Have you ever been caught sharing disinformation? Propaganda comes at us from every direction, even the one you support.
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As my friend Joy said,
“About half the quotes I find on here {Facebook} are fake.”
Those are just the alleged quotes by famous people. What about all the other “quotes” from the unsigned and anonymous?
What do you think? We have all seen the memes, the photos with captions, the propaganda … oops did I just say that. Yes, propaganda.
Carefully crafted words of deceit come from all sides.
Sometimes, we can easily identify the misinformation and disinformation, especially when the deceit comes from the side we disagree with. Yet, our eyes are filtered at times when we hold the same scrutiny up to the cause we support, and the potential propaganda that comes from those we agree with.
Misinformation and disinformation are designed to rile people up and rally them around a cause that may not be the real issue at hand. Dividing is the easiest way to conquer. Once the arguing starts, the work toward positive change ends.
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When I taught English to predominantly Muslim students, we often discussed the use of anti-Muslim propaganda in Western media. An example I would use was a picture of a man, with a full, long beard, dressed in a djellaba, and wearing head covering. We would imagine the photo being used on a news broadcast, what words are the newscaster using to describe the man?
In Arabic language media, he is most likely being called an Imam. In Western media, most likely he would be called a terrorist. This is how cultural stereotypes can be used as elements of propaganda. In reality, the bearded man is most likely just some guy who happened to be in a good photo.
Even the innocent image of a cow can be changed depending on the text.
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Even the innocent image of a cow can be changed depending on the text, or spoken words that accompany the photo. Imagine the pristine Holstein out in its field gazing stoically into the horizon. If we attach text to the tune of “the importance of the cow in US economy,” we see the cow as positive. Once we say anything about E-coli or mad cow’s disease, we become bovine negative.
Remember, propaganda flows all ways. Images in any media are suspect when balanced off the words that accompany the image. We can view propaganda as positive or negative depending on the side we are on. However, when we pull ourselves out into the objective neutral view, the disinformation and deceit of propaganda become apparent. As does the negative effect on the society exposed to disinformation.
We have trolls.
What would stop the same mindset from easily constructing a photo and caption that was nothing but lies.
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They pop up wherever controversy emerges. They rant and they rave, they might threaten, or distract us with endless unrelated references. What would stop the same mindset from easily constructing a photo and caption that was nothing but lies, carefully constructed lies, used to manipulate thinking. Isn’t this how advertising often works? Do you find the reality of the intentional misuse of information hard to accept?
Do you still find it hard to accept when you remember the deceit surrounding the WMDs in Iraq that lead to the second US invasion of that country?
Online, social media, every .5 secs a tweet. How can we know that the information is well intentioned or accurate? Check your sources, multiple ones.
A recent photo was circulating around Facebook of a mutilated hand. The caption stated that the photo showed the judicial punishment for a Muslim caught reading the Bible in Saudi Arabia. When I first read the caption, I was struck at its oddness. Muslims recognize the Bible as a respected predecessor to the Quran. The punishment made no sense. So, I dug deeper and did a Google search of the image. What I eventually found was the original image from an Australian accident. A man had gotten his hand pulled into a paper shredder.
See what I mean? Misinformation can really blow up on us.
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The instant global communication age has changed the playing field for the game of information, disinformation, and misinformation. Even well-intentioned misinformation is damaging to the overall society. Misinformation breeds deceit, manipulation, and thereby control.
Release the control misinformation might have by checking sources and doing a little bit of digging before clicking that share button. I know I have had to learn this lesson! Even as editors, we sometimes get caught in the flurry of viral content.