I rarely post about Musk & #Twitter, but I am currently writing a dissertation related to the spread of misinformation.

This is not true. ⬇️

@Sheril Wasn't there just a study that showed that misinformation spreads 3 times faster on Twitter than the truth?

@Sheril The best way to minimise bad information is to improve the signal to noise ratio reducing the noise. This is not even debatable, it's basic engineering (applying information science concepts of which melonhead has no bloody idea about).

Melonhead is just deploying fascist tactics to grow the ideological machine of the far right.

@Sheril

@Sheril lol the way his tweet is misinformation 🥲

@Sheril it sure isn’t. The data shows very clearly that the misinformation sticks and the correction is ignored.

@Sheril Elon here is doing the old trick of providing a wrong answer and waiting to receive the correct answer in the comments, rather than asking the question 😂

@Sheril

Not to play down your research (and it's important to research things even if they seem obvious) but I think it ought to be ... obvious that these have different impacts.

Scenario 1
Some Rando: "I was abducted by aliens."
Trusted Source: "There is no evidence to support this and it's likely false."

Scenario 2
** nothing **

In which are we now debating the aliens, however unlikely?

@Sheril
If you wanna make the unwoke fascists f*ck off, allowing themselves to be eaten by wolves and censorship of their dullard rhetoric is your #1 candidate.

@Sheril As much as I am repulsed by this man and his actions, I tend to agree with his assertion here.

Censorship of *opinions* (as opposed to calls for violence, etc) is unconstitutional in many parts of the world.

So from a legal standpoint, the only way to deal with misinformation is information. Accurate, unbiased reporting of facts—not opinions—from reputed sources.

I’d like to read your dissertation, if you could kindly link it here.

@Sheril

Which works of Reichsminister für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda und Präsident der Reichskulturkammer Josef Goebbels are you covering apart from the Sportpalast speech?
You are probably using "The Official German Report
Nazi Penetration, 1924-1942, Oetje John Rogge (1961)? - A personal copy is hard to come by.
Are you using other materials to cover the biggest disinformation campaign in US history of George Sylvester Viereck? (well maybe #TFG's tweets and press releases, which had...

Since some folks are interested in my research, you can keep up with literature I’ve been reading & related stories on my substack: https://sheril.substack.com/p/do-facts-matter

The manuscripts won’t be out for some time, but here’s a bit more on the motivation behind my dissertation: https://open.substack.com/pub/sheril/p/a-dissertation-on-democracy?utm_source=direct&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web /2

@Sheril Exactly. Whenever our brains get a piece of info, it becomes familiar to us. So even if it is reported as a lie, the statement is still familiar to us if we hear it again. We tend to forget the label… very insidious. Propagandists know this. It is a standard tactic which also brings doubt to any real facts.

@Sheril

Thank you for sharing your insightful thoughts and observations regarding whether facts matter. From your article, I understand that information processing by our minds is influenced by goals, emotions, preexisting beliefs and culture. Our inferences will not change just based on raw facts.

What can change our informed decision making process? From my personal experience I see that facts or apparent facts driven by extreme external circumstances (e.g. business, finance etc.) and deep rooted emotional triggers can challenge our preexisting beliefs and modify our information channels. It seems that changing our bias and worldview doesn’t necessarily mean changing our belief about something. We will always continue to believe what we think is right for us.

As aptly mentioned here, the goal is not to change our belief but to create space for other people to have different perspectives. It is essential that we listen actively, ask questions respectfully, acknowledge differences without judgment or blame, and seek common ground wherever possible.

#Facts #Mind #Harmony #Perspectives #Respect

cc: @srijit

@Sheril Yes, there's just one or very limited amount of accurate but unlimited inaccurate information.

He fails on basic math, I'd say.

@Sheril
One way to present misinformation while clearly discounting it: