Did you know that Disinformation (deliberately false and fabricated narratives) works to dupe you by stoking your fears, outrage, anger, and hatred to take control of your emotions, so that over a period of time, without your being aware of it, you lose the ability to think for yourself!
The current Disinformation Pandemic in the U.S. and the world is alarming! Perpetrated by foreign Governments, as well as by certain U.S. and foreign Media outlets and politicians, and magnified on Social Media, Disinformation is one of the biggest problems of our time, and one of the greatest threats to our Country.
To protect ourselves, our families and friends, and our Country, it is extremely important that we understand how to recognize Disinformation and how it works, so that we can combat it and avoid being deceived by it into wrongly hating our fellow Americans based on lies, and duped by it into distrusting our elections and voting for the wrong candidates against our own interests.
What is Disinformation?
It is the deliberate, intentional and knowing publication, broadcasting, or spreading of false, misleading, or fabricated content, intended to deceive and provoke strong emotions of fear, anger, or hatred, with the intention or effect of inciting conflict or violence, stoking division, or motivating political action.
How is this different from ordinary “Misinformation?”
Any Media outlet can, and all occasionally do, make a mistake, and include unintentional errors or misinformation in their reporting. On these occasions, reputable and reliable Media that are following Professional Journalistic Ethics & Standards will publish a correction of their error, as soon as it is brought to light.
“Disinformation,” on the other hand, is deliberate misinformation, knowingly and intentionally published and circulated for the intended purpose of deceiving us, to serve the interests of the perpetrators or their bosses and funders.
Pure and simple, Disinformation is basically the same technique as used in the “Information Warfare” that is being perpetrated against us by certain foreign governments and their military operations.
How does Disinformation Work to Dupe Us?
According to Experts, Disinformation works over a period of time to manipulate us by stoking our fear, outrage, and anger – playing to our emotions, so that our raging emotions take over our brains and crowd out our critical thinking ability. In this way, unaware of what is happening to us, we can be sucked in and manipulated into believing the false narratives concocted and repeated over-and-over-again by those spreading these big lies. Soon the Disinformation perpetrators are controlling us and manipulating us to believe and act in ways they want, which are most often against our own self interest and against the interests of our families and friends, and our Country.
According to experts in this field, these are exactly the same techniques long used by certain clandestine military forces of other countries that practice “Information Warfare,” waged both upon other nations and upon their own populations, as a means to coerce and achieve their national goals, without having to engage in military battles or police action. The former Soviet Union and currently the Russian military CyberInfluence Operations forces refer to this type of “Information Warfare” – working through stoking and control of the target’s emotions – as “Reflexive Control.” (See, “Unmasking Maskirova; Russia’s CyberInfluence Operations,” by Daniel P. Bagge, former Cyber Information & Security Officer of the Czech Republic engaged in defending against Russian Military Disinformation Campaigns; Defense Press, 2019)
Sadly, several studies have found that in the U.S. today, Disinformation is routinely and repeatedly used for political purposes, both by certain Media Outlets and by certain Political Campaigns and Private Non-profit organizations funded by hidden and Dark Money. These forces employ Disinformation to induce us to hate and distrust members of another Political Party and to deceive us into supporting and voting for candidates for public Office who repeatedly act against our own interests, against the interests of the vast Center Majority of Americans, and in favor of the self-interests of the Disinformation perpetrators. In this way, over a period of many years, we are effectively being robbed of our Constitutional right to vote as informed Citizens, and our Constitutional right to self-government through a Government of the People, by the People, and for the People.
In large part through governmental policies enacted as a result of such repeated Disinformation campaigns at all levels, which have permitted the growing influence of lobbyists and Dark Money in politics over the past 40 years, we have come to our current situation, where it has been reported that “the wealthiest 1% of Americans possess 40% of the nation’s wealth; the bottom 80% own 7%,[1] and the gap between the wealth of the top 10% and that of the middle class is over 1,000%; that increases another 1,000% for the top 1%.[2]
But, it is not too late! We, the Center Majority of Americans, have the power to correct all of this, if we band together.
First, we need to inoculate ourselves against the pernicious effects of Disinformation by learning to recognize Disinformation, understand how it works. Then, we need to stand up and Declare our Independence to Think for ourselves, and Tune it out!
Then, if we work together to support and elect Center Majority candidates, in both Political Parties, who take our Pledge and demonstrate through their records that they will enact the policies we support, we have the power to Defeat the Dangerous Disinformation pandemic, strengthen the Middle Class, and bring Truth, Fairness, and Honesty to our Government, Media, and Elections.
It is extremely important that we first understand how to recognize Disinformation, avoid being deceived and duped by it, Declare our Independence from it, and combat it, in order to protect ourselves, our families and friends, and our Country.
____
Footnotes:
[1] Articles cited in Wikipedia, as of 2014, found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States;
[2] Ibid.
