How to Spread a Lie and Other ‘Useful’ Skills in Postnormal Times?
37% of Americans
don’t believe in global warming. Half of those that believe in global warming
don’t believe it is man-made. Although, recent extremities in the weather, the recent bomb cyclone Grayson, Hurricane Katrina etc. do point out towards global warming as the
cause. The wording used in these two statements are very typical. Now the first
problem with these statements is the word ‘believe’. Global warming can be
scientifically proven. So, can the scientific facts become beliefs and is there
a problem with that? The difference between beliefs and scientific ‘facts’ is
that beliefs have no scientific proofs. If the scientific ‘facts’ become
beliefs than they are considered true even if new scientific evidence proves
them wrong. This can be used to an advantage if it allows someone to make a
gain. If a scientific fact is inconvenient for you, then make the whole thing
an issue of beliefs and take the science out of equation. Global warming is
indeed a scientifically provable or disprovable phenomenon. In the ideal world,
there is very little room for ‘belief’. However, as can be seen from the
opening statements of this article, the word 'believe' is incorporated into the
global warming debate. So, a scientifically proven phenomenon is only
considered true by just around 2/3rd of Americans.
But how do you
spread a lie in today’s world and age when, apparently, all the information is at
the finger tips of everyone? Simple. Just find the common sources of
information and feed them with your version of the story or ‘facts’. In the old
days, it was done through controlling the mainstream media. Today the most
common and easy to access source of information for common population is social
media. The difference is only a certain section of society had control over the
print and electronic media in the olden times whereas social media is in the
reach of everyone today. However, controlling social media requires different
strategies and it is still only the rich and powerful that are in charge or,
are they!
First of all,
getting anything to trend on twitter has a whole method behind. It also
requires investment. Large corporations pressure groups, political parties and
leaders, all hire their social media teams to give them favourable social media
presence. These teams can spread all kinds of fake news and lies to achieve
their objectives. The other social media users become vehicles that make these
fake stories and alternative ‘facts’ travel.
How is it possible
to make people believe the lies to be true and convince them to spread them
further in this age of information. This part of the process relies on the lack
of ability of a layman to separate fact from fiction and do a background check
on something that appears on your Facebook or Twitter feed before that 'Share' button is pressed and the information is passed on further. Part of the problem
is the inaccessibility of scientific literature. Firstly, most of it is not
free to access unlike stuff on Facebook and Twitter. Secondly, the wording and
the language used in the scientific articles and journals is complete alien not
just for a layman but even for a scientist from another field. Second point, other than the accessibility of
information, is that even scientists can be bribed. There are numerous examples
of that in the history. The rising levels of lead in the oceans and the health
dangers of sugar are just a few examples.
So how do we deal
with this information explosion? How do we separate facts from fictions? How
can the beliefs be separated from the scientific theories and proofs? I think,
first of all, the scientific literature needs to become more accessible, free
and easy to understand. Scientific facts are to be communicated better. Among
many other benefits of this, one will be increased impact of scientific
discoveries. A quick sanity check before passing on any information further
will be a service to humanity. Scientific discoveries are not to be confused
with beliefs. Personality cults play a role in converting some of the
scientific theories into beliefs. For example, just because Newtown said
something, or Albert Einstein came up with a theory doesn’t mean it will hold
forever. Science is challenging the old theories and understandings. Newton’s
famous words, that “I could see further
because I was standing on the shoulders of giants” can serve us well.
When it comes to
global warming, a lot is at stake for some of the industry and the world
economy. I will leave the background check on the firsts two sentences of this
article to the readers.
Naeem Minhas
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