Mis-Information As A Weapon - The Larger Issue
Peter Oye Sagay
July 11, 2017
Information is shared knowledge. The knowledge shared does not have to be accurate. Mis-Information is shared inaccurate knowledge. This inaccuracy in descending order, ranges from absolute inaccuracy to diluted accuracy. In the latter, the accuracy of the information is manipulated inorder to render the accurate elements in the shared knowledge invisible.
The weaponization of information is nothing new. Ancient peoples weaponized information. They often carried out spying operations in order to get information that they could use to dis-arm or harm (or both) their opponents. Modernity has not changed this fundamental objective of information weaponization. It has only improved the methods used to realize the ambush and sabotage that the objective manifests.
The Larger Issue of Mis-Information Weaponization asks this question: why is the population of a sophisticated space vulnerable to mass mis-information? The answer is simple: a decline in intellectual alertness about things that matter. This lack of intellectual alertness disengages the research-mode needed to authenticate information. Research (search and re-search) requires patience. Acquiring this patience is a daunting task in a time when mis-information can spread world-wide in seconds. Fortunately, the evil of mis-information is in its consumption not in its spread. So, consumers of information must beware and the government must devote most of its energy in educating the people about mis-information in order to re-invigorate the intellectual alertness that switches on the research-mode needed to authenticate information.