The Myth of Information

The more you know... right... ?

Unless...

What you know... is... invented or fabricated or manufactured... by intention or accident or ignorance...

Even though... this... is propagated, disseminated, oft repeated... as right...

Or...

What you know... is... crafted or designed or contrived... to deceive, to distort, to lie...

Even though... this... is perpetuated, propagandized, oft upheld... as true...

Or...

What you know... is... inaccurate, incomplete, opinion... to sway, to argue, to persuade...

Even though... this... is called 'reporting', 'informing', 'educating'...

Or...

What you know... is... fictions, myths, artifacts...

Even though... this... is endorsed by 'experts', 'pundits', 'leaders'... as facts...

The myth of information is this:

Sometimes... the more you know... the less you know...

Sometimes... it's not how much you know... but how well you sustain skepticism, truthing, and question asking... in the face of relentless pressure to mindlessly accept 'experts' and 'authorities' with sightless listenless voiceless objectionless obedience.

Which isn't to say that all conspiracy theorists are correct... much less... that all of us should be conspiracy theorists... ! No more than it's to say... nothing is true... and everything is a lie... !

Instead... sometimes... more is more... sometimes less is more... sometimes... less is less... sometimes more is less...

Absolute attestations of... the more you know... belies the reality that much of the 'information' with which are are incessantly inundated on all fronts... is not 'information' at all...

Because... the less informative information is... the more 'information' satisfies every agenda but telling the truth...

For example: sound bytes for revenue generating clicks and/or views; sound bytes for sex appeal, consummative appeal, etc., to satisfy the demands of advertisers who use information dissemination to concurrently sell stuff; sound bytes for drama, incendiation, rabble rousing, goat getting, ratings, which increases the financial valuation of infotainment; etc.

Notwithstanding that sound bytes need not be separate from nor excluded from truthing... In fact, sound bytes can reduce complexity to facilitate comprehension of knottingly dense information... or to elucidate relevance between obscure information and real life implications to the real lives of information consumers... or to connect the dots between disparate points of diverse information to lighten a road map to knowledge or insight...

So...

Yes...

We live in a time of extraordinary access to information...

But...

We also live in a time of extraordinary preponderance of misinformation...

With diligence, vigor, and scrutiny...

Our wherewithal to discern the difference... or not... determines whether we are endemically misinformed by misinformation... or not...

Lest all information devolve to infotainment, at best... or propaganda, at worst... let's not believe...

everything we read...

everything we see...

everything we hear...

everything we're told...

much less... everything we're sold...

Like a spoonful of sugar can help us slog through the unpalatable realities of Sisyphean toil... a healthy dose of skepticism can help us slog through the saccharine misinformation masquerading as facts... in this oft vaunted age of so-called 'information' and 'knowledge'...

Addendum

Infotainment is so prevalent - that we've bastardized what information is - to suit our predilection for misinformation -

Indeed - information is - as often misinformation - as it is - real, truthful, factual knowledge -

Nevertheless - though information in the purest sense - is that which is real, truthful, factual knowledge - that which we deem so - is not - by any means whatsoever - infallible -

Case in point:

Though - according to 'research' - Zika has existed as a disease that has afflicted humans for deacades - it is only in recent history - that the relationship between Zika and birth defects - is being explored and publicly disseminated -

And - it is only in most recent history - that the relationship between Zika and birth defects - is being explored beyond microcephaly -

Notwithstanding - that though sexual transmission of Zika was established in recent history - it was only in most recent history - that the general public was advised of this method of disease transmission -

Meanwhile - the 'experts' most vocal in their dissent of Zika as a disease of concern to the general public - are those who attest to certainties based on knowledge that lacks meaningfully important research and data - on many fronts - that are only now visible - due to the extraordinary prevalence of impactful presentation and realization - that was not available to the known 'science' of Zika - before now -

In other words - it is only now - that we're examining Zika with a broader and more scrutinizing lens - because it is only now that reality has compelled us to acknowledge - what can no longer be denied:

Zika presents a complicated challenge for public health -

Because - not only does Zika present without symptoms in many exposed to the disease - disease transmission via sexual contact - has occurred - and therefore can occur during the absence of active symptoms -

Moreover - it is unconscionably irresponsible of 'pundits' and 'experts' to repeatedly focus on the lack of mortality of Zika - as a legitimate basis to deny its capacity to inflict extraordinary burdens on women and children - especially in regions with firm religious and government prohibitions on contraception and family planning -

For not only does such logic illustrate appalling apathy with respect to the human condition - but such logic also unnecessarily burdens women and children with religionism-based restrictions of access to health care that denies women and children services for which there is no moral justification - in our age of soul freedom -

For it is not only child-bearing women who are afflicted by the cascade of Zika - it is also children - from girls who are pregnant by voluntary sexual congress, to girls who are impregnated by incest, assault, rape, prostitution, sexual exploitation, sexual trafficking, to children born with conditions that exact extraordinary suffering in exchange for life at all costs -

Needless to say - only time will tell - if there are lasting effects of Zika among those whose lack of death by a disease derided as an 'inconsequential, rare, and barely felt annoyance' (ostensibly men and non child-bearing women) - justifies the callous ignorance of many, including 'experts' and 'pundits' - to discredit, dismiss, and ridicule - the intensity with which humanitarians are pleading for aid to alleviate the agony and despair that is truly real for those for whom Zika's lack of mortality hardly mitigates the true reality of their experiences with the cascade of Zika -

But -

One thing is certain: a moving target is a moving target -

Until - all the facts are in - no 'expert' nor 'pundit' - knows every fact of ALL there is to know - about Zika -

Notwithstanding that no 'expert' nor 'pundit' is - EVER - omniscient and infallible - about any thing - much less every thing - PERIOD -

Yet here we are -

With 'experts' attesting to 'knowledge based' advocacy of GMO 'safety' and 'invaluable valuation to humankind' - VOA News: Nobel Laureates Challenge Greenpeace Anti-GMO Campaign (6/29/16) -

Despite lacking ALL the facts there is to know - about GMOs - relying on their status as 'nobel laureates' united in a cause to advocate for the 'science of nutrition' - a group of such 'experts' are willing to advocate on behalf of the known 'science' of GMOs -

Regardless of the known cascade of effects of GMO agriculture on land rights and seed rights - on the business of agriculture for sustainable living and small business - on the biomes of delicate ecosystems around the world - all of which - are entirely relevant - to the populations for whom these 'experts' are purportedly advocating -

- by way of advocating for the 'science' - that actively, persistently, deliberately - deprives these populations of - their land and their seed - their farms for sustainable living and small business - the biomes of delicate ecosystems around the world of their diversity -

However - to focus solely on one piece of a bigger picture that is meaningfully relevant - is not uncommon - with respect to how information - misinforms - via omission of information, including known 'science' -

Needless to say -

I wonder how many of these 'experts' - as well as any number of similarly minded 'pundits' - are among those who believe that this sterling - all too common - exemplification of modern journalism with respect to the recent bombing in Istanbul - is valid - as a means of reporting known 'facts' - BuzzFeed News: Media Publishes Images of Bombing in Brussels as 'Bombing in Istanbul' (6/29/16)

Why publish facts - when you can distort information - to propagate misinformation - ? Indeed - various 'information disseminating vehicles' - used deliberately incendiary sound bytes - without any substantiation of 'facts' - whatsoever - from the get-go -

Though - now - some reports of known 'facts' - are attesting to confirmation of previously unsubstantiated conjecture - (all the facts - are still yet unknown - with certainty) -

However - this isn't a case of cheering for those who guessed right - or egg on the faces of those who responsibly refrained from guessing at all -

Indeed - it bears noting - that there is a lot at stake - with respect to misinforming the public - especially with respect to destructive acts of violence around the world -

Not only do such events - demand coherence for many - there is extraordinary pressure - for this coherence - to follow a script -

For acts of violence - that deviate from scripts of known 'realities' or 'facts' - incite those inclined to populist fear mongering to incendiate, rabble rouse, goat get, etc. - not least because such inclinations mask incentivized behavior (or duplicitous motivation) - including biggering, or simply, lying -

Not unlike recent 'Leave' campaigns for Brexit: BuzzFeed News: Four Brexit Promises That Have Already Gone Up In Smoke (6/25/16)

Nevertheless - despite events that grip us, titillate us, enrage us, gratify us - as information consumers - those who believe - that unsubstantiated hearsay, conjecture, guesses, etc. - among many forms of misinformation, including, infotainment and propaganda - are - unequivocal facts, the truth, if you will - are the same information consumers who believe skepticism - such as that espoused in this post - is a sterling - all too common - exemplification of an agenda to hide the truth, if you the will, from the public -

No better exposition of the danger of our vaunted age of so-called 'information' and 'knowledge' - exists - than how easily information consumers believe - misinformation - is - right, infallible, true - and knowledge (as well as skepticism of known 'science' or known 'facts') - is - wrong, deceptive, false -

As often evidenced -

By celebrity stand-ins for 'experts' - as often self attributed as such, as 'pundits' -

Here's how 'celebrities' propagandize 'knowledge based information' to champion their agendas of greed - C|Net: 'Artists' Demand Reform to DMCA (6/20/16)

Needless to say - not only are the purported 'claims' of 'artists' with respect to their championship of remuneratory remediation via specific modifications to the aforementioned DMCA - factually inaccurate, unsubstantiated, and unfounded - but they reek of insatiable avarice and greed - from the most disingenuous of platforms - art - !

Nevertheless - it is only a matter of time - before no consumable will be wholly owned - such that every use of every consumable - will henceforth exact a fee -

- to feed starving artists abed their mansions and aboard their private jets - of course -

In the end -

How often do we believe fact, knowledge - verily - information - in the truest sense - ?

And -

How often do we believe - whatever the fuck we want to believe - ? On the basis of whatever the fuck we want - ?

Pride - ? Yessir - ! (Heaven forbid we admit to errors, mistakes, failures, colossal stupidities - !)

Prejudice - ? Yessir - ! (Heaven forbid we admit to racism, sexism, religionism, sexualityism, xenophobism, educationism, classism - especially if we ourselves are a 'protected' 'class' - !)

Hell - how about we believe whatever the fuck we want to believe - on the basis of being allergic to the fucking truth - !

Nah -

We're a people addicted to - the truth - the whole truth - nothing but the truth - ! We consume information - all the time - ! Hell - there are so many information disseminating vehicles devoted to the dissemination of known 'facts' - 24 fucking 7 - that we choose information dissemination vehicles based our preference for one 'fact' disseminating entertainment personality - over another - !

How the fuck - could we be allergic to the truth - ?

Because we're addicted to the truth - when it's convenient and comfortable - for us -

On the other hand - we snort lines of hypocrisy - when the truth is inconvenient and uncomfortable -

- when the truth exposes our depravity - when the truth exposes our greed - when the truth exposes our narcissism - when the truth exposes our callous ignorance and our appalling apathy - when the truth exposes our human nature to err and subsequently lie to avoid atonement and justice - when the truth exposes our human nature to preserve our artifacts of selves at all costs, regardless of any moral behest to be truthful and demonstrate moral fortitude and integrity - when the truth exposes our most fragile vulnerability - of which, the greatest is -

- how ignorant and blind - all of us - really and truly are - about all there is to know about all there is to know - about each other - this planet - and the granverse beyond -

- M.

Note

Knowing is half the battle...

The other half... is giving a shit...

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