Handbook for the Disinformation Age
Kevin Candela
Image courtesy of http://freelance-writing.lovetoknow.com
It used to be about what you COULD learn. What was available.
No more.
Now it’s a matter of sifting. Comparing. Seeking out the sources of news articles, scientific mainstream beliefs, etc. And that gets tricky because not only are the waters muddy, people are being paid to muddy them. That’s what happens when you clamp down on the economy—morals fall to the wayside when one gets hungry. Not that plenty of misinformed and selfish people can’t troll and “murkify” the waters on their own: I’m sure many do, for kicks and simply because they know they’re doing wrong at heart but feel it fits their “persona” by this point. And for other reasons. But since corporations own the truth at this point, in effect, they also SPONSOR it.
Yes, there are paid “muck trolls”, no doubt about it. They’re probably the better ones, generally speaking. That is to say they probably don’t spell “know” with two letters and can otherwise converse in the English they were taught for TWELVE YEARS, unlike the people (term used loosely to be sure) who muddle things and assault the intelligent and knowing just for giggles.
I’m not gonna pick a “worse” between those two ends of the liars’ brigade. What I will say is that there are certain things you can pick up on (especially here online) that are giveaways. Here’s a short list, there being other clues beyond these that you’re dealing with a deliberate misinformation dispenser.
I’m gonna call ’em Muddies because the abbreviation for deliberate misinformation dispenser is the same as for dentists.
HOW TO SPOT A MUDDY
(ONE WHO DELIBERATELY WORKS TO KEEP THE TRUTH HIDDEN):
1) The Paster: Copies and pastes articles Instead of attempting discourse.
The Paster doesn’t discuss things. He (usually) or she (occasionally) Googles to find other peoples’ articles to post in support of their fervent beliefs. This is a sort of indirect muddying, where the crucial back and forth, the interaction between minds, is deliberately subverted by bringing in “supporting opinions” in the form of stuff written by other. The only real outcome of this is the instant stagnation of the conversation. “Did you read that article?” No, I didn’t. I didn’t because I’m talking to you. I’m not reading articles. The article might take half an hour to read. You might have posted a video two hours long because you think it supports your opinion. Maybe it does. But how is this a discussion? It’s not even YOUR thoughts, it’s just expressing opinion(s) you like, ones that make you comfortable. Pasters are very tedious because it is almost impossible to get them to actually chat back and forth with you in their own words. Sometimes you wonder if they HAVE their own words. They are a subclass of the next “muddying species”, the Diverter
2) The Diverter: Refuses to respond to your statements directly.
The Diverter will simply not directly reply to your assertions. They are the opposite of Negators in that they don’t disagree so much as DIVERT. The subject at hand is one they must get away from, in general because they know they’re up against truth that is, at deepest levels, irrefutable. So they use a number of tactics to avoid conceding a valid and truthful assertion that they don’t want catching on with the masses.
3) The Hammerhead: Basically yells negations at your assertions without any more content, discussion or rationalization. Equivalent to a small child defiantly and indignantly asserting “Nunh-UH!” to everything he or she is being told.
This person APPEARS to be ruled by sheer emotion. One emotion. Anger. The hammerhead is really not worth indulging. They are rather embarrassing. Most often they are feeble at writing and that seems to make the ones that aren’t simply being paid to fake ignorance even madder.
4) The Club Member: Plays to the gallery by using insider/outsider terms and clichés in an attempt to make it look like he and the reader are part of the same “common sense team” and he’s simply assailing an outsider with bad ideas.
I said “he” because this is almost always a male thing. It usually revolves around rubber stamp statements like these:
“Surely you don’t expect US to believe that…”
(Appropriate response: “Us? Got a mouse in your pocket?”)
“Nobody in their right mind thinks what you’re saying makes any sense.”
This kind relies on a gullible audience that likes to hear or see such boiler plate statements because they are comfortable and known. They also have NO PLACE WHATSOEVER in public debate or discourse. They are cheesy LAWYER TACTICS.
5) The Marginalizer: Without knowing a thing about you beyond your point of view on one subject, somehow feels qualified to make broad generalization about your nature, mindset and personality so as to put you into one of the “loser type” files in their tiny little mental filing systems. Dumb as the Hammerhead and just as fearful but occasionally spells an entire sentence correctly and gets the grammar right. Helps that they usually go with small words and short sentences.
6) The Kitchen Sink Denigrator: Like the Hammerhead too, but attacks YOU PERSONALLY. Not about the topic at hand. They often look at your bio info to see if they can find something to work with. These aren’t quite so dumb as Hammerheads because they’ll do research, which is too much trouble for the illiterate.
7) The Condescender: Smarmy “Of course it is, sure, whatever you say” condescension using cliché terms is the go-to for this breed of truth hider. They try to portray you as naïve, childlike, unrealistic and in need of “gentle handling”. They are sort of Club Member variety in many ways, because their words tend to be covered in a sticky glaze of patriarchal mock tolerance. “It’s okay, Daddy knows you need your little illusions” is another pander to the gallery. And all parental types are subliminally hooked in by this little charade…all too often.
The problem?
As often or not, the gallery falls for these cheap maneuvers. The truth remains hidden. Why? Cliches. Shallow intellects. Laziness. Fear.
We gotta get smarter as a culture, people. I suggest sooner rather than later. Quit letting these stupid little moves fool you into buying the words of liars, sponsored and paid for liars and freelancers alike.
The truth’s more important than these people’s fragile realities.
