The medium is the misleading message

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/01/2025 (313 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There was a time not all that long ago when western democracies used to look down on totalitarian regimes that blocked internet access to facts those regimes found uncomfortable.

Countries such as China were criticized in the strongest terms. Here’s the U.S state department’s take: “Within China, the CCP controls the media and all forms of debate and information. The CCP also bans virtually all domestic access to international news and media outlets, threatens and intimidates foreign journalists who report critical stories about the CCP, and actively monitors and obstructs the flow of data through telecom networks and smartphone apps. ”

But that was back when truth mattered.

Truth doesn’t seem to matter any more, even in western democracies, and even finding the truth among the falsehoods is getting harder and harder to do.

Take these three statements, all from social media, all from official U.S. government accounts, including that of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump’s is first, from his Truth Social site: “The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER flowing abundantly from the Pacific Northwest, and beyond. The days of putting a Fake Environmental argument, over the PEOPLE, are OVER. Enjoy the water, California!!!”

Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s department of government efficiency tweeted, “Congratulations to the administration and the DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation for more than doubling the federally pumped water flowing toward Southern California in 72 hours. Was an honor for the DOGE team to work with you. Great job!”

Meanwhile, the State of California department of water resources tweeted out, “The military did not enter California. The federal government restarted water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days. State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful.”

Keep in mind as we said before, these are all official accounts.

The truth is somewhere in there, but by all appearances, the project that both the California water resources department and DOGE refer to was too small and too short to have been officially announced in any way, and there’s no clear record of work — the best guess is that maintenance work was done and refurbished pumps were switched back on and operated more efficiently after the maintenance was completed.

But how are you supposed to get to the bottom of it?

The simple fact is that no one is even trying. On one side, social media accounts are raving at Trump’s supposed power and take-charge governance, though you think a military operation at a federal pumping site might have garnered a photograph or two. (No problem: artificial intelligence will probably manufacture one out of thin air in the next few days as “proof.”)

On the other side, people are simply laughing at Trump for fabricated nonsense.

But what exactly is the difference between controlling the content that your population can see — a la the Chinese government — and simply degrading the accuracy of what anyone and everyone says by turning the entire information sphere into a drunken party bus of manufactured and often deliberately false information?

The same result takes place — political indoctrination based on what you are spoon-fed by those you believe.

This is a dangerous political game being played by powerful people who see misinformation as a critical tool for gaining and keeping power.

It’s getting tougher to discern the truth from carefully concocted (and sometimes sloppily concocted) “alternate truths.”

If we don’t find a safe way out of this informational poison pit, western nations and western democracies are doomed.