Explicitly complicit: The battle for communication

It takes two to tango but more importantly, it takes two for a lie to be effective. Most don't like to be lied to but in actual fact, lies themselves are harmless, irrelevant, useless up until the point, they are acted upon. It is at this point that the lie becomes operative and that requires a belief in the lie. This is the real reason people don't like to be lied to; it makes it glaringly obvious that their judgement was poor, they trusted.

When a lie becomes an action, it becomes part of reality as it has created something in space and time that will ripple out and forever be part of the future. This can have very little effect, it can fundamentally shift the world or, it could completely change the world of an individual.

Caught after the fact

How does it feel to make a mistake? It feels like being correct. You see, the feeling of making the mistake can only arise after the mistake is identified. Up until that point, it doesn't feel like a mistake at all. Similarly, people don't like to be lied to but it only feels bad at the point the lie becomes known as such. Up until that point, is trusted, it is truth.

If we look through history, we could recognize weapons of mass destruction that knowingly didn't exist but were used as an excuse for war or, a father raising a child that is not theirs while a mother knew the truth, and chose not to say source. Both are going to have ramifications, both are going to cause heartbreak. The truth may set you free but freedom comes at a cost. Always.

But, this is the issue as the believed lies can lead to costs on others and in some cases, the cost to very large numbers or worse, very large numbers of lives. It is not good enough to just uncover the lies and reveal the truth although, that is a large part of the equation. The problem with post-discovery is that it is already out in the wild, the narrative has already been written. I wrote a post about fooling the senses and how once fooled, the illusory story becomes the strong reality.

This is why it is imperative to have integrity of communication and why fake news and propaganda in general is so destructive. Once the average person has built the initial story, they look for information to confirm it and will reject information that questions it. On top of this, people will make their decisions and act fast on what they know and by the time the 'truth' comes out, it is too late, the damage has been done.

Risks of nature

But, there are alternate ways to limit damage than just repairing and hoping that in the future, people will have learned enough from past failures. That they will be more wary and skeptical, less trusting of the governments, media and those who are invested in outcomes which come at the expense of others.

The problem is that even though at a place like Steem where people are somewhat more aware and untrusting of establishment and authority, there is still a lot of gullibility. Greed is a major driver of making something believable and in the cryptosphere, there is no limit on greed.

There is one tag in particular that I like reading and writing for but, from the outside looking in, I don't think people necessarily see the connection. The tag is #informationwar and covers a whole range of media and government content however, when I write for it, I don't uncover anything or reveal the lies that are being spread to FUD the global populace. It is not that I can't do the research, it is just that it is not my way, I don't even watch the news, mainstream, alternate or otherwise.

Nipped in the bud

I spend my days working with people to develop skills in the corporate area but what that pretty much means is, improve fidelity of communication to create better action. Rather than trying to fix problems, the goal is to limit the problems from happening in the first place by increasing clarity of communication and even when it is not clear, being able to recognize it as such, and adjust appropriately. When it comes to problem solving, my method is to be an upstreamist, and solve the problems before they happen.

It is this I try to bring to the #informationwar tag rather than the exposé articles that deal with individual cases, as it is more my area. As I see it, the war of information is only a battle because of ignorance.

Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil. - Plato

Disempowering the power

Take away our ignorance by replacing it with the tools to see the deception, and the lies we are fed are harmless, as they do not fall on the fertile soils of gullibility, they fall upon the hardened ears of skepticism, curiosity and the active responsibility to consider, confirm and reject them for what they are. The lie can ask to dance, but the understanding and aware recipient will no longer take its hand and instead expose it at its core before it has a chance to find rhythm and take root.

When it comes to the destructive power of lies, it is generally the liar who takes the blame but, they are doing what they think they must to get what they are after. The most intelligent children will lie for self-preservation to avoid punishment as they understand the ramifications of their actions. Similarly, the most nefarious government will lie to get what it wants too, which is generally, more wealth, power and the benefits they bring. It is up to us to keep them honest, as parents and as citizens.

Becoming a thorn

But there is more to it than just being skeptical, there are skills involved that are not trained naturally for the most part and society itself tries to limit. Truly educated people are a threat and a thorn in the side of authority for when there are attentive eyes on them, they cannot move freely and the shadows they refer shrink in size. It is a game of cat and mouse and for too long, we have been conditioned to be the mouse. We are not.

But for us to keep our houses rodent free, we have to pay attention, which is increasingly difficult considering we live in a world that incentivizes our switching off and tuning out from experience and encourages the boxing in of ourselves behind screens and the immersing ourselves into games, movies and all kinds of entertainment designed to keep us inactive, blind, controlled. Weak.

I understand that for the purists, the academics, the narrow of interest and the invested, they may see my attempt at relevance in the fight n the information war field as irrelevant but, this is the issue I see at hand. To really fight against tyranny, oppression and the dictatorial positions of governments, corporations and the mass media, a holistic approach is required, one that doesn't just look at the events but includes the people.

We come hard-wired and soft-programmed to carry all kinds of biases that will color our perspectives and skew our assessments of the information presented. It is here that they can hack, manipulate, nudge and change our behaviors for their own benefit. We feel that we know but, time and time again, we are found lacking, post-fact.

Offering what is available

It is not that all of my views are correct but, I hope that they will make people sit up a little and pay attention to the world they live in, the information flows and their own behaviors. So doing gives the best chance of unlearning the programs, reassessing the environment and creating personal processes so that the next time they are lied to, they do not take he bait and instead, point out exactly where the hook is. It also gives a chance to build a moral view of the world that supports growth, not oppression.

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. - George Orwell

The largest ongoing and decentralized conspiracy we currently face is the concerted push to keep us ignorant, keep us asleep. It is time to wake up. This is me attempting to shake the branches I can reach.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]