Disinformation

Disinformation and Misinformation both have an effect on society and have impacts globally in this world they both have very dangerous effects on society as well. However when it comes to differentiating the two things get a little complicated. The specific definition of disinformation is, “false information which is intended to mislead”. The definition for misinformation is, false or inaccurate information especially that which is meant to deceive. In this day and age distinguishing truth from falsehood is an absolutely important skill that people have learned to develop. However even the greatest minds can unfortunately be caught in the waves of misinformation and disinformation. These two particular topics can affect the way we think and they can also be weaponized in society to divide the rich and poor. When you think about it, those who lack information and knowledge on a topic can easily fall victim to misinformation and disinformation. We see this in the government as well the spreading of false propaganda  in order to gain the support or sympathy of the public by blinding them to the truth. This is a very common tactic used by the extremely wealthy, the innovators and people in high status in life. They use these tactics to shape society and keep the people of lower classes controlled and “under their boot”.

Misinformation at its core refers to false, inaccurate or deceitful information regardless of intent. To give a visual of how this topic works misinformation can be as simple as mishearing a lyric from a song to something as big as lying about a topic with the intention to manipulate.

Disinformation on the other hand is the deliberate action of creating false information with the intention to deceive. It is crafted with precision targeting the most fragile points in anything in order to bring it down or diminish. It targets fears, anger, and hope in society to create the most chaotic and uncontrolled reaction from the public. Initially when I was doing my research I believed that these two topics were the same in meaning however with further study I have found the clear difference and its effects on this world. Once a person sees how these two topics are used to divide first hand the difference becomes extremely clear as well.

https://www.apa.org/topics/journalism-facts/misinformation-disinformation

Being aware of these topics and being able to know the difference and spot them is absolutely essential for one's well being and realizing that these two have real world consequences is of utmost importance. These consequences you can sometimes see on the news and in day to day life and they are not as light as if a neighbor were to give bad weather information and you end up getting rained on. People can lose their lives from misinformation and disinformation. It can affect the economy, how people view each other, it can even start major conflicts between nations and lead to events that we are seeing today. For example the Russian and Ukraine war our media has lied to us about the casualties of the war. Russia has suffered mass casualties, however according to https://www.antiwar.com/ ukrainians have suffered 500,000 casualties over the course of the entire war. The media has stated however that only 50,000 Ukrainians have died in the conflict and this is not even counting civilian casualties. The european theater is nothing but total war, create mass casualties no matter if they are military or civilian. That is the motto of that war, no one is safe. The only way things are going to get better is if we start telling the truth.