Obama: "I underestimated" disinformation's threat to democracies

[applegrove]

Obama: "I underestimated" disinformation's threat to democracies

Shawna Chen at Axios

https://www.axios.com/obama-disinformation-democracy-7a1b3cf4-b34a-47e4-a432-fbb3ac880114.html


"SNIP.......

What he's saying: "If you asked me what I'm most concerned about when I think back toward the end of my presidency, it probably has more to do with the topic here today," Obama said Wednesday at a conference on disinformation presented by The Atlantic and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.

* "It's something I grappled with a lot during my presidency.

* I saw it sort of unfold, and that is the degree to which information, disinformation, misinformation was being weaponized."

* "And we saw it, but I think I underestimated the degree to which democracies were as vulnerable to it as they were, including ours," he noted.

* 4Misinformation is "wrong information," but disinformation is "a systematic effort to either promote false information, to suppress true information, for the purpose of political gain, financial gain, enhancing power, suppressing others, targeting those you don't like," he said."

It is difficult for me to see how we win the contest of ideas if in fact we are not able to agree on a baseline of facts that allow the marketplace of ideas to work."

......SNIP"

[Solly Mack]

1. Well

[Phoenix61]

2. Smart people often underestimate how easily

stupid people can be duped. I doubt Obama has spent a lot of time around a lot of stupid people.

[nycbos]

4. People who are allegedly educated...

... belive far right wing conspiracy theories. Look no further than the people who allegedly have medical degrees who believe conspiracy theories about vaccines.

[Phoenix61]

5. Educated and smart are two different things.

Hence there are smart people with little formal education and stupid people with a lot of formal education. The GQP is full of the latter.

[TheRealNorth]

10. I don't know if it is so much that they believe it....

Or that they see a bunch of easy marks and think they can profit in some way.

[chowder66]

3. He's not alone. I don't think most thought that this many people would lose their minds the way

they have. It really took off when he was elected. White people freaked the hell out.

[Diablo del sol]

11. In hindsight - We all should have clued in with Sarah Palin

Ignorant, obnoxious, liar, fake Christian, and the people with the same traits ate it up.

[kskiska]

14. Even before Palin, there were the "Swiftboaters"

who lost John Kerry the election.

[Diablo del sol]

16. Difference that was a planned hit job

Palin was just flat out ignorant and obnoxious. They wanted and loved her hate filled drivel.

[dalton99a]

6. And disinformation was Putin's specialty in the KGB

Putin called it "human relations"

[BootinUp]

7. There was no counter strategy apparently

It’s a little shocking.

[Baitball Blogger]

8. Which is why you don't turn the other cheek, or fall forward.

Last edited Thu Apr 7, 2022, 10:15 AM - Edit history (1)

Sometimes you have to turn and deal with the elephant in the room.

[uponit7771]

9. K&R, US disinformation threat is via MAGA Media lead by FAUX NewZ.

[Samrob]

12. I do not believe that Bill Clinton faced as much disinformation and lying as Obama and Biden, but

I recall that his administration had what they called "rapid responders" As soon as some BS was reported by the media, especially RW media, a swarth of Dems would hit the airways the next 24 hours or less and call out the BS and explain the facts. Clinton was good at explaining some of the most complicated economic and social issues in a way that even the RW idiots could understand. Many didn't like him but they were better informed

[canetoad]

15. The internet was not fully formed

During the Clinton administration.

I was online relatively early, before html and the www. I loved cyberspace; it was a new and exciting concept. However it prompted some serious thought on the nature of truth and lies. If enough people on the web say it's true - does it make it so?

Conversely, is 'the truth' something that the majority decides?

Look to interconnectivity to trace the origins of disinformation.

[Ferrets are Cool]

13. I believe all Democratic Presidents have underestimated the evil

that the repug party is capable.

[Boomerproud]

19. Yes. The problem better get fixed quickly.

Making speeches to the choir isn't a solution.

[summer_in_TX]

17. Fox News did not launch until the fall of 1996.

Before they launched there was a whole PR campaign to undermine the "liberal media" and try to pry their viewers off for FOX. When it launched, it started with some 17 million cable users who could watch it.

The lingering effect of that campaign was to undermine faith in the traditional news and make it nearly impossible to get those viewers to trust any other sources or even check them out.

[betsuni]

18. It was shocking how many regular people, not nuts, fell for it. Really shocking. Here too.

But I thought even Trump fans would get tired of The Trump Nonesuch Show by November 2016 and prefer four to eight years of enjoying hating President Hillary Clinton every day. Wrong! But only by a few votes in swing states and mostly anti-Hillary misinformation votes, not pro-Trump.