Manipulating the People through Rumours, Propaganda and Post-Truth
We are living in a digital era. Everyone has a smartphone. Everyone has WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter. Everyone can be manipulated.
Today, the most powerful tool to influence, sometimes even control another person; is social media. Circulation of rumours, propaganda, and post truth has never been easier. Political parties, particularly, are known to be notorious when it comes to circulating fallacious information, not only to substantiate their wrongdoings and prove themselves a cut above other parties, but also to rig elections altogether.
So what are rumours? What is propaganda and post-truth? How can false information be fabricated in a believable way? Most importantly, how do we differentiate between propaganda and the truth?
A rumour is an unofficial piece of news that might be completely made up, or have little truth behind it. It is no different than gossip from your neighbour, or the sentence circulated in a game chinese whisper. It is targeted towards a particular audience, and is built around a piece of information believed by that audience. It comes as no surprise that periods of social anxiety serve as a breeding grounds for rumours, where they spread like wildfire.
Propaganda, too, is biased or misleading information, that promotes a political point of view or cause. It is used in political campaigns, and is often used to polarise people, and, in a way, divide and conquer. Again, it is based around a particular belief or assumption in society. Hitler used it to promote his image of the Jews.
Political parties these days pay people to manage multiple handles, where they will post whatever they are fed. For example, ‘The Indian Eye’, which is a propaganda account on the NaMo App. Propaganda is mostly used to promote hatred within people in the name of patriotism.
The Epic of Mahabharata gives us an anecdote that perfectly describes post-truth. Dronacharya was the Chief Commander of the Kaurava army. His brilliant strategies were costing the Pandavas. In order to help the Pandavas, Lord Krishna came up with a plan. Dronacharya was extremely attached to his son, Ashwathama. There was also an elephant in one of the armies with the same name, who had recently died.
Lord Krishna told Yudhishtir- the most honest Pandava who never lied, to go and inform Dronacharya that "Ashwathama the elephant is dead". But, while Yudhisthira was saying so, lord Krishna blew a conch shell, and the phrase ‘the elephant’ was drowned in the noise. All Dronacharya heard was ‘Ashwathama is dead’. He believed the news, since Yudhishtira had said it, and his honest reputation preceded him. Dronacharya was heartbroken, and decided to retire from the position of Chief Commander and halted the Kaurava Army, giving the Pandavas an edge.
Neither did Yudhishtir lie, nor did the Kauravas win.
Here, we see how a truth was manipulated in a very believable way. Yudhishtir’s image was used as pathos, and the news was successfully delivered. News channels often use this trick, and take bits and pieces of a political leader’s interview, and edit it in such a way that it sounds like continuous speech.
Similarly, our data and preferences on social media are reviewed, and we are accordingly suggested groups and people we should know. Tristin Harris, an etinist and former Google employee said in the Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma, that your history can be reviewed, and if it is found that you are particularly gullible to conspiracy theories, for example, it could be used against you. He said, “If I want to manipulate an election, I can now go into a conspiracy theory group on Facebook, and find people who believe the Earth is completely flat, and I can tell Facebook to give me 1,000 users like that. It’s a disinformation-for-profit business model.”
It also serves as a way a government can erase all opposition, as was seen recently. A few months ago, when JNU students were protesting against the CAA bill, Deepika Padukone was seen supporting them. Soon after, her latest movie, Chapaak, became part of a controversy. #BoycottChapaak started trending on Twitter, accusing the actress and filmmaker of giving the protagonist of the movie a ‘false Hindu identity’.
What is most disappointing, is when some leader is accused of such manipulation, they switch to the tactic of whatabout-ery, targeting the opposition, and trying to normalise the hatred they spread. This leads to erroneous standards of equality.
What is most surprising is, when it comes to believing a rumour or propaganda, it is hard to differentiate, and people fall for it hook,line and sinker. It has been framed and fabricated to be believable.
We, as responsible citizens of our country, shouldn’t blindly believe whatever information is fed to us. This also includes not letting our sentiments affect our judgement of the information.
If we come across something, instead of telling it to all our friends and family, so that they exponentially spread it all over the town, we should verify it from trustworthy websites, and only then decide whether or not it is true.
We need to understand that a diverse society like ours cannot exist in isolation. The same goes for the Indian Democracy. It cannot be run on misinformation. The People should have a right to factually correct information. A country whose people are being misled by the very people they chose for their representation cannot coexist in harmony. It needs to be empowered by the people that it seeks to represent.
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