The Whole Truth

These days it is hard to decide what to believe. Misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation are rampant, with the spin doctors and content creators making it harder and harder to decipher what is true and what is false. Disinformation and malinformation are intention in passing incorrect information.

Disinformation is the choice to fabricate or deliberately manipulate audio/visual content. It is the choice to intentionally create conspiracy theories or rumors. This type of “wrong” information is deliberately shared to harm or deceive a person. With the advent of widespread content creation that builds on fractions of the truth, it is hard to know who or what to trust in the public square. Disinformation taints and distorts people, politics, places and power.

Disinformation is what the public gets with campaign ads that spread lies. Disinformation is the product of creators who want to do harm and deceive voters and constituents who rely on truth to make choices for their lives and those of others. Disinformation has long been a part of politics. The process has been repackaged with a new name for a new generation.

What has emerged as “disinformation” is a 21st century version of propaganda – it has started and maintained wars, it has been present in perpetuating injustice, and it has been used by people in power to disenfranchise the marginalized. The playbook is the same, called by any name. The on-going use of disinformation in the public sphere must be called out continuously as propaganda, lies, and deception regardless of the source or purported benefits attached to the information.

The advent of AI, use of technology, and the internet are all being utilized with adverse effects which are exacerbating disinformation and malinformation. Malinformation is the deliberate publication of private information for personal or corporate rather than public interest, such as revenge porn. It includes deliberate change of context, date or time of genuine content. This too is a part of the propaganda playbook, used to discredit people and manipulate public opinion.

Truth is based on facts and reality. “The truth” is fleeting, overtaken by speculation, conjecture and opinions. Truth is now accompanied by possessive pronouns, “my, our, and your” absent of fact, spun into webs of lies that tangle and twist minds. There are now half-truths to contend with when in fact, a half-truth is not truth and is therefore a lie.

Public discourse continues to be challenged by these half-truths, propaganda riddled content, and elevation of disinformation as source for conversation. Questions of “whose truth” ignore the facts and create room for opinions that seek to sway votes, erode democracy and promulgate hatred.

As the United States and other countries move toward and through election cycles, the internet is proving to be a conduit for sourcing information to amend decisions on candidates and issues. Credible sources are getting harder to find. Sources need to be fact-checked and the opinions that seek to influence decision-making should be vetted before being used or restated.

Due diligence in sharing information reduces misinformation which is the unintentional passing of incorrect information. Mistakes can be reduced when information is vetted before it is shared. Not all information is grounded in truth. And, fact checkers must be fact checked. The truth is elusive and yet it is there when time is taken to learn about the issues that hold interest and concern.

A truth of the human condition is that even in the church it has become easier to operate from hurt and fear, creating the narratives that suit rather than doing the research, interrogating what we hear, and questioning what we think we know. The lies being negotiated daily are debilitating. It is hard to know who and what to trust. It is hard to stand by people who used to engender trust or institutions with reputational value when disinformation is the choice of some to hold sway on public opinion as they wrest power from the people by any means necessary.

Faithful living with attention to the values that support “loving neighbor as self”, “doing justice and walking humbly with God” or being compassionate in caring for creation require rejecting the status quo that unquestioningly receives harmful information designed to hate the stranger, oppress the poor, increase the assets of the wealthy, remove the rights and dignity of minorities, and seeks to erode freedom.

Strategies to manipulate the truth are not new, nor is the resistance to lies in the public square. The presence of people of faith in the public square is for truth telling, calling for accountability, and standing on the side of justice for all. Public theology takes the witness and engagement of the church beyond the walls of the church, speaking truth to power, tearing down the walls that divide, and advocating for the freedom of the masses. The demand must be for “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” unequivocally.

“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

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