Municipal Policy in the Disinformation Age
Biased, misleading, and incorrect information has long influenced public policy development to varying degrees, but in our current age of disinformation, we’re witnessing a rise in “alternative facts” and the public delegitimization of experts. The misinformed and the “wilfully ignorant” often dominate the conversation, drowning out both expert analysis and constructive community input, proving detrimental to the people these policies attempt to help.
Are we trending toward a future where facts are less essential to the formation of public policy than exaggerations, falsehoods, and outrage? How has policy formation and analysis been disrupted in the disinformation age, and what can we do about it? Should public policy formation change to reflect our new realities? What does this mean on a local level?
Thursday, April 18
12:30 – 1:30 PM
Room 320, SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, 580 W. Hastings Street
Free Event | Registration is Required
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Would be nice for South of the Fraser neighbours and others across BC to view on line/webinar format – is it possible?
Has there been a rise in “alternative facts”, or are more people just realizing what a pile of dung is constantly heaped our way.
Advertising dung. PR dung. Political dung.
Tobacco industry. Big Pharma. Oil industry. The fat business of war – a racket, as General Smedley called it.
We are rife with billionaire parasite propaganda. They have the wherewithal to promulgate their venal views through media that they own and fake special interest groups with clever names that they fund.
The Grope and Flail. The National Putz. Independent quality journalism? Hardly.
I don’t think so. The pain of cognitive dissonance has been reduced through disinformation enabled through filter bubbles.
Look at these debates for examples, some view the north shore news as fake news:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/193698281337852?view=permalink&id=320062975368048