
via A2ua
Next week, if all goes well, someone will win the presidency. What happens after that is anyone’s guess. Will the losing side believe the results? Will the bulk of Americans recognize the legitimacy of the new president? And will we all be able to clean up the piles of lies, hoaxes and other dung that have been hurled so freely in this hyper-charged, fact-free election?
Much of that remains unclear, because the internet is distorting our collective grasp on the truth. Polls show that many of us have burrowed into our own echo chambers of information. In a recent Pew Research Center survey, 81 percent of respondents said that partisans not only differed about policies, but also about “basic facts.”
For years, technologists and other utopians have argued that online news would be a boon to democracy. That has not been the case.
More than a decade ago, as a young reporter covering the intersection of technology and politics, I noticed the opposite. The internet was filled with 9/11 truthers, and partisans who believed against all evidence that George W. Bush stole the 2004 election from John Kerry, or that Barack Obama was a foreign-born Muslim. (He was born in Hawaii and is a practicing Christian.)
Of course, America has long been entranced by conspiracy theories. But the online hoaxes and fringe theories appeared more virulent than their offline predecessors. They were also more numerous and more persistent. During Mr. Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, every attempt to debunk the birther rumor seemed to raise its prevalence online.
In a 2008 book, I argued that the internet would usher in a “post-fact” age. Eight years later, in the death throes of an election that features a candidate who once led the campaign to lie about President Obama’s birth, there is more reason to despair about truth in the online age.
Why? Because if you study the dynamics of how information moves online today, pretty much everything conspires against truth.
You’re Not Rational
The root of the problem with online news is something that initially sounds great: We have a lot more media to choose from.
Learn more:Â How the Internet Is Loosening Our Grip on the Truth
The Latest on: Truth and facts
[google_news title=”” keyword=”truth and facts” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Truth and facts
- Unfortunately, truth decay is spreading into court proceedings: Singapore CJ Menonon February 4, 2023 at 4:09 am
Addressing a gathering at the 73rd anniversary of the Supreme Court of India, Chief Justice of Singapore Supreme Court Sundaresh Menon highlighted various global challenges that the world's judiciary ...
- PIB Fact Check unearths truth behind this viral letter on PM Mudra loan scheme; have you also received any such post?on February 4, 2023 at 1:52 am
The government’s fact-checking team has completely rejected this fake announcement being circulated on social media with a letter attached to it.
- Overcome Fear And Hate With Faith And Love In 2023on February 3, 2023 at 2:08 pm
In the least expected corridors of life, people are seeking faith and love to overcome fear and hate. This Black History Month, we should pray and draw attention away from the noise and back to the ...
- Troy Aikman drops truth bomb on Kellen Moore’s Cowboys departureon February 3, 2023 at 12:26 pm
Kellen Moore’s run as offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys came to an end earlier this week, as the two sides parted ways via a mutual decision. Moore served as Dallas’ offensive coordinator ...
- The Truth About the Debt Limit Fighton February 3, 2023 at 10:38 am
As with so many of our national debates, the truth about the current debt limit fight is not just different from the narrative set forth by the ...
- Mukilteo citizen watchdog, 83, spoke for ‘the facts and the truth’on February 3, 2023 at 1:30 am
It is fitting that the public see (Charlie Pancerzewski’s) name when they get up to the podium for public comment,” the mayor said.
- Viewpoint: Unlike with academics and reporters, you can't check when ChatGPT's telling the truthon January 31, 2023 at 10:20 am
Of all the reactions elicited by ChatGPT, the chatbot from the American for-profit company OpenAI that produces grammatically correct responses to natural-language queries, few have matched those of ...
- I used to work in a secure facility and here's the ugly truth about how Congress handles classified documentson January 30, 2023 at 11:00 pm
I served in the military near the end of the Cold War and my primary assignment was in a 'SCIF' which stands for a 'Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility.' ...
- Good, bad: Showing up, telling the truth and banning a book make the list this week | Editorialon January 28, 2023 at 3:00 am
Give poor marks to the Pinellas County school system for banning The Bluest Eye, a masterpiece of literature by the late Nobel laureate Toni Morrison. Yes, the book is difficult and has uncomfortable ...
via Bing News