What does it say about your cause, if you have to lie to support it?
I am one of those people who believe that it is never too soon for well-timed, good-intentioned humour, as I think that humour is a solid way to cope in what can be very difficult circumstances. Humour can provide an outlet, as well as a way to reframe a situation so that we can find new perspectives and approaches to deal with whatever tragedy we might be facing at a particular time. But I also think humour has been degraded and simplified, where nuance and cleverness is lost, replaced with bitterness, cruelty and political agenda.
I was looking through some "deepfake" images in a story about the Bondi shooting event from the other day, that had victims positioned with makeup artists to suggest it was staged, and fake AI-generated Facebook profiles of the shooters, claiming they were Jewish. But, these are not in any way done in poor jest, they are done for a political cause. And it got me thinking about the creators of them.
What do they think of themselves?
If in order to support whatever cause they subscribe themselves to they have to lie about events, what does it say about firstly them, and then their cause? For example, the "staged event" narrative has become quite popular over the last few decades, even though the scale of organisation required in order to control all of the images is ludicrous. When everyone has a camera in their hand at all times, it is hard to fake something as large as the Bondi shooting. Yet, there are still many people who will believe that narrative, because they want to believe it.
Of course, the same narrative falls down when there is personal connection to the event in question. For those who want to believe and have no personal insight into the event though, they can suspend their disbelief of the propaganda they consume in order to keep their belief system intact. But for those with some kind of personal connection, that doesn't work. For instance, a friend's colleague's son was one of the police officers who was shot in the face at Bondi. He was told his son had been killed, only to find out later that he had survived.
Try faking that reaction in the office.
But the thing with a lot of these news stories is that the flow volume is so high and the consumption speed so fast and so detail ignorant, that it is very easy for false information to flow. And this is especially true for information that people share that supports their belief narrative. For instance, the fake Facebook profile was pretty obviously AI generated if looking at the details, because a lot of the words and grammar of the layout was incorrectly spelled. Yet, when people who want to believe are scrolling their phone, they aren't going to look at details, just the headline. Around a decade ago there were studies on the shares on social media, and how something like 90% of people shared without reading more than the first few lines. I would say they read less now.
As said, I like humour but these behaviours aren't funny. They aren't even intended to be funny. They are political positioning based on agendas. But no matter what of the many sides of opinion we are on and what we believe, we should all be questioning the mentality and personality of the people behind their creation in the first place. Because even if I were to support a particular side, people lying in order to create support for "my side" does the cause harm, not good. However, that is because I am someone who values truth, but unfortunately we are in the post-truth era. Influence of attention to ultimately generate profits for a few is all that matters, which means that misinformation that triggers emotional response and thoughtless action is more impactful than truth.
Information is a manipulation.
And misinformation is just intentionally bad information used to manipulate the audience into believing and acting as if the information they have is correct. We intentionally act on what we know and if what we know is a lie, we are going to act on it as if it is the truth. When we choose to remain ignorant in order to maintain our "truth", we are choosing to act on potentially incorrect information, with intention.
Everyone can believe what they want, but that doesn't make what they believe true. Belief doesn't legitimate intentional ignorance. But the problem is that we can always say "I was acting on the information I had available". But that is not as true anymore, because there is a lot of information available that people choose to omit from their pool of informational resources. And often, they aren't making an active choice of omission, because an algorithm is making the choice for them, and that algorithm is designed to feed them what supports their beliefs.
I wonder what someone's social feed would look like if all the content they got for the next year was chosen to challenge their current beliefs. Would it be possible to reverse a belief system through gradual exposure? Yes. And this is part of the problem, isn't it? Our belief systems are being manipulated by engineered design to maximise our support of an agenda. And that agenda, is profit at all cost. It capitalises on division, conflict, outrage and violence.
So is it any wonder that people are creating fake images to support their agendas?
This is what they have been conditioned to do. They have been taught to lie to support their beliefs, because that is where the incentive lays for them to get the attention they desire. Even without the individual monetizing that attention, it is still monetized for the platforms that host and distribute it. This is often forgotten when it is mentioned that a fake image has been viewed and shared millions of times, because it is possible that the original poster made no financial gain from it - but the platforms and news services did.
The people making these images are acting predictably.
Attention seekers, seeking attention. The easiest way to attract attention today is not by being good at something, not by inventing something useful, not by being a good person - it is by piggybacking polarising lies on top of dramatic events. And the negative will gain more traction than the positive, because that is what the algorithms are searching for.
The question still begs;
If your beliefs only hold true if supported by lies, what does that say?
Taraz
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Jeez that emotional roller coaster would just about get one hospitalised.
I remember my daughter telling me about something or other fake that people were believing (can't remember what but she finds something every other day as she's on social medias) and she finished a rant about idiocy by yelling something about how people should "USE YOUR CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS." Those seem to be in rather short supply.
Yeah, it is pretty crazy. I am not sure how I would handle that.
Indeed. I think most people don't slow down enough when online to actually think. Consumption in general is this way, especially when it becomes entertainment.
I think people simply thrive on chaos these days. They will do anything they can to sow the seeds and encite it. The current US leader is proof of that. Then you have scores of others following suit because it is apparently okay.
Absolutely. For many people, apparently their only pleasure in life is making other people suffer.
Definitely sad!
It is a sad fact that false information spreads very quickly. Many people spread false information purely for humor or fun, but such information often causes great danger to many people. Especially now, humor is being created in the wrong way due to AI and many people are creating it with a specific purpose. Especially these are seen more on social media Facebook. However, the quality of dealing with any acquaintance through laughter is very efficient and powerful. If the situation can be dealt with through humor, then it helps people to remain calm and prudent in any situation.
And good humour can point out bad behaviour and still have a positive effect.
It is concerning how fake information can influence stories, particularly when individuals readily embrace what fits their beliefs without verifying its truth or not.
It only has to support belief to be accepted as true.
If a belief only works when people lie to support it, then something is already broken. Truth doesn’t need fake images or made-up stories to survive. Lying might bring attention fast, but it slowly destroys trust. Once trust is gone, even real facts stop working. In the long run, lying doesn’t help any cause, it only weakens it. A strong belief should be able to stand on honesty, even when the truth is uncomfortable or inconvenient.
Yet apparently, people are more willing to believe the lies than consider the actual truth these days. Headlines over veracity.
The cases with mis information is everywhere. I thought it was only here in my country. But seems media is ruled by the higher authority for their advantage all over the place...it is always sensible to cross check and verify the information before acting or reacting. Mere following a news or subject may backfire us.
This is one of the downsides of artificial intelligence. Imagine if AI becomes so advanced that you can't differentiate between a real and fake video, audio or image. It can easily be used to push a particular propaganda. Infact, it can be used to start a war, a world war, even.
The propagandists will use any tool that comes to hand, including AI. Most of the time, propagandists act without conscience so it shouldn't come as a surprise if the throw in some lies to support their cause. We humans are on the verge of something incredible, and it's had occurred to me over and over that it's not a good thing at all.
News media manipulate in favour of their chosen views, or who pays them, truth is lacking all too often of late, does not help solve problems.
It has gotten to the point that truth doesn't seem to matter, only absorbing information that supports your own point of view. People would consume the most obvious fakes and believe them even if they are most obviously not true just because they fit what they already believe.
Speaking about humor this sounds like a bad joke but on the news I heard that some japanese woman got married to AI...AI also convinced her to break up with her former(human) fiance.