Disinformation is a form of spreading untruths to get people to act in certain ways. It used to be that Intelligence Agencies were the major sources of disinformation when working against national adversaries. Today, throubh globbing and other means, a lot of people are spreading disinformation, lies, to get people to act in certain ways. Unthinking individuals are jumping on their bandwagon and going along. Thinking people look at all sides before deciding whether or not to go along.

“I Made a Mistake”

With these four words one of the wealthiest and most respected women in the world provided a sterling example for us. Presented with the fact that the author of a book she had promoted had lied, she at first defended the author and the book as providing helpful information and an inspiring story. Oprah was bombarded by her supporters, and admitted that the ends do not justify the means. “I made a mistake.” It is not okay to present fiction as fact, even in a memoir. We must let our readers and listeners know what is fact, what is unsupported beliefs, and what is simply fiction.

Every day we are subjected to disinformation, information that is presented as fact but is not. This is often done by devious persons to get us to “jump on the bandwagon” and rail against one thing or another. When erroneous information is repeated often enough, it becomes accepted as fact and people act as if it is true . The uninitiated or naive individual often does just what is intended without checking the author’s credentials and biases. It is easy to go along with what we are told. Some of us even believe everything we read in the newspaper. We forget that reporters also have biases. Some are able to rise above them, as we expect the Supreme Court Justices to do. Some are not and, as we’ve seen in the past, blatantly present lies as truth until caught by the publisher.

What is a clear-thinking, open-minded citizen to do? Find and read all sides of an issue before going along with the crowd. Listen to opposing viewpoints; look for hidden agendas. Make your own decisions. Whenever someone always takes a strong negative position, especially against elected officials in the US, I do not give them credence. Few things are all right or all wrong. We have a system for electing governing officials and whether or not we like the outcome, if we are responsible citizens who care for our country, we should accept the outcome. Repeating unsupported negatives like a mantra shows the world what happens when democracies lose sight of a true democratic system.
Look at it this way, no matter who is elected, about half of the country will have supported the opposing side. No matter who wins. What is an ordinary citizen to do?
As we learn to accept the fact that we will not always be on the “winning side” and will most likely not agree with all the policies adopted, we still live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Be brave enough to stand up for sound thinking. Be brave enough to say "My choice did not win, but I'm willing to support the winning party for the good of the country." Then when you have a ligitimate complaint, your views will have much more weight because you are not blindly following in opposition.