I continue to be a “when” person, not an “if” person. What I mean by that is that I become more convinced every day that America will emerge from the disaster that is Trump and MAGA, and that the pertinent questions we will face have to do with how we will repair things when that day comes and we have to repair not just the damage done by the mad would-be king, but the structural flaws that enabled his unfit occupancy in the Oval Office.
Political scientists, sociologists, lawyers, law professors and a wide variety of experts in other fields are already offering their perspectives on how to address the Supreme Court’s corruption, protect Americans’ voting rights, jettison (or at least alter) the filibuster, and neuter the Electoral College– proposals intended to fix the structural weaknesses that have become all too obvious.
In most of these areas, we’ll undoubtedly argue about the approaches and details, but fixes are possible.
There is, however, one truly enormous problem that has no simple answer. As I have repeatedly noted on this platform, we live today in an absolute ocean of mis- and dis-information. There are literally thousands of internet sites created to tell us untruths that we want to believe, technologies that were created to mislead, cable and streaming channels in the business of reinforcing our preferred biases–even psuedo-education organizations that exist solely to propagandize our children. There is no simple remedy, no policy prescription that can “fix” the Wild West of our “information” environment–and virtually any effort to shut down propaganda will run afoul of the First Amendment and its essential Free Speech guarantees.
The widespread availability of misinformation is what academics call a “wicked problem.” Wicked problems have a number of characteristics that make them difficult to manage and– practically speaking– impossible to actually solve. They can’t be fully defined because their components are constantly changing; there’s no one “right” solution– possible solutions aren’t true or false, but rather good or bad, and what’s good for one aspect of the problem might exacerbate another part (in other words, the interconnections mean that solving one part of the problem can easily aggravate other parts); and there’s no clear point at which you can say the problem is solved.
Misinformation is a whole set of wicked problems– on steroids.
As a Brookings Institution publication put it some time back,
Disinformation and other online problems are not conventional problems that can be solved individually with traditional regulation. Instead, they are a web of interrelated “wicked” problems — problems that are highly complex, interdependent, and unstable — and can only be mitigated, managed, or minimized, not solved.
The Brookings paper recommended development of what it called “an architecture” that would “promote collaboration and build trust among stakeholders.” It noted the availability of several models that currently promote collaboration among a number of stakeholders, including the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) and the Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs). These and similar successful organizations have learned how to adapt and innovate, and have focused on trust-building and information-sharing.
Any effective effort to counter misinformation and propaganda will need to go beyond the creation of other, similar organizations. If and when we re-institute a rational government and are gifted with a working Congress, there will be a role for (hopefully thoughtful) regulation. And of course, long term, the most effective mechanism must be education. Students need to be taught to recognize the difference between credible and non-credible sources, shown how to spot the markers of conspiracy theories and propaganda, and given tools to distinguish between deep fakes and actual photography.
The crux of the problem, of course, is that all-too-human desire to justify one’s particular beliefs and biases–the allure of “information” that confirms what that individual wants to believe. We all share that impulse, and its existence is what makes the manipulation of data and the creation of “alternative” facts so attractive. It’s also what feeds “othering,” bigotries and self-righteousness.
The persistence of that very human desire is what makes misinformation–also known as propaganda–such a wicked problem.
Enlightened people now don’t use a single source of information. What I believe to be true is the product of reading/listening to several sources of information that over time I have learned I can depend on. So it will be in the future. And those sources will grow in usage.
I agree with Bill. I am constantly adding and dropping sources of information based on the information they share. Sadly, a lot of good information sources are behind paywalls, but I certainly understand that necessity.
We now have AI as fact checkers, which I use often. As I’ve said frequently on this site, their first answer is usually as far as most people need to go, but I need to drill down a little further, and sometimes the answer will change slightly. That’s happened on numerous occasions. Personally, I do not want our government to tinker with our speech freedoms. It’s on the individual to do their own research, knowing that most Americans still want to be fed what they already believe by sitting in their lazy chair with a remote control.
Being a seeker of truth is not for the light-hearted, and it is a choice. To put another way, ignorance is a choice.
If there is one item I want to change that will cause the most impact, it is calling bribery, extortion, and collusion in the government a crime. Remove the money from our oligarchy so we can transition back to a form of democracy – people’s power. As long as billionaires can buy elections, we’ll continue being an oligarchy. It usually takes only a few minutes to drill down to see who is funding this or that policy coming from our statehouse or White House.
p.s. Did anyone catch the Beckwith post that reiterated Trump’s extortion game against Indiana Senators? “Vote in favor of redistricting, or Trump will withhold federal funding for roads, etc.” He went back and deleted it once he was told that threatening a public official to vote a certain way is illegal. LOL
I think the starting point is to agree that there is a reality that exists independently of our perception of it. Even among “intellectuals” there seems to be a widespread belief that reality is whatever we say it is if only enough of us say it often enough and loudly enough. Religion supports this belief.
Speaking about “the inner values that lie at the heart of who we are as humans,” the Dalai Lama said the following. “Religion is not sufficient. Religion has been very important in human history, and perhaps for another thousand years it will continue to bring benefit to humanity. Just to pray or rely on religious faith is not sufficient.”
