Ash Staub

The terms “misinformation” and “disinformation” have dominated the political lexicon in recent years. Whereas misinformation merely refers to inaccurate or misleading information, the label of disinformation implies an intent to deceive.

It’s easy to treat Edward Bernays and Walter Lippmann as prophets, or rather architects, of the systems and technologies of social control that dominate our current society. Both men argued for a class of “benevolent” elites to use tools of mass information to shape public opinion and manufacture consent for policies that would, theoretically, tend toward the common good.

Photo by GR Stocks on Unsplash There’s an old Winston Churchill adage that seems particularly fitting for this moment: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” And the crisis presented by a mob storming and ransacking the Capitol is going to good use. The establishment left — Democrats, mainstream media outlets, and large swathes of Corporate America — have seized on the riots and used it as an opportunity to punish their political enemies and advance their own agendas.