Chapter Five
false; but it’s the evidence and the argument which determines that, not the source, nor the patriotic symbols which might surround it. But one should be especially vigilant of disinformation. Disinformation is a type of propaganda: it also attempts to raise support for a political party or cause. But disinformation tries to raise that support by deliberately spreading falsehoods. It might describe an event which didn’t happen, or which happened differently than how it is described. It might accuse a person or group of doing something they did not do. It might warn of a threat from an enemy or a source of danger which does not exist, or which in reality is fairly trivial. It might discredit or divert attention away from well-evidenced facts or well-documented historical realities. In some ways disinformation is not like ordinary lies, although it always includes lies. Disinformation is also an attempt to construct a fictitious reality, supported by a set of tightly inter-connected lies, halftruths, and pseudo-facts, and a carefully constructed world view. The purpose is not only to raise support for a political cause, or to influence people to vote, or spend money, or act in a certain way. It also aims to influence people to live, speak, and think as if the fictitious reality is the truth. Disinformation may point to actual events, but describe them in the very worst possible light. And it will normally appear to come from very trustworthy and reliable sources. These features help make it seem credible and persuasive. But this also makes it very hard to identify whether or not a given piece of propaganda is actually disinformation. And it is effective because most people tend to trust and believe what they see and hear and read in sources that look authoritative. And most people tend to trust speakers who seem confident, self-assured, and convinced. Here are some examples from the 20th century:
5.7 Propaganda and Disinformation
global warming. • The nonexistent Iraqi ‘weapons of mass destruction’, which was the stated causus belli for the Iraq War in 2003.
Almost all political parties and governments spread disinformation once in a while; some more than others, and some have done so in the past more than they do now. Corporations sometimes spread disinformation about the quality or safety of their products, or their competitor’s products. They may also spread disinformation about the state of the economy, or the state of some situation in the world, in order to keep their investors confident, or maintain market share. Military forces sometimes use it to trick their enemies into believing the wrong thing about the strength of the force that faces them. Disinformation is often extremely difficult to identify, at least at first. It often requires a lot of research, a lot of courageous questions, and a lot of time to pass, before the reality is revealed. As with recognizing conspiracy theories, one should remember that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, but this, too, can be difficult to apply, because the disinformation may actually present the extraordinary evidence to the public. (The trouble is that such ‘evidence’ is often fabricated from nothing, or taken out-of-context, or mixed with half- truths and lies, or just as extraordinary as the claim it supposedly supports.) But there are a few general features of a disinformation campaign which, if you spot them, may give you reason to doubt it. Exc e ssive sim pl ic ity. The world view and the framing language of a disinformation campaign tends to presuppose a highly simplistic understanding of things. Elsewhere in this textbook I have described simplicity as a good thinking habit, and as a quality of the prefer-
• U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy’s ‘communist conspiracy’, 1950-54. • The Nazi campaign against the Jews, which falsely
able explanation for things, and so this statement may seem incongruous. Yet the disinformation communique tends to simplify things that are by nature complicated,
accused them of doing things that are just too horrible
such as diplomatic, economic, or scientific matters. It
to reprint here, 1933-1945.
also tends to ignore or suppress tricky or subtle details
• The corporate-funded denial of climate change and
which nonetheless remain relevant.
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