“… In terms of seven billion human beings it’s not sufficient. No matter how excellent, no religion can be universal. So we have to find another way to promote those values.”
If we give up our belief in an immortal soul and focus on the here and now, we can actually measure what works to the benefit of us rather than trying to please a supernatural being.
Just something to think about.
Sharon … I love your summation.
As a former science educator, I found that many – too many – children lack critical-thinking skills. I think that lack carries over into adulthood if they don’t learn otherwise. This lack of skill leads to confirmation bias and the media, both light and dark, are there waiting for the unfettered mind. Teach your kids how to THINK.
As far as rebuilding goes … Yes, if we have the opportunity, we will emulate post-WW II Germany and build a better nation in just about every way. BUT the creatures in the Heritage Foundation and The Federalist Society must be absolutely excluded. That means a completely new kind of opposition political party too. The Ted Cruz type Republican must also disappear into irrelevance. THEN, the good, smart people can get to work putting up the guardrails against corruption, the avoidance of the rule of law and – Please somebody make it so – getting rid of the 6 sacks of garbage on the Supreme Court.
My single source of news is Associated Press. I think one of our societal problems is that we are constantly inundated with information about everything in the world. Most of it is noise. Irrelevant. Focus is required. AP gives me that.
Thank you for your hopeful reminder that this nightmare will end and people of conscience are ready, willing, and able to tackle the problems of rebuilding a system that works.
Sharon, Todd, Vernon, all so well said.
“6 sacks of garbage on the Supreme Court,” indeed!!
Carl Sagan’s “Bullshit detectors.” That’s what will be needed to be taught…to youth and so-called adults. On a large scale.
In a marketing class about a thousand years ago, we talked about weasel words. Mis-information and dis-information are the two best examples of that I’ve ever seen. We need first to relabel these weasel words. Let’s all agree to call a spade a spade. Call it a LIE.
Senator Patrick Moynihan famously said, “You are entitled to your own opinions, but you are NOT entitled to your own facts.”
Triangulation of information sources is a cornerstone of critical thinking. If I really desire to confirm truth, I triangulate. Truangulation is the process of comparing data or claims from at least three different, credible sources to confirm accuracy. The goal is to reduce bias, avoid misinformation, and strengthen confidence in conclusions. The term comes from navigation and surveying, where three reference points are used to pinpoint a location. In information science, it’s applied to truth-seeking. But when I know it is bovine shit, I delete, unsubscribe, and just move on.
For as long as I can remember there have been purveyors of lies and fantasies disguised as news. The supermarket checkout aisles are lined with them still. I assume that they remain on offer because there is a sustainable market for them.
The same is true of the mass media of all kinds, most notably now, the internet. Driven as always by profit, the sources of the “news” are just often complete fiction. Those who feed that profit are like drug addicts, needing a constant supply of reality avoidance and boosts to fear and hate to keep them “informed” and able to justify their fear, distrust and hatred.
Our 1st Amendment protects those liars, putting the onus on the readers to decide if the information has any validity.
Where do we start? Hate is not genetic. It is taught and nurtured from the very beginning of sentience by adults who were in turn taught the same way.
How to break the cycle? That is an age-old question.
For those who supposedly espouse the teachings of Jesus, to love unconditionally, qualifying non-believers of any sort as somehow “less than” who should be forcibly required to conform by their superiors is the order of the day. It has been that way for time immemorial. For those raised as Catholics back in the day, pagan baby collections during Lent were constant. Think about the visuals that naming ingrains in young minds.
With instant access to confirmation bias, the addicts can mainline. To break the addiction may be impossible. To prevent the addiction in the beginning may be the only answer before hate and entitlement are hardwired in the youth. As TPUSA so clearly illustrates, that may have to start much earlier.
The battles of the propaganda wars seem to be essentially trust in one’s own life experiences versus giving in to the views of hierarchy of power. It’s an uncomfortable (at times) feeling, sense of not knowing and searching for some truth to anchor oneself to. IMO there shouldn’t be so much freedom to outright lie across mass communication means that is meant to misguide for deceptive, destructive reasons and cause confusion and harm to people. Bad faith intentions of deceptive destruction, communicated across media into citizens personal lives need strong pushback. Lawsuits to prove the harm caused by false, fraudulent information is one weapon but not everyone has the means to mount that defense/offense. We all went to school for years working at thinking to discern facts and to have the current regime proselytizing that 2+2 =5 and we all have to accept that is absurd. Their inability to use facts for the real betterment of American’s lives needs to spotlit center stage and hammered home loudly on a regular basis.
While I agree in theory, Rose, who will be the arbiter of truth? The only possible solution is a citizen committee comprised of individuals who rotate on and off the committee. AI could be used as a monitor.
As an interesting example, Musk’s AI invention, Grok, has just made a startling confession that the whole assassination scenario of Charlie Kirk was a staged performance using fake blood, etc. Apparently, it was an elaborate explanation. I agree with that theory, and it would explain why Erika is unable to grieve like a normal person. Otherwise, if her husband were brutally shot in public, she wouldn’t be attending podcasts within a few days, laughing with hosts. That is not normal!!