Navigating Complexity
This week we have witnessed deeply worrying scenes of far-right violence in the UK. In the wake of the horrific murders of 3 children at a dance class in Southport and the injury of another 8 children and 2 adults, misinformation on the internet spread like wildfire - with TikTok bots, AI generated racist and Islamophobic images further stoking the flames. Far-right groups, conspiracy theorists and fake news websites falsely claimed the attacker was a Muslim immigrant, resulting in Islamophobic riots and disorder across the UK. Not surprisingly the MP for Clacton - Nigel Farage - was careless in his commentary of the incident, feeling the need to weigh in and incite further violence. It is alarming to witness how organised groups can so easily and cynically use a tragedy to push their own agenda: to spread hate and discord.
This is why critical thinking skills are more important now than ever. When faced with a barrage of online information - information that seeks to tap into our most primitive instincts, and to de-legitimise social progress - how do people discern what is true and what is not? Internet literacy skills can play an instrumental role in combating misinformation but these skills are not a given. In fact, currently only 55% of the EU population (aged 16-74) have even basic digital skills. These statistics are deeply concerning, given that 92% of individuals in the EU have internet access.
A brave lone woman protests the racist rioters in Southport.
Rather predictably, across the pond, we are bearing witness to a similar weaponisation of misinformation with Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy. As many in the Black community predicted when Biden dropped out and quickly endorsed Harris two weeks ago, the misinformation machine was about to step into overdrive. The words of author Luvvie Ajayi Jones are particularly pertinent. She warned:
It’s gonna get uglier cuz now a Black woman is on the ballot for POTUS. The secret meetings, the ways they will do EVERYTHING to destroy her. I need US to stay focused and not let them or the media distract us. We need to seek the truth and stay grounded cuz this moment of reckoning depends on it… Stay focused and clear. This ride might be bumpy but keep your wits about you. We move.
Kamala Harris has already achieved something remarkable. Just weeks ago, the Democratic Party was in dire straits. After Biden’s grim debate performance and increasingly worrying displays of confusion regarding basic facts, donors were getting cold feet. America looked set to sleepwalk into a near-certain Trump victory. But within 24 hours of Biden quitting the race, Harris was already breaking fundraising records. As of today, her campaign has raised a staggering $310 million in July alone - more than doubling Trump’s donations in the same month. Not bad, considering she only entered the race on 21st July.
An intelligent, well-prepared woman of colour entering the presidential race, reinvigorating the campaign, receiving a groundswell of support, and igniting hope amongst those committed to driving progress - it’s pretty much the right’s worst nightmare. In fact, even the campaign slogans are worth noting; ‘Make America Great Again’ is starkly juxtaposed against ‘We’re Not Going Back’. A vision for the future vs. a harking back to the good old days.
Kamala Harris officially secured the Democratic nomination today, becoming the first Black woman to lead a major party ticket in a US election.
This week, Trump’s racism was on full display when he accused Harris of somehow tricking us with her racial identity: "I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black."* Harris has also seen a barrage of misogyny. She’s been accused of sleeping her way to the top (original), and of being unfit to lead because she hasn’t given birth to any children (nor, last time we checked, has any past male president). From the bigoted posturing of the Trump campaign to the violent, Islamophobic scenes this week in Southport, there’s a clear through-line - misinformation is a key tool in the arsenal of the far-right. Wild claims can be bandied about without verification or even an ounce of truth; and they are no less powerful in their ability to achieve their aims of stoking division, and of tapping into simmering fears of those who are ‘other’.
When bad actors cynically manipulate a tragedy to whip up violent mobs who have no interest in supporting the community that’s grieving, it’s to further a very deliberate aim: to bring us back to the imagined ‘greatness’ of days-gone-by. But those days-gone-by represent something altogether darker for certain members of society. Our Windrush elders remind us that the 1950s, 60s and 70s were, for them, a time of fear, of overt racism, and of strife and survival.
*Not that it should need to be stated, but Harris has long been open about her Black identity; she attended a HBCU and is a member of a Black sorority. Lo and behold, it’s possible to have both Black and Asian heritage; multi-racial people also do exist!
In a world in which people are trusting public institutions and experts less and less, how do we hit back at the rise of misinformation? Research by the Edelman Trust suggests that building trust in the sources of legitimate information is paramount - this means scientists and governments alike must demonstrate greater competency, be more transparent, and communicate more effectively with the public.
But we must be wary still of trusting the wrong sources. Here, the picture becomes significantly more complicated. Scholars in Information Studies warn us that simply asking people to ‘do their own research’ can be weaponised by the right and conspiracy theorists (Hannah, 2023). In fact, back in 2022, Trump was quoted as saying that it’s up to the American people to arm themselves with information. Herein lies the issue, conspiracy theorists, and far-right groups are sneaky - they use genuine frameworks or paradigms of information literacy to further their own nefarious means.
So what can be done? It is time for organisations to be more active in dispelling fake news. Even UNESCO have argued that information literacy must move beyond the halls of higher education into the public domain, by providing education and interventions to actively combat misinformation. So train your employees on how to navigate misinformation, how to discern sources to be trusted from those that can not.
And on an individual level, we all must engage in a little more intellectual curiosity. We need to question each new piece of information that comes our way: where did the information come from? Who is the source and what is their political agenda? This doesn’t necessarily mean we must be distrustful of everything, but rather get into the habit of thinking critically, thinking deeply about what we hear. This does mean moving beyond the binary, resisting the black-and-white thinking that is often pushed on us, and learning to lean into complexity.
In the words of Albert Einstein:
The important thing is not to stop questioning.
N.B. Since this blog was first published, the Education Secretary has revealed plans to teach greater critical thinking skills in schools, specifically to help children spot fake news and extremist content online. This is a promising first step towards combatting misinformation.
References
Hannah, M. (2023). Information literacy in the age of internet conspiracism. Journal of Information Literacy, 17(1), pp. 204–220.