Fediverse vs Disinformation
Pointing out, debunking, and spreading awareness about state- and company-sponsored astroturfing on Lemmy and elsewhere. This includes social media manipulation, propaganda, and disinformation campaigns, among others.
Propaganda and disinformation are a big problem on the internet, and the Fediverse is no exception.
What's the difference between misinformation and disinformation? The inadvertent spread of false information is misinformation. Disinformation is the intentional spread of falsehoods.
By equipping yourself with knowledge of current disinformation campaigns by state actors, corporations and their cheerleaders, you will be better able to identify, report and (hopefully) remove content matching known disinformation campaigns.
Community rules
Same as instance rules, plus:
- No disinformation
- Posts must be relevant to the topic of astroturfing, propaganda and/or disinformation
Related websites
- EU vs Disinfo
- FactCheck.org
- PolitiFact
- Snopes
- Media Bias / Fact Check
- PEN America
- Media Matters
- FAIR
Matrix chat links
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Huh... that's a good point
I've been thinking lately about the seemingly natural proclivity for right-wing dishonesty - the fact that conservatism is built on lies - that society was better off on the past, that they can return society to that nominally better past, and that they do return society to that nominally better past - and the fact that right-wing economics is similarly built on lies - that society benefits when resources are withheld from the poor and concentrated among the rich, that the market can and will regulate itself...
I hadn't considered the profit angle though - that the right generally is more sensitive to and ready and willing to do whatever it takes to take advantage of profit-making opportunities and the left is relatively poorly equipped to beat them at that game...
So it's even worse than I thought...
That's actually most of why I mentioned the economic lie that society benefits when resources are withheld from the poor.
It's a thing I've been growing aware of alongside the right-wing tendency toward dishonesty - there's a sort of overlap between the general lack of empathy and concern for others and the tendency toward dishonesty.
In a sense, holding the position that society should strive to equitably distribute resources is a simple bit of honesty, while the position that the rich deserve to hoard however much they can accumulate is fundamentally a lie. It's not even really just a matter of differing viewpoints - it's a break between a relatively objective and verifiable truth and a relatively objective and verifiable lie.
But yes - even with that, it's likely that I underestimate the effect. I long ago recognized that there was a fundamental toxic self-centeredness and sincere lack of empathy among notably ambitious and acquisitive people that was completely alien to me, but it's so completely alien that I still have to regularly remind myself (or be reminded) of that fact.
This is something Hitler talked about quite openly in his second (unpublished) book. Ironically enough, it was completely true.