End game of disinformation firehosing: When people believe nothing, they will believe anything.
Shunning and mockery work where careful debunkings do not. They're an important first step, but you have to be prepared to back them up. Push back. Yell disinfo purveyors down. Call them out for the fucking liars that they are. There's a lot at stake. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
I'm not comfortable with political solutions to disinformation, because then politicians get to decide what is truth. But social consequences to shitty actions are extremely effective. Look how Sarah Huckabee Sanders melted down when she was politely asked to leave a restaurant.
So that's what you can do. You want to help stop the spread of bullshit? Get in liars' faces. Call them out. Point at them publicly and mock them for being liars. Make them cry because they can't go anywhere without being booed, then laugh at them. Fuck them. They're liars!
In a just world, this would be the job of the press. That's what we're supposed to do. But there are so many goddamned bootlickers who lack the guts or the brains to push back against obvious lies. These people are doing public relations by spit-polishing liars' images for them.
Please note that my message is not partisan. Liars and bad faith grifters abound everywhere. Relatedly, don't get sucked into bullshit drama because that's intended to sap you of energy that you need for righteous outrage at being lied to. That's disinformation, too.
From Nic Dawes, former EiC att South Africa’s Mail & Guardian Newspaper, in.2016. We who know history knew what was coming.
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