The Impact Of Disinformation

The gap between the Informed and the Ignorant is widening, and radio, television, and the print press are not innocent bystanders watching the drama unfold. Those are the first electronic medium used to disseminate disinformation freely and through manipulation in some countries.

The only difference is there are more options available to the purveyors of the art of deception today. The web has become the preferred and most popular medium for disinformation that's undermining the confidence, health, and strength of democracies.

Disinformation is not a new phenomenon. It is an old tactic used mainly by the military and crooked politicians to deceive those who consume it. How it works is no mystery, It's deception, but why is it working? Well, that's mystifying. From my observations, there are several reasons why disinformation works. Perhaps the least presumptuous and most conspicuous reason is collective ignorance.

Behavior Modification

One would expect a few people to be victims of disinformation, but if half of the population gets fooled by its deception, the nation will pay a painful price for ignorance. What is disinformation? It's a trick and a trap designed to manipulate and modify the behavior of those who believe the information they consume. The symptoms of behavior modification affect people who lavishly consume and digest propaganda on social networks without knowing the source or whether it is accurate and reliable.

TMI is an acronym for "too much Information" It's a contagious trend on the web that results in phycological confusion and irrational indifference to accurate information. There's no substitute for truth supported by tangible evidence and facts, but that doesn't seem to matter to a segment of society anymore. The polluted political atmosphere today has made it difficult for some to discern fake junk from facts and embarrassing to acknowledge the truth even if It's right in front of them.

Danger To Democracy

Accurate information and transparency in government are pure oxygen to the lungs of democracy and sustained power to the people. They are essential elements that allow the electorate to make collective, rational, and informed decisions without political bias. If those elements are stifled slowly for political expediency, democracy won't survive. The art of disinformation will continue to target and capture the unsuspecting and keep its strangle hole on those who live in perpetual denial and seems to lack intellectual curiosity, diligence, and the capacity to accept facts.