The Disinformed
There’s an article making the rounds that’s been cited by many as a must-read. I finally tackled it last weekend and found it too dense—one of those pieces in which you have to read the same sentence multiple times. The point the writer takes too long to make is that our modern phenomenon of disinformation is a ruse meant to detract from deeper discussions about broader societal dysfunctions. (Yes, I had to re-read that myself and yes, I get the irony.)
The larger context is to blame, the author argues, and that context includes:
“an idiosyncratic electoral process and a two-party system that has asymmetrically polarized toward a nativist, rhetorically anti-elite right win; a libertarian social ethic, a “paranoid style,” an “indigenous American berserk,” [beg pardon?]; a deeply irresponsible national broadcast media; disappearing local news; an entertainment industry that glorifies violence; a bloated military; massive income inequality; a history of brutal and intractable racism that has time and again shattered class consciousness; conspiratorial habits of mind; and themes of world-historical declension and redemption.”
They forgot the Kardashians but I’ll let it slide for now. Their point is not wrong: we’ve been on a downward slide since the Reagan administration and blaming ignorant Southern cousins isn’t the answer.
The more interesting sentiment in the article is this:
“Is social media creating new types of people, or simply revealing long-obscured types of people to a segment of the public unaccustomed to seeing them?”
What an intriguing idea. Are we all who we are now because we’ve spent years on social media? Or has social media revealed the true nature of people that we otherwise wouldn’t be exposed to?
My initial instinct was that the latter is the case. It’s hubris to assume that technologies invented in man-boy dorm rooms are sophisticated enough to construct new versions of humans.
Rather than reshaping human nature, social media has repackaged the fringe, coalescing them into numbers large enough to demand legitimacy. Trump didn’t invent racism. Anti-vaxxers mobilized long before Facebook. Misogyny existed millennia before incels. Conspiracy theorists have had their tinfoil hats on since at least Roswell. It just used to be much easier to ignore the disinformed.
Now, not only can we not avoid them, but we’re forced to engage with them as if they’re reasonable and thoughtful. They have publicists and spokespeople and complex justifications that make no sense when taken apart. They’re given interviews and ink because 24 hours of airtime need to be filled. Hot takes must be constantly churned up to feed the ever-hungry Twitter maw.
Many of us now spend inordinate amounts of time online battling the disinformed. Arguing, shaming, attempting to reason with or pull apart their specious arguments. Thing is, this has never ever not once ever not even for one second in the history of the internet worked. So why haven’t we walked away?
It seems that social media is creating new types of people after all—just not the ones you think. The disinformed have always been here and always will be. Their new place in the spotlight has changed the rest of us, demanding we serve as the digital Justice League, always on call to right wrongs and correct ills.
I got all dithered up about the Jeopardy debacle last week, but not in the way you’d first assume. For months, we’ve been inundated with opinions about who should host a game show that, previously, I’d spent approximately one hour per year thinking about. I’m not even on Twitter anymore. But you no longer need to be present there—the arguments merit their own news items now.
By the time Jeopardy producers actually announced their choice, I was so beaten down by the discussion that I no longer cared. I thought, “Wow that seems a shitty pick, but at least I don’t have to hear about it anymore.” You’d think I'd have learned by now…
What bothered me about it is what has bothered me about every other instance like this: I don’t want to be a digital avenger. I liked who I was before, and I have very much liked who I’ve been away from social media these past few months. If I’m there, I am required to posture. And if I do not posture, I am an asshole who doesn’t care about [pick your favorite issue]. It’s a no-win situation.
I have run on way too long and possibly lost some of you back in paragraph three. My original intent was to parse what we mean when we talk about ‘disinformation’ and, more importantly, what exactly we’re supposed to do with the disinformers. I haven’t arrived at much of an answer to either. What does seem obvious is that, in our quest to cure society’s ills, we’ve created an entirely new one. And it’s one from which there seems to be no escape.