Why am I doing this?

 

The power of information

While preparing for this weeks post I came across this site Iowa University Library  I was quickly scanning the tabs and found that they paralleled a number of thoughts I have had about information.  I was very interested in the second tab on biases.  Again, it aligns with my thinking that all information has some level of  bias.  Just because the bias exists does not mean that we discount the information.  As the author states if we discounted information based on a perceived bias we wouldn't believe anything.  The author further states that we need to believe some things in order to conduct our daily lives.  I found the entire site an excellent summary of information, misinformation and how to address it.  The authors / contributors are listed on the main page of the site.  Again excellent work.

As we go into election day one of the main issues reported by pollsters is concern for the future of our democracy.  Pew research lists it as second in importance to the economy Pew research.  So how vulnerable is our democracy?  I recalled a documentary series produced by the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation).  I remembered the title as "Democracy".  I searched for a copy of this 10 part series and found this on Youtube Struggle for Democracy on Youtube. This was a documentary created in the late 1980's (possibly 1989).  The quality of the video is not great and I cannot find any information on the Youtuber that posted it but it is an excellent series.  I would strongly encourage you view the entire series.

The creator Patrick Watson documents many of the current and historical aspects of democracies.  What struck me was episode 4.  In this episode Mr. Watson makes the assertion that the first and most fundamental right in a democracy is the "right to be informed".  The episode mainly focuses on freedom of the press.  Back before the internet and social media the press was the main conduit for information to flow from the corridors of power to the masses.  If we accept that this right to be informed as the most fundamental in support of democracy, misinformation would then be it's greatest threat.

It is this assertion that is the main driving force behind this series of posts.  Just how are we supposed to make decisions without information.  Of course that information has to be reliable.  To be considered reliable, I would assign the characteristics of accurate, complete and timely.  I am sure that there are other important characteristics but these 3 seem to me to be "tier 1".  Any entity that desires to control people's decisions would first have to control the information.  Referring to the previously mentioned documentary and freedom of the press many techniques were used by governments to control information.  These ranged from the backroom handshakes between Politian's and the press to outright physical threats and murder.  It seems strange to us in the digital age but simple strangling the availability of newsprint was an often used technique.

Currently we are locked into personal battles regarding mainstream press, online sources and what I would call pseudo news (twitter, facebook, instagram, etc.).  What I have learned this week however is that controlling information is as old as time itself.  As long as the desire to maintain power has existed controlling information has been its ally.