I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry about the many complaints about misinformation and disinformation in politics. Has there been more of it in period leading up to the 2022 midterms or are they about the same as usual? Misinformation and disinformation are intrinsic to American politics—they go all the way back to the acrimonious campaign between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1800, the very first real presidential election. There are still some claims made in that election that people believe.
Ending misinformation and disinformation would mean the end of American politics as it’s been for 200 years. Ending the disinformation and misinformation of the “other guys” while leaving that of “your guys” alone would be even worse.
I don’t think disinformation/misinformation can ever be ended. In fact it’s really a part of oppositional discourse and political jousting. However, what makes these kind of information distributions poisonous is when one side applies a tourniquet on what can and cannot be said – commonly known as censorship. This has been applicable to current times involving social and legacy media outlets, and openly encouraged by various arms of today’s administration.
I think it’s folly to think it can be gotten rid of, not least of which because no one agrees on defining mis/disinformation. The reality is that a lot of stuff is subjective or depends on assumptions.
Almost any solution is worse than the problem. Not a fan of lawyers but i do think suing when false claims are made that cause harm, like we have seen with the Dominion voting machine people. As soon as they were sued there were many apologies and withdrawals of claims by a lot fo media. Lets hope they win their suits.
Steve
Standing will be a problem.
A lot of the more extreme cases are starting to get me to rethink my stance on liability for defamation. I’m a strong free-speech guy, but I’m starting to consider whether making lawsuits easier would be worth the tradeoffs.