do better. Truth-Tellers can fight back. To have a future, we must.

Buy me a coffee.