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“The truth isn’t dying. It’s being killed.”
Lee McIntyre argues this in his latest book, “On Disinformation: How to Fight for Truth andProtect Democracy.” McIntyre is a research fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. His previous books include “Post-Truth,” and “How To Talk To A Science Denier.”
The war on truth is threatening to topple democracies around the world, according to McIntyre, and undermining truth is a key strategy of authoritarian leaders.
When it comes to denying that President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, “a belief fervently held like that is a matter of identity. It’s not just what they believe, it’s who they are,” McIntyre told the Vermont Conversation. “No evidence can convince them.”
McIntyre said there is a key distinction between misinformation and disinformation. “Misinformation is a mistake … Disinformation is a lie. Disinformation is a falsehood that is intentionally shared by someone who knows that it’s false and is sharing it anyway because it serves their interests to have an army of people believe that falsehood,” he said.
“Authoritarians thrive on the idea of falsehood or the idea of lying,” McIntrye said. “They understand that if you can control the information source, you can control the population.”
