Misinformation: The Best Path Forward

Alice

At a point in history where information has never been more readily available it feels like it is becoming harder and harder to find truth.  A popular term that’s been purveyed more and more in recent years is the term, “misinformation.”  What we think of when we hear this is information that is simply false and intentionally false to misguide us.  However, what “misinformation” has turned into is any information that is put forth by those of the opposite perspective.  Depending on where we receive our information we are only exposed to one perspective and we stay in these echo chambers where ideas are safeguarded from opposition which in-turn takes us further and further down the rabbit hole of myopic thought.  Whether it’s traditional media, the government, podcasts, books, any other institution that is tasked with providing information it feels like we’re getting half-truths told by people with ulterior motives and a vested interest in telling the tale they’re telling.  How do we counteract this in order to get the best possible information?

Eden

The only way to fight bad information is with more and better information.  The only way we fight bad ideas is with more and better ideas.  There’s been a push in recent years to censor dissenting opinions that stray from the “one true orthodoxy” however, when we seek to silence it actually has the exact opposite desired effect.  When you declare that a piece of information is not to be heard, what you’re doing is adding a “forbidden fruit” element to an argument.  What you’re doing is rather than explaining why an idea is bad, you’re giving it life and consequentially asking people to reach from the tree of ignorance.  The only way to effectively rid the information landscape of a bad idea is by explaining why and what about the idea or theory is wrong through evidence and reason.

Incentive

During the last two years we encountered a virus that altered our world in ways that we aren’t even fully aware of yet.  I remember March 11, 2020, the day the world shut down. I raced home and turned on the TV hoping to be provided information that painted a picture of exactly how serious this threat is and what we can do to counteract it.  To my dismay, all I could find was media Trump-bashing and then Trump himself acting as if this was a common cold that will be gone in a matter of days.  Nowhere in traditional media was I provided the information that I needed, information that was valuable.  As we progressed, more and more information was given to us, a lot of this information has since been debunked and refuted by the various people and institutions that not only provided the information but enforced it by rule of law.  What we need to realize is that our institutions and the media have ulterior motive, if you want to know the motivation behind something you need to look at the incentive structure.  When our media benefits from alarmism by stimulating the strongest emotional response, fear, they receive more traffic which equates to more ad revenue.  When our health institutions ramp up the alarmism and present a problem with what they have the only proposed solution, their funding skyrockets.  When the people within these health institutions benefit by sitting on the boards of the pharmaceutical companies and or receiving millions in kickbacks from these companies, they are incentivized to push solutions that benefit these companies which in-turn benefits themselves.  The COVID-19 “experts” are not evil people and this is not all just some grand conspiracy they’re complicit in, it is far less complicated than that.  They are simply human-beings, and human-beings naturally act out of self-interest.  “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  How do we counteract this human element so that we are not led astray? Competition.

Spaniard

In the private-sphere when there is no competition in a market or with a product then the consumer suffers the consequences of higher prices for an inferior product.  In the public (Government) sphere where all elements of competition are removed, it is us the citizen and tax-payer that suffers the consequences of their bad ideas.  How do we counteract this so that of the ideas, theories, and laws that the government and media put forth, the bad ones die and the good ones survive?  We subject them to scrutiny where no-one and no-thing is exempt from having to provide a perspective that offers tangible evidence and logic.  When I was brainstorming this topic a couple of obscure analogies came to mind, the first was gladiators in a coliseum.  How is the best gladiator determined?  By the merit of the fighter, defending himself from attack until he is the last one standing.  Tying this into information, how is the best “gladiator of an idea” determined?  By that idea fending off attacks and being the last one standing where it can turn to the crowd and yell, “ARE YOU NOT BETTER INFORMED?!”  Another analogy using professional wrestling and the concept of a Royal Rumble.  The royal rumble involves 30 wrestlers “wrestling” until only 1 is left standing, the best one.  The best “wrestler of an idea” wins by bashing the worst “wrestler of an idea” over the head with a steel chair until the wrestler with the most merit is the only one standing.  Going back to COVID-19, when were we ever as a public presented meaningful evidence and data aside from inaccurate-percentage based data that was later proven to have been false?  We need to stop allowing a safe-space for ideas to go unchecked and permeate through the population.

Reason

We all want the same thing, an environment for our family and ourselves where we can be free and prosper.  I came across this great quote and I have no idea who said it first but it goes, “Do not outsource your logic and common sense to experts” and it is so true.  None of us are “experts” of virology, economics, climate change, etc. but all of us have common-sense and the ability to critically think which raises a flag when we instinctively feel misled.  It is our duty as citizens to make sure that no person or idea that shapes aspects of our society goes unchecked, not having to enter into the coliseum of ideas and present a perspective that will be the last one standing.  We need to stop giving carte blanche to our leaders and institutions that sit in a safe-space, free of competition to make decisions that do not affect them but affect us in innumerable ways.  On matters of societal importance, evidence, logic, and reason is how we find the answers we seek, not blind faith in our fellow man.