#InformationalWarfare

EndemicEarthlingIn this context, power is not threatened by the exposure of a lie crafted with insufficient attention to <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/PlausibleDeniability" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#PlausibleDeniability</a>. On the contrary, lies are now generated in industrial quantities, with the quality of each false claim sacrificed on the altar of sheer mendacious productivity. The goal is not to present yourself as a trustworthy teller of truths, but to poison the well of public discourse with an overflowing sewage of impossible claims in order to discredit *everyone* and even the prospect that any action by anyone is ever taken in good faith.So at this point, I think the "embarrassment" epistemological criterion has to be retired. This new wave of authoritarian political figures have realised that shameless repetition of lies, and spraying yet more lies when those lies are exposed, and never giving an inch, nets you a support base with basically indestructible support, so long as you never show any hint of weakness in the façade of endless bullshit.You can debunk bullshit, but the work of the bullshitter is not threatened by your debunking. Indeed, your good faith debunking might actually be part of their strategy, as it can be weaponised to paint themselves as victim of the very <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/InformationalWarfare" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#InformationalWarfare</a> they are themselves currently engaged in.3/4

EndemicEarthling<a href="https://todon.eu/tags/Putin" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Putin</a>, <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Trump</a>, <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/Netanyahu" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Netanyahu</a>, <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/Modhi" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Modhi</a> and other recent authoritarian strongmen (<a href="https://todon.eu/tags/Orb%C3%A1n" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Orbán</a>, <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/Erdo%C4%9Fan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Erdoğan</a>, <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/Bolsonaro" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Bolsonaro</a>, etc) have discovered just how effective the <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/FirehoseOfDisinformation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#FirehoseOfDisinformation</a> is in an age of deliberate political dysfunction, polarised electorates, microtargeted <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/disinformation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#disinformation</a> and the general milieu of ecocidal late capitalist societal crumbling ('the Crumbles'). Their supporters generally either never hear about the debunking, reject all evidence that conflicts with their commitments (<a href="https://todon.eu/tags/IdentityProtectiveCognition" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#IdentityProtectiveCognition</a>), or don't care and openly embrace <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/authoritarian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#authoritarian</a> doublethink (cf <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/MAGA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#MAGA</a>, widespread <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/Israeli" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Israeli</a> support for *increased* violence in <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/Gaza" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Gaza</a>, <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/Russian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Russian</a> troll farmers).Mainstream journalists reliably get caught up in the <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/FalseBalance" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#FalseBalance</a> of <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/BothSides" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#BothSides</a>; <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/centrists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#centrists</a> fret over <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/CivilityPolitics" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#CivilityPolitics</a>; the politically disengaged grow ever more cynical and abandon the search for truth, embracing the very <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/cynicism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#cynicism</a>, <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/apathy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#apathy</a>, <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/LearnedHelplessness" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#LearnedHelplessness</a> and <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/disengagement" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#disengagement</a> that this strategy of <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/InformationalWarfare" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#InformationalWarfare</a> seeks to nurture.2/4

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