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INSIDE THE WAR ON TRUTH: Explore the history of how disinformation has been weaponized to manipulate society.
The effort to destroy facts and make America ungovernable didn’t come out of nowhere. It is the culmination of 70 years of strategic denialism. In On Disinformation, Lee McIntyre shows how the war on facts began, and how ordinary citizens can fight back against the scourge of disinformation that is now threatening the very fabric of our society. Drawing on his 20 years of experience as a scholar of science denial, McIntyre explains how autocrats wield disinformation to manipulate a populace and deny obvious realities; why the best way to combat disinformation is to disrupt its spread; and most importantly, how we can win the war on truth.
McIntyre takes readers through the history of strategic denialism to show how we arrived at this precarious political moment and identifies the creators, amplifiers, and believers of disinformation. Along the way, he also demonstrates how today’s “reality denial” follows the same flawed blueprint of the “five steps of science denial” used by climate deniers and anti-vaxxers; shows how Trump has emulated disinformation tactics created by Russian and Soviet intelligence dating back to the 1920s; provides interviews with leading experts on information warfare, counterterrorism, and political extremism; and spells out the need for algorithmic transparency from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. On Disinformation lays out ten everyday practical steps that we can take as ordinary citizens—from resisting polarization to pressuring our Congresspeople to regulate social media—as well as the important steps our government (if we elect the right leaders) must take.
Compact, easy-to-read (and then pass on to a friend), and never more urgent, On Disinformation does nothing less than empower us with the tools and knowledge needed to save our republic from autocracy before it is too late.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
August 22, 2023 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780262375597
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780262375597
- File size: 201 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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June 15, 2023
The author of How To Talk to a Science Denier explores the nature of disinformation in modern American culture. In a society that "still has a free press," writes philosopher McIntyre, "disinformation is the new censorship." For the author, this idea is crucial to understanding why American democracy is in peril. Unlike misinformation, which is accidental, disinformation is deliberate and intended to "foment doubt, division, and distrust--and create an army of deniers." McIntyre traces the history of modern disinformation to 1950s media campaigns that created "alternative narrative[s]" about smoking that forced the public to question the validity of scientific evidence regarding the dangers of tobacco. Politicians later used the same tactics to deny other scientific facts, including "acid rain, the ozone hole, and--most notoriously--global warming"--until reality itself became a target during the Trump era. Using examples like Trump's big lie campaign, McIntyre demonstrates how the real corrosiveness in denialism lies in the way it does not simply subvert the truth, but kills it: "The post-truth playbook goes like this: attack the truth tellers, lie about anything and everything, manufacture disinformation, encourage distrust and polarization, create confusion and cynicism, then claim that the truth is available only from the leader himself." McIntyre suggests that one of the ways such individuals find success is by calculated use of mainstream news and social media outlets that refuse to take a stand in the name of objectivity. "Rather than promote truth," he writes, "they are engineered for profit." In order to fight back, we must not only revise existing laws to force media into greater mindfulness of the information they disseminate, but also engage in face-to-face debates that respectfully challenge the disinformed perspectives of believers. This brief but impactful book offers trenchant commentary on the current war on truth and workable solutions to protect democracy in an increasingly chaotic world. Thoughtful and illuminating.COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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