Fight Disinformation

Disinformation and misinformation are a particular and serious problem in today's world, given the freedom of social media and media access available to many people.

This problem is worsened by politicians, leaders of the government, including even the US president and vice president, who continue to inflame mistrust and distort the truth among the people.

The most dangerous thing today, is people who know the facts, yet knowingly lie and twist the facts to serve their own interest. They dress as leaders, quoting bible verses, yet do things completely in the opposite way, betraying their conscience and the truth.

What happens if you see someone sharing or posting misinformation, or sometimes even blatant lies or propaganda?

Step 1: Give the person the warning and raise the alarm that the information may not be correct. Setting off the alarm always helps to prevent further spread of the misinformation or disinformation campaign.

Step 2: Encourage others to develop a sense of due-diligence and to always check the sources of the information. Remind them what they see, read and hear are not always true and factual.

Provide fact check and other reliable sites. Encourage others to understand political spectrum of the source and how to find the sponsors and motives of the source.

Step 3: Ask pointed questions, encourage others to come up with counter-arguments and multiple perspectives to see the issue. Avoid over-simplifying or cutting things black and white, good or evil.

Step 4: When running into disagreement, avoid angry arguments, but encourage finding the values and beliefs that connect people. Help others develop a habit of fighting disinformation and building up "immunity" against information "virus". The media environment, is just like the physical environment, requires everyone's participation and collaboration.

Here are a few references for further readings.