Add my "what went wrong" take to the pile

[Metaphorical]

70. Words ... matter

I am an ontologist by trade. This means at its core that I help organizations to build the data models that they use to describe themselves. I practice a principle called FAIR (findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability) that incorporates the ethics of establishing terminology. This is very important because the language that you use, how you use it , and how you ensure its cleanliness and lineage is a big part of making sure that such models reflect reality.

I, and many others in this space, have been sounding the alarm for some time (since the beginning of the century) about the data pollution that we're facing, almost all directed by (if not necessarily produced by) the conservatives. What they realized early on is that there are no consequences for lying. None. People do not care about lying until it impacts them and by then it's too late. Lie a bit, move the Overton window, stabilize. Rinse and repeat. Without any way to tell, and with increasingly poor discernment skills, people will default to the notion that everyone lies, therefore I will only listen to what most represents my worldview. Combining that with the ability to microtarget everyone, you have the perfect societal control mechanism.

The problem, unfortunately, is that if you are trying to be truthful and honest, it's not going to penetrate, because you're dealing with a whole cloud of lies. You can't impugn the source, because it is trivial to bring up new sources. When this gets reinforced by the "legitimate" media, it becomes even worse. This is, in fact, how people get so caught up in MAGA, and the danger of it is that once you go down that rabbit hole, even if you are consciously trying not to, it becomes harder not to wonder if the sources that you are yourself using are in fact accurate.

By the way, this isn't just happening in the US. It's a worldwide problem, and is only getting worse. It's not the message - I think the message we have is compelling - it's the medium.