Fake News

 I would assume that many people will be writing their first blog posts about fake news. In the past few years, we've been flooded with cries of "fake news!" From our televisions to our phones to the radio, we've been blasted with these two words. Really, what is fake news? Well, fake news itself is exactly as it sounds; fake. 

I think what is interesting about fake news is how even just the two words carry so much power. Former president Donald Trump used the word "fake" just about every day. To rally his base against a media which constantly disparaged him, he referred to them as the "Fake News". Fake news was no longer just a title for incorrect information, but a term for the entire institution of news media. It was a return of the Lügenpresse, a term coined by another populist who ruled a certain western European country throughout the 1930's and 1940s's. The idea of a lying press was continued after the fall of the Nazi regime, used in Eastern Germany, "turning it into an anti-democracy slogan." The polarization of American media was nearing a state of completion where increasingly one side would deny truth in anything said by the other. The idea of a Fake News outlet meant that they could not by definition espouse truth. In reality, many media outlets sensationalized news stories or repeated themselves, but completely fabricating news is something which was not happening by mainstream, established outlets. We discussed in class about how fake news was so powerful that the very mention of the word makes us think of Donald Trump.

What many in the West were missing, however, was that there were people who were creating fake news. Deliberately spreading disinformation to confuse and further polarize the American public, and by consequence, the democratic world as a whole. Both Russia, China, and Iran have been pumping ridiculous amounts of money into outlets to counter Western views. The idea is to not only shatter confidence in the West throughout the world, but to increase discord within the West itself. 

On Facebook and Twitter, armies of paid shills spend hours arguing and sharing anti-American news. Or infiltrating groups to spread disinformation about rival political parties, propagating anger and incensing conspiracy theorists. Social media allows bad claims to spread quickly, especially when targeted towards people who have an agenda. In the current space, people with checkmarks next to their names are seen as authority figures. Meanwhile, they are just as susceptible to spreading misinfo as normal people. 

Misinfo about ANA equipment in Taliban possession

A pet peeve of mine is "immediate experts" on subjects when they get big. Twitter and TikTok and Facebook are full of these instant understanders of complicated topics. Afghanistan is a hot topic which most Americans haven't given a shit about since 2013 except for when Trump dropped that big MOAB back in 2017. However, incredibly, people were quick to comment about all the equipment left behind. By citing a graphic which showed the total list of equipment provided and listing the total amount of money sent to the ANA (which includes salaries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) as the monetary value of what all the Taliban captured. This graphic ignored pre-war equipment, arms purchased on the black market or supplied by third countries, weapons supplied in recent years, and, of course, weapons and equipment lost through attrition. This graphic has been propagated throughout the world and seen by countless millions of people, and it is completely and utterly incorrect. 

Fake news will continue to be a problem which will only worsen. The lack of will for people to fact-check means that if something fits your narrative it is good enough for you to share. An entirely real future we are facing is one in which the idea of truth it worthless, only what riles up the readers.

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