I recommend Hannah Arendt's essay Lying in Politics. Summary:<p>1. Lying has always been considered a valid political tool. It isn't really clear how a government can operate without lying.<p>2. Lying is deeply related to the human ability to act. Acting involves imagining the world as it does not exist and trying to bring it into existence. Imagining the world as it does not exist is very close to lying (if only to yourself).<p>3. Lies are often more plausible than reality because the liar knows what his audience wants to hear.<p>4. History is not composed of facts; it is about collective memory and consensus. Facts exist but history always contains a buried political philosophy that constrains the facts.<p>5. A significant amount of lying involves fitting reality into overly simplified models.<p>6. Almost all liars start with self-deception. They often don't know they're lying.<p>7. Ironically, the people with the most access to information are often in the worst place to determine the truth. Overclassification leads to a situation where cleared officials have far too much information to wade through. The president selects officials who filter information though their own overly simplified models before it reaches him.<p>8. Lying in order to hide the truth implies a truth, which means that the truth can often be deduced from the lie.<p>9. We should be extremely wary of highly educated technocrats who attempt to impose a "scientific" viewpoint on political events, always fail, and yet remain utterly convinced by their oversimplified models.
At least 70 dogs have engaged in barking. Jury still out on if water is wet.<p>Seriously though, who doesn't expect that their government will attempt to cast itself in the best light and smear its enemies? Propaganda has been around since before the dawn of mass media. There is always a cultural myth of our group being the chosen people and having the correct answers to how life should be lived and resources allocated. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it inspires people and creates stronger bonds between otherwise unrelated individuals. We just need to reign in the negative shit-talking is all. Focus on the positive aspects. Healthy competition between countries as with people is generally positive.
I remember Jared Kushner was asked about the Russians ads, he said something along the lines of "that's what the GOP spends in advertising in 3 hours". I don't think 99.99% of people understand the scale to which propaganda and establishment bias penetrates into their lives and daily functioning.<p>"Hate Speech", defined essentially as any form of discrimination whatsoever, has been made illegal in Europe following the growth of the anti-immigration far right. Is this fair towards these parties? Imagine making climate change speech illegal because it hurts the feelings of people who drive cars or eat meat. Would green parties not be discriminated against? How about making speech illegal that suggests increasing taxes on corporations? Where do we stop?<p>There is always an ongoing political battle to steer our thinking. The world is a political place down to the air we breathe, what we eat, what we wear, how we to talk to each other and increasingly even what people we find in our community.
> Governments are spreading disinformation to discredit political opponents, bury opposing views and interfere in foreign affairs.<p>A funny point of view coming from the NYT. Arent they guilty of doing the exact same thing? They are hardly a neutral outlet.
"Reply All" had an episode that touched on an interesting variation of this:<p><a href="https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/j4hl36/112-the-prophet" rel="nofollow">https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/j4hl36/112-the-proph...</a>
In the age of information - disinformation is a potent weapon. I would be remiss if powerful entities including states and corporations did not use it.
Apparently New Zealand is so pure they don't even bother to draw it in on their corruption map[1].<p>[1] <a href="https://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/93/2019/09/CyberTroop-Report19.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/93/201...</a>