Lee McIntyre

Here’s a fair question: If you believe that the California wildfires are caused by Jewish space lasers, or that COVID vaccines contain microchip tracking technology, is there any possible book or explanation that could convince you otherwise? Sometimes, people operate at such an appalling level of gullibility and flagrant stupidity that they are essentially beyond reach, and this, unfortunately, is what Lee McIntyre is up against in his latest book, On Disinformation: How to Fight for show more Truth and Protect Democracy.

To begin with, McIntyre points out the crucial difference between misinformation and disinformation, the latter being entirely intentional. Producers of disinformation do so, not for the benefit of those who consume it, or even because they mistakenly believe it, but for their own economic, political, or ideological advantage.

To demonstrate this, McIntyre takes us back to 1953, when the connection between cigarette smoking and cancer was becoming clear. During this time, the public didn’t inherently “know” that smoking caused cancer; rather, specialists in the field had to first discover it through standard scientific protocols.

For those who know how science works, you’ll know that full consensus is never required (or in many cases, isn’t even possible). But this doesn’t stop one from asserting a scientific “fact” when the overwhelming amount of evidence supports it, even in the face of some vanishingly small amount of uncertainty.

If you’re scientifically illiterate, however, you won’t know this.

Well, the tobacco industry in 1953 took that last point to heart. They didn’t have to “prove” anything; rather, they simply had to create enough “uncertainty and doubt”—by hiring their own scientists to present “both sides of the debate”—to “get the public to question the truth about something that scientists didn’t really question”; namely, that smoking significantly increases one’s risk of developing cancer and other pathologies.

And it worked, because, according to public opinion polling at the time, no one seemed especially concerned about the health risks of smoking. Now, if this sounds eerily similar to the public’s skepticism toward evolution, climate change, and, more recently, COVID and vaccinations in general, it’s because those spreading disinformation on these topics used the exact same playbook. The tobacco companies set the standard and now shady politicians know exactly how to spread doubt about literally anything to an uneducated public that doesn’t know the first thing about scientific objectivity.

So, what can be done about this? It seems like, for every bullshit theory we can patiently refute, we’re presented with a hundred more. Or, in the words of Uriel Fanelli, “an idiot can create more bullshit than you could ever hope to refute.” It appears, then, to be a losing battle, especially since social media algorithms are primed to reward the sharing of politically charged nonsense.

It may seem hopeless, but there are, in fact, things we can do (and must do). As McIntyre skillfully conveys, we can (1) expose the faulty reasoning process by which idiots adopt their beliefs, rather than counter specific beliefs one at a time, (2) point out the underlying strategies that nefarious disinformation producers use to delude the public, (3) reveal the incentives that bad actors have for lying to the public, and (4) start penalizing news sources, social media platforms, and politicians for not more aggressively fighting against the spread of disinformation (especially in the name of free speech absolutism).

It’s a tall order, to say the least. But the alternative, to sit back and let charlatans define our reality for us, is even more unpalatable. So, if you find yourself caught in a web of conspiracy theories and being used as a useful idiot to spread embarrassingly foolish beliefs, read this book to understand the faulty thought processes by which you come to understand the world. And if you’re fed up with the level of stupidity you’re experiencing in your relations with others, read this book for practical strategies to help the victims of disinformation navigate their way back into the light of reality. show less

I did not read this book to enjoy it. I read this book to find out the truth in an age where the truth seems to be the first victim of media and political conflicts. And believe me when I say that McIntyre does not disappoint. His prose is simplistic, avoids jargon and he substantiates his arguments with substantial evidence. I propose-nay command-that each and every individual who believes themselves to be intelligent read this book and then re-read it to learn how the truth is the truth no show more more today but a commercialized reflection of what atrophied leaders want us to believe rather than what we must believe. show less

Very important book. There is a lot of snark in the author's tone about those who deny science and this is a bit off-putting. Also, I think he does not quite delve as fully into liberal denial. A person who argues well can obfuscate their true motives by skilled rationalizing. It can be hard to get at the actual motives and feelings in the face of such arguments. Nonetheless, a really timely topic.

Worth the price of admission. The author has some good points and suggestions for working with the science-deniers in your life. The key to the book is the five common factors in denying science:
*cherry-picking evidence
*belief in conspiracy theories
*reliance on fake experts (and the denigration of real experts)
*committing logical errors
*setting impossible expectations for what science can achieve

The key message is to communicate, and communicate from a place of love and understanding and not show more hate. But keep communicating with those in your life. show less