Little lies breed bigger ones

The key issue in both Brexit and within Trump support networks is the deliberate and cynical weaving of conspiracies by endorsing an apparent truth and then projecting ever-more extreme interpretations of events. E.g., Trump wants allies to pay their share into NATO, so the media say he is anti-NATO, or the EU talked about enlargement, so Turkey will join. Once you get people to believe little lies it’s easier to convince them of bigger ones.

We have been there before, from Nazi propaganda to ethnic cleansing.

The problem is not that people are uneducated or ignorant, the problem is being able to deal with that. Remember that defining the problem is necessary in order to provide the solution.

This problem will not go away, in fact it shows every sign of getting worse. Britain’s right-leaning government have recently licensed extreme propaganda TV channels to broadcast fake-news and consolidate prejudice.

This is what happens in the USA with the most famous outlet of biased reporting, Fox News.

This is also what happens with social media, where you can say what you like with limited fact-checking in place and no equivalent of libel laws to denounce the publication of fake-news. In fact Facebook continues to resist being treated as a publisher so it can abrogate responsibility for what is said through its media.

It is largely the ‘information age’ which has devalued enquiry and any resultant facts. It was expected to have the opposite effect. In fact, the way information is ‘owned’ through newspapers and other media outlets provides a welcome format for those with wealth and power to influence others.

I will return to my earlier argument about ‘little lies’. Donald Trump in his ‘mea-culpa’ video on 7th January, castigated the Capitol rioters after inciting them a day earlier. Missed by most, he also added that in future elections we must “verify the identity and eligibility” of voters. On the face of it, this is sensible, but has been used in the past to discriminate against those without a passport, bank account or means to establish their residency. Just because you are poor, illiterate or black doesn’t mean you should not be allowed to vote. In most countries you just need to be on the electoral role to be able to vote either in person or by mail. Once you name is recorded as a voted, you are done – your vote is unique and is cast – no fraud there.

In the US, the call to verifying the voter is an example where reasonable measures can be deliberately tailored to create racist legislation and an elitist fraternity, which can dominate the routes to power. Little lies grow into big ones.

So what to do now?

First, social media should be required to verify the truthfulness and accuracy of posts. They should be stripped of their protection and made legally into a class of publisher. Similarly, newspapers and broadcasters should be bound by a new law akin to libel but not related just to individual or corporate accountability; they should be accountable for the truth. Once before in 2012, a right-of-centre government in the UK refused to tackle the abuse of press freedoms. Justice Leveson in his report on the enquiry into press abuse of personal data, said the government should legislate to enshrine, for the first time, the freedom of the press in the UK.

The then deputy Prime Minister, said, “A free press does not mean a press that is free to bully innocent people or free to abuse grieving families”. [Changing the law] “can be done in a proportionate and workable way”. This is the very same man who joined Facebook to project a more accountable face to the world whilst at the same time announcing that, “It is not our role to intervene when politicians speak”.

Telling the truth and shaming those who don’t is not a challenge to free speech, it is the very essence of it.

Data protection is becoming of more concern and legislation is being enacted in Europe and elsewhere to protect individuals from the harvesting and exploitation of online behaviour and personal characteristics.

Today, the ability to be well-informed has never been greater. For those who take the trouble, this information age provides unprecedented means to seek out the truth as well as unrivalled opportunities to tell everyone about it. Once more the problem is not that resources are denied to those who want to use them. The problem is that they are harnessed by those in control of the means of publication and with hidden agendas to promote their own interests.

You need to look no further than publications they make about themselves as in the book, ‘Sovereign Individual’ which argues for personal hegemony and the right to determine the rules within which it can operate (skip the first three chapters). ‘Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics’ is a more academic alternative book laying open the routes to wealth by manipulating information (you may find the YouTube discussion more accessible).

Once more the writing is on the wall, you just have to be prepared to read it.