this post was submitted on 08 Mar 2025
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That misinformation is too hard to fight.
i'm convinced that calling it misinformation is part of the problem.
misinformation is the proper word for it, but the word carries with it the connotation that it's intentional or ill willed; so misinformation that doesn't seem to have either are given a pass.
for example: take the piece of misinformation that you shouldn't go swimming 30 minutes after you've eaten; it's misinformation like any other but allowed to perpetuate because it doesn't seem ill willed or intentional.
that means that any misinformation that seems innocent is allowed to perpetuate and that's how propaganda takes hold; repeat it enough times and it seems like an established & unquestionable fact and, therefore, innocent, so it flies under the rather and keeps getting perpetuated as fact like the misinformation with swimming & eating
I'm more struggling with the intentional and ill-willed type.
and you'll forever be struggling with it because that type is impossible to distinguish from the other type if you don't have the right frame of reference to detect it.
your experience with eating and swimming gives you a frame of reference that lets you detect that swimming less than 30 minutes after eating is bullshit, so you're able to recognize it as the misinformation that it is and having a proper frame of reference like this is the only way to combat any misinformation.
it's impossible for anyone to have a frame of reference so broad that they can detect all misinformation; not even a group of people can either. becoming something of an expert on the subject of the misinformation is the only thing you can to do help it and, even then, being an expert is relative.
instead, you have to see misinformation as weeds in a mental garden that you will forever have to keep maintaining for your entire life; more weeds will always find their way into your garden and it's up to you to keep clearing them out so that your flowers can shine through and recognize when the flowers you've chosen are the wrong ones for the garden.
Right, but this isn't weeds in my garden, this is someone intentionally dumping toxic waste that's killing me and anything I try to grow, including any weeds that might have tried popping up.
the weeds are the misinformation and if those are getting killed off too; then your problem isn't misinformation.
Weeds are a healthy part of the environment and soil restoration.
Malicious misinformation is toxic and prevents anything healthy from growing.