DISINFORMATION
We have entered the golden age of disinformation.
We use disinformation to win arguments, elect politicians, justify atrocities. The Republican Party no longer has the will or the work ethic to win elections, and as a consequence, they rely on cheating, saturated in disinformation, witness the Texas gerrymandering scam they are trying to foist off on the citizens of Texas. They have no policies, no visions, just hateful, blatant disinformation. I’m sorry, they do have a plan: take away healthcare from the citizens of Texas.
In the Middle East, we have a massive disinformation campaign being waged to bury a modern day genocide.
“Amichay Eliyahu, the Knesset member who leads the Heritage Ministry in Netanyahu’s government, has similarly called for starving the Palestinian population of Gaza. “There is no nation that feeds its enemies,” Eliyahu said during a radio interview in July. In May, the minister argued the Palestinians “need to starve” and added, “If there are civilians who fear for their lives, they should go through the emigration plan.” All Source- Intelligence. Jack Paulson and Lee Fang Sept. 3, 2025
Given the blatant cruelty in this statement, the State of Israel needed to camouflage their intentions. Enter Google.
“Google is in the middle of a six-month, $45 million contract to amplify propaganda with Netanyahu’s office. The contract describes Google as a “key entity” supporting the prime minister’s messaging.”
Publicly available government contracts show that Israel’s advertising bureau, which reports to the prime minister’s office, has since embarked on a mass advertising and public messaging effort to conceal the hunger crisis. The push includes the use of American influencers widely reported on last month. It also includes a high-dollar spending spree on paid advertising, yielding tens of millions for Google, YouTube, X, Meta, and other tech platforms.” All Source-Intelligence. Jack Paulson and Lee Fang 3 Sept. 2025
The key word here is “messaging.” No mention of disseminating truth.
“The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.” George Orwell
This disinformation campaign is designed for two purposes: to hide Israel’s massive land grab, reminiscent of America’s theft of Native Americans’ soil; and second, the genocide currently being waged in Gaza. Disinformation is simply a technique for burying the truth. The biggest threat to mankind is not nuclear weapons, but disinformation, which has the ability to swing elections, install dictators, prevent solutions to climate change, stir up violence between races and classes. It provides the blood infusion for cruelty, for atrocities.
“Political language…is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” George Orwell
You might say Israel’s disinformation campaign is “designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable…” The disinformation campaign is designed to hide the truth about Gaza. And Google ain’t weighing in with any moral high ground, as long as the check clears.
“Despite the denial about the famine, prominent Israeli government voices have championed the effort to cut off food and water to Gazans as a strategy for inducing mass migration out of the territory. “In my opinion, you can besiege them,” said Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli Finance Ministry and a coalition partner to Netantayu’s government, according to Channel 12. “No water, no electricity, they can die of hunger or surrender,” Smotrich said. All Source-Intelligence. Jack Paulson and Lee Fang 3 Sept. 2025
The callousness of this program is heartbreaking, the intentional starving of women and children. Mankind should be shredding boatloads of tears.
Today, disinformation spews forth from the pulpits. For a lot of the evangelical churches, Jesus is an afterthought, no longer the headline act. These churches have been hijacked by radical right wing groups, Christian nationalists. These churches have devolved into Republican disinformation kiosks, spewing forth lies and conspiracy theories, as well as serving as Q’Anon disinformation field offices. The teaching of Jesus has been entombed, his message of love, forgiveness, and loving your enemies buried, collecting mould. Their sermons are saturated in revenge and grievance, and defeating the demonic Democrats.
“The core truth has been lost, and needs to be recovered in our time, is that every human has value because they bear the image of God.” Pastor Myers The Kingdom, the Power, the Glory by Tim Alberta p322,
Aidous Huxley: “The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.” That’s the secret sauce to fascism’s ascension: dehumanizing scapegoats. If you can dehumanize people, you can commit and justify atrocities against them.
Our current president has crafted a political career by spewing grievances and disinformation, demonizing whole races of people, whole political parties. Despite claiming to be a Christian, anointed by God, he views half of the United States population as evil, poised to destroy America. It goes without saying, he sees wide swaths of American as demonic, and certainly not ‘baring the image of God.’
And the Evangelicals are enablers in this campaign of disinformation.
Pastor Jeffress: “It was a slow process of marginalization, isolation, and then the final solution.” And I think you’re seeing that happen in America. “ page 121 The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, Tim Alberta
We certainly are.
‘Marginalization and isolation’ are what Jesus’ preached against. He believed in the dignity, the worth, and the beauty of any individual. In White Nationalist churches, Jesus is like that embarrassing old uncle who is swept under the rug, no longer relevant, but who speaks uncomfortable truths. Jesus was an advocate for the poor, a section of the body-politic the White Nationalist churches can’t be bothered with, especially if they are people of color.
When people are bombarded with disinformation, it short circuits critical thinking. This is why relatively intelligent people will say things like this;
“He accused Tom Hanks and Oprah Winfrey of being “pedophiles. He suggested that the president’s son, Hunter Biden, should be executed by a firing squad. He called Democrats “God-denying demons” and said “You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat in this nation.” Page 227 The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory by Tim Alberta
And that is why a relatively intelligent woman would say this about the ingredients in a cup of Starbucks coffee:
At a religious convention, at a Starbucks kiosk: “They put baby parts in their coffee,” she told her friends. Page 186 The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory by Tim Alberta
Our current President is a seething mass of grievances, never takes responsibility, seeks revenge against real or imagined enemies. And he uses disinformation on a daily basis. A few recent doozies: ‘no other country uses mail-in ballets’ (34 countries use mail-in ballots).
He said he would reduced drug prices by 150%, which makes no math sense. If he reduced it 100%, drugs would be free. Trump said there is no inflation when July showed 2.7% inflation. During Trump’s first presidency, the New York Times and the Washington Post both recorded over 30,000 lies told by Trump. His rate of disinformation during his current presidency is poised to surpass the 30,000 mark. To make sure they weren’t singling out Trump, the newspapers applied the same criteria to Obama. They found Obama told 1% of the lies Trump said.
We have a President that spews forth daily disinformation, validated by his Cabinet enablers. (Have you seen the cabinet meetings where each cabinet member craws up Trump’s ass and kisses it. It is beyond cringe worthy. ) People ask: why are we so divided? There’s your answer right there.
“In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.” George Orwell
Disinformation divides people, perhaps it’s most pernicious function.
In Russia, Putin’s disinformation has the Russian soldiers believing they are fighting a holy war against Ukraine, that if they lose their life in this sacred quest, heaven awaits them.
“All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting” George Orwell
The Third Reich was made possible because of the disinformation that spewed forth from the pulpits two hundred years before Hitler harvested the hate and the anti-Semitism. German people had been primed to embraced the cruelty of the Nazi regime.
“I would also like to say that it did not at all occur to me that these orders could be unjust. It is true that I know that is is also the duty of the police to protect the innocent, but I was then of the conviction that the Jews were not innocent but guilty. I believed the propaganda that all Jews were criminals and subhumans and that they were the cause of German’s decline after the First World War. The thought that one should disobey or evade the order to participate in the extermination of the Jews did not therefore enter my mind at all.”
Kurt Mobius, member of a German police force. Hitler’s Willing Executioners; Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust by Daniel Goldhagen
And then there are the scapegoats, a necessary ingredient in fascism. Disinformation is the tool needed to justify the slaughter of scapegoats. It’s purpose is to strip the humanity of the scapegoat, thereby opening the door to atrocities against them.
“Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, who rose to power by vilifying the muslim Kosovans with his state. Delivered a national address that sparked the civil war, cited the recorded persecution of his people by rival religious factions. He delivered the message flanked by orthodox priests. The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory by Time Alberta, p236
Religious disinformation has got some teeth to it because it is tied to the afterlife.
“The Russian people were convinced, Hovorun said, that they were fighting “a sacred war” to liberate Ukraine from secularists, apostates, even Nazis. And though much of the heavy lifting was done by Patriarch Kirill-who told Russians troops mobilizing toward Ukraine to “remember that if you lay down your life for your country, you will be with God”—history would record a new canon being authorized by Russia’s president.” The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory by Tim Alberta
There are consequences when religious doctrine becomes infected with political ideology. Page 239
“Bunker argued that much of this bad behavior can be traced back to the Christian victimhood complex, which causes some believers to lash out against enemies real and imagined. Such behavior defies the words of Peter and the very instruction of Jesus, who famously stated: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Pastor Bunker, page 132 The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, Tim Alberta
Jesus had it right: you love your enemies. You speak the truth, no matter the consequences. Today, in the wake of the Jimmy Kimmel firing, free speech is no longer a given in the United States. When you lose free speech, fear takes its place while fascism is ushered in. What Trump is doing is following a dictatorship playbook, most recently executed by Victor Orban to exterminate democracy in Turkey.
Through social media, America is absorbing a tsunami of disinformation at an incredible rate. The only way to fight this is to inject a tsunami of truth on the social airways. It’s a battle America needs to win.
Curt Strickland
And my booK: Democracy Under Siege: Essays from the Trump Years: 2017-2024
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