Two Truths and a Lie: Navigating the Pre-Election "Disinformation" Maze
#TIPS4FAMILIES | Heading into the next few months of election frenzy, we have a great opportunity to teach our kids how to dispassionately identify a fact. Here is why and how...
I don’t like the term “disinformation.” I think it’s used too loosely and makes us intellectually lazy.
By using the term indiscriminately, and allowing room for half-truths, and even factual but inconvenient information (an actual phenomena called “Liar’s Dividend”) to make the cut, “disinformation” has lost its very serious and specific definition.
dis·in·for·ma·tion
noun
false information which is intended to mislead, especially propaganda issued by a government organization to a rival power or the media.
"the entire Western intelligence system had been systematically manipulated with clever disinformation"
The way we throw around the term also seems to presuppose an Orwellian 1984-like Ministry of Truth that does the heavy lifting of telling us what to believe.
“‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’” (1984, George Orwell)
Media also love to “report” on disinformation because it allows for the sharing of eye-bulging and click-worthy headlines on the basis of “just relaying” what is untrue.
It’s like when we were young and relished repeating a rumor even though we knew it was a lie — delighting in the shock the rumor produced.
A Discovery of Facts
This is not to say, of course, that intentionally untrue, mistakenly erroneous, or maliciously harmful information does not circulate in spades right now.
But a fact stands alone in its truth and we need to part the seas of opinion, and put aside someone else’s context, to judge a truth’s meaning for ourselves.
“‘Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.’” (1984, George Orwell)
Unfortunately, reality will continue to bend as artificial intelligence gives birth to a funhouse mirror view of the world. So, the only real answer is to power up those critical thinking skills… for our kids’ benefit and our own.
Critical Thinking is Our Superpower
There are some great ways to regain control of identifying what is factual and then building personal context in what is “true.”
Some kids learn news analysis in school, but here is a great exercise to now and again use as a reminder for them (and us) about the power of sway.
Identify and Discuss the News Source
We’ve almost forgotten how broad the category of “news” has become. It’s no longer radio, television, and print, but now also social media, digital-only publishing platforms, and even chat groups. The architecture of a New York Times homepage is a great reminder of how rigorous and precise news delivery once was. It’s a great conversation starter around the different types of news that exist, even within a single publication.
Name the Emotional Tug
We’d all benefit from asking ourselves: “how does this [article, broadcast segment, etc.] make me feel?” And while it seems an out-of-the-ordinary exercise, it can actually be helpful in connecting with how an industry that needs you to click and read/consume their content tugs at those emotional strings. By identifying the feeling and then setting it aside, we are in a much better place to consider the content.
Facts, Opinions & Generalizations
Being able to identify what is fact, opinion and a generalization within a single piece of content is an enlightening exercise. You can find a great printable sheet to use here. Even the “hardest” news can contain all three categories of content. If you want to add a review of what fact vs. opinion looks like this this flowchart is helpful.
Nix the Subjective Words
This can be an eye opener for many reasons, not the least of which is seeing how much “fat” is baked into a single article. While parsing out the different aspects of content you can also circle words and phrases that seem to add subjectivity, emotion, or are even superfluous. One of my favorite books in journalism graduate school was William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. While a professor at Yale, Zinsser would take a piece of writing and have students remove anything unnecessary leaving just a few sentences of actual substance. Sometimes we fear simplicity but it’s powerful to say what you mean and mean what you say.
Search for Primary Sources
A couple of months ago I wrote about how very real footage of President Biden in various activities, from the G7 meeting to a Democratic fundraiser, were being called “cheapfakes” by his press secretary. My first response was to go right to the actual footage to decide for myself. You can read more here and why (and as a footnote, we all now know that what we were seeing would lead to POTUS dropping out of the race).
Even as adults we’ve allowed ourselves to stray away from critical thinking and toward tribalism. We must reconsider this approach as AI will make fact finding much more difficult. It’s hard, but will change the course of our kids’ future.