Entries by Will Thalheimer

Great Article about Fake News in 1896.

Check out this nice article in the Atlantic, written by Adrienne LaFrance, that shows that fake news is not just a new thing. Quote from the article: “It could not be foreseen that a time would come when a partisan press would seek to mislead the people,” a columnist lamented for The Davenport Daily Republican […]

Gary Kasparov Pens Interesting Article on Truth in Russia and the United States

Here is a quote from the article: The credibility of today’s democracies depends on reinstating the value of truth—something that no number of social-media followers or cybercapabilities should be able to subvert. At the moment, we are experiencing a cultural crisis in which propaganda has a tactical advantage. It is easy to lie; finding the […]

Is There Any Room for Optimism or Are We Doomed to Live in a Misinformation World?

Many smart people are throwing up their hands and have given up, believing that our current political-information system is doomed to failure. For example, see Harvard professor Bhirat Anand’s thoughtful article. Here are some of the many arguments for this pessimism: Donald Trump is a sociopathic liar and will be lying through his presidency. Social […]

New York Times: Trump Keeps Lying — And What It Means

This website is being built to fund a nonprofit organization — Truth For Democracy — that will (hopefully if funded) provide a nonpartisan effort to “make truth a virtue again in our American political conversations.” Of course, nonpartisan does not mean BLIND! So we must report when our most powerful politicians continue to push falsehoods. […]

Harvard Professor Says America’s Political System is Doomed.

In a deeply intriguing and rather depressing article, Bharat Anand describes how fundamental forces are working together to encourage a dysfunctional political process. And he doesn’t see any way out. Anand ends with this: Three forces combine to create the media coverage of political campaigns we observe today: connected media, which spreads messages faster than […]