On Disinformation
How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19984906 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lee Mcintyre (0000-0003-0607-8151, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Publication date | 2023-06-29 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | BOOK |
| Venue | On Disinformation (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | The MIT Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.7551/mitpress/14889.001.0001 |
| OpenAlex | W4382600356 |
| ISBN | 9780262375580 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 2 |
A powerful, pocket-sized citizen's guide on how to fight back against the disinformation campaigns that are imperiling American democracy, from the bestselling author of Post-Truth and How to Talk to a Science Denier. The effort to destroy facts and make America ungovernable didn't come out of nowhere. It is the culmination of seventy years of strategic denialism. In On Disinformation, Lee McIntyre shows how the war on facts began, and how ordinary citizens can fight back against the scourge of disinformation that is now threatening the very fabric of our society. Drawing on his twenty years of experience as a scholar of science denial, McIntyre explains how autocrats wield disinformation to manipulate a populace and deny obvious realities, why the best way to combat disinformation is to disrupt its spread, and most importantly, how we can win the war on truth. McIntyre takes readers through the history of strategic denialism to show how we arrived at this precarious political moment and identifies the creators, amplifiers, and believers of disinformation. Along the way, he also demonstrates how today's “reality denial” follows the same flawed blueprint of the “five steps of science denial” used by climate deniers and anti-vaxxers; shows how Trump has emulated disinformation tactics created by Russian and Soviet intelligence dating back to the 1920s; provides interviews with leading experts on information warfare, counterterrorism, and political extremism; and spells out the need for algorithmic transparency from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. On Disinformation lays out ten everyday practical steps that we can take as ordinary citizens—from resisting polarization to pressuring our Congresspeople to regulate social media—as well as the important steps our government (if we elect the right leaders) must take. Compact, easy-to-read (and then pass on to a friend), and never more urgent, On Disinformation does nothing less than empower us with the tools and knowledge needed to save our republic from autocracy before it is too late
Computer security · Democracy · Denial · Disinformation · Hacker · Information Warfare · Internet privacy · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Social media · Sociology · Computer Science · Law · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Psychology
From paradoxical freedom of opinion to media education as defensive democracy
Effectiveness of training actions aimed at improving critical thinking in the face of mis- and disinformation
Public discourse and wilful incommensurability
The Mutual Reinforcement of Populism and Post-Truth in Undermining Deliberative Democracy
Political representation in an era of income inequality and post-truth politics
Denial and misinformation in defense of the tar sands
Conceptual misinformation
Conceptual contamination
The Digital Memory Hole
Unravelling the web
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |