Misinformation and Disinformation

Last year the president tried to start up a new department -- a "Department of Truth" if you will -- to combat "disinformation." Or was it "misinformation"? To which the correct answer should have been "Yes." Misinformation is false information presented as true because the presenter believes it's true. Disinformation is false information presented as true because the presenter intends to mislead. Both are false information presented as true. The difference is intent.

For we who are merely onlookers -- recipients of information -- it has become quite difficult to separate the chaff from the wheat, the lies from the truth. We trusted our media, but mainstream media has changed in the last few decades from "providing the news" to controlling the narrative. They realized they had a platform to send out a message, so "the American public has a right to know" is out and "the American public should think what we tell them to think" is in. Trump liked the "fake news" line, and the 2020 election was full of it ... one way or another. The media assured us that there was "no widespread election fraud," but that didn't preclude localized election fraud and such fraud could have changed the outcome of the 2020 election. We'll never know ... because any opposing view is simply labeled "misinformation" and dismissed. There are reports of collusion between the Democrats, the FBI, Big Tech, and the media to cover up harmful stories before the 2016 and 2020 elections, but did it happen? We'll never know because such claims are labeled "misinformation" and dismissed. We all know that Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd on a street in Minneapolis ... until we no longer know that. Was the trial fair? Did all the evidence get presented? Convincing arguments are coming out now that says it was all a lie. We'll never know. Does science support or deny the whole "transgender" argument? Yes ... yes it does. Because some of the reports are that science opposes it and other reports say that science confirms it and we'll never know the truth, because any claim to the contrary of the current narrative is simply labeled "misinformation" and dismissed. And so it goes. The current power defines what "misinformation" and "disinformation" is and then seeks to enforce their definition. At the very least, they will demonize anyone who presents it. They won't argue against it. They won't trot out the data, point out the facts, present the evidence, lay out the reasoning. They simply hang the "misinformation" moniker on those who present it, brush off their hands, and move on. "Fake news." (They hated that phrase when Trump used it. They own it now.)

We live in a fallen world where the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9). Satan, the god of this world (2 Cor 4:4), is the father of lies (John 8:44). If we are surprised that we are surrounded by lies, we're being naïve. So ubiquitous is the lie that it would be foolish of us to expect the truth from the world around us. It doesn't help that states like California and New York -- well known for Leftist thinking at the core -- are diving into "media literacy" curriculum for school kids to teach them to evaluate media sources ... by the State's biases. That's why I am so relieved to have God's Word -- undeniable truth from which to evaluate everything. I don't have to rely on the media. I don't have to rely on the government. I don't have to rely on myself. Jesus, the Word of God (John 1:1), claimed to be "the truth" (John 14:6). He claimed that God's word is truth (John 17:17). In a world of unreliable ("misinformation") and malicious ("disinformation") "truth," I'm so glad to have Truth Incarnate and God's breathed-out Word on which I can rely.