On Disinformation

How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy

Lee McIntyre

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English

Massachusetts Inst of Tec
17 October 2023

Society & Social Sciences; Politics & government

"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.

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."

By: Lee McIntyre
Imprint: Massachusetts Inst of Tec
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 152mm, Width: 102mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9780262546300
ISBN 10: 0262546302
Pages: 144
Publication Date: 17 October 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

1 Truth Killers — 1 2 The History of Strategic Denialism — 7 3 The Creators — 15 4 The Amplifiers — 45 5 The Believers — 91 6 How to Win the War on Truth — 103 Acknowledgments — 135 Notes — 137 Index — 161

Lee McIntyre is Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. Formerly Executive Director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University, he has taught philosophy at Colgate University, Boston University, Simmons University, Tufts Experimental College, and Harvard Extension School.

Reviews for On Disinformation: How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy

"Included in The Next Big Idea Club’s August 2023 Must-Read Books list ""This brief but impactful book offers trenchant commentary on the current war on truth and workable solutions to protect democracy in an increasingly chaotic world...thoughtful and illuminating."" —Kirkus Reviews ""On Disinformation follows hot on the heels of McIntyre’s How to Talk to a Science Denier, in which the professional philosopher illustrated how difficult it is to argue with your enemy unless you understand how they think; in which he recommended taking even the most bizarre of opposing viewpoints seriously, if only to level the playing field.In what feels very much like the next logical instalment of his discourse on living in a post-truth world, On Disinformation builds on McIntyre’s earlier work by examining how ‘strategic denialism’ is created, amplified and accepted into fringe orthodoxy."" —E&T, Engineering and Technology"