It is not enough that we find ourselves in a global polarization crisis. No, no, no. We simply needed to be entrenched in a global mis/disinformation crisis as well. Indeed, there is reason to believe that the two are interlinked - nefarious actors manufacture false information for a public searching for answers and assume positions of power based on those fallacies.

Mis/disinformation sits on the liberal/conservative fault line - those on the right find their views subject to scrutiny by mis/disinformation researchers, and so deride those researchers as malicious themselves. It is a powerful tool for those looking to sow societal discord. But mis/disinformation existed long before our current polarization crisis. And not just on the fringes. Mis/disinformation has been weaponised by highly influential figures for decades in the public and private sectors.

Lee McIntyre talks us through the history of mis/disinformation as a tool for governments and big businesses to sway the public. He draws a throughline between science denialism and the present-day mis/disinformation crisis, and why he makes a point to distinguish between misinformation and disinformation.

His book On Disinformation is available wherever you buy books, as is Sander van der Linden's book Foolproof.

And do check out Merchants of Doubt by Eric Conway and Naomi Oreskes and the NATO Handbook on Russian Information Warfare.