From the perspective of knowledge equals power, intentional misinformation, no matter by whom, could be regarded as abuse of power.
More people should educate those knowing less instead of ridiculing their ignorance. (Given the “knowing” really “know”, but that’s another topic.)
Edit: Intentional misinformation meaning posting and spreading “fake news”, willfully publishing or sharing false information through media of any kind, as organization or individual, not merely everyday lyingy which is sth different.
Edit 2: Apparently it’s “misinformation” not “disinformation” sorry.
On your second edit, disinformation is the correct term for what you’re discussing. Disinformation is purposefully wrong or misleading information. Misinformation is still correct, but it’s more broad. It’s just generally incorrect information, without intent being a requirement.
Personally, I like extending the metaphor.
- Sharing information you have no good reason to believe is gross negligence (in this case, the power being your ability to get things in front of people). If you haven’t read the article and checked for common sense, don’t post it.
- Upvoting a post based on the title without looking at the source is a minor version of the same.
- Giving non-primary sources when the primary source is right there is a form of gatekeeping. Give me the court ruling pdf!
It should be illegal to have the government or any entity with power deceive or lie to you. Using the best of psychology to manipulate people should absolutely be a serious crime. Instead, corporations and governments do this everyday with impunity.
If you’re talking about lies you should know we as humans learn to lie before we learn to talk. It’s part of who we are and as crazy as it sounds is a necessary part of living in a group. It’s wrong to lie to hurt people but we lie all the time in many small ways just to exsists in a world with other people. You really don’t want to live in a world completely without lies.
Depends how you define lying. If you mean saying things that you know to be untrue then I would disagree that it’s necessary.
I read a book about lying around 7 years ago and it was making the argument that it’s only justifiable when used to prevent greater harm, the classic example there being Nazis on your door asking if you have Anne Frank in the attic. Other than that it’s always wrong and often completely unnecessary. Applies to white lies as well.
The only single time I’ve lied since then was reflexively telling a beggar that I didn’t have any cash. Again, completely unnecessary. In fact I’ve not lied for so long that lying doesn’t even come to mind anymore as an option when handling a situation. People can tell that they’re not going to like what I’m about to say next before I even say it because they can see me hesitate and carefully choose my words. They don’t always like hearing it but not one person has cut ties because of it - rather the opposite. They now come to me when they want the truth.
Additional benefit of this is that it makes me carefully consider my own behaviour so that I don’t need to lie about it later.
Again, not lying doesn’t mean speaking everything that’s on your mind. It simply means not saying things you know to be untrue.
So if someone asks “how are you doing” on the street you answer truthfully? If someone cooks you a meal do you tell them it wasn’t good?
A lie by omission I still count. If you know what answer is the truth and you don’t say it in order to not share the truth, that’s deceitful .
All my opinion of course, well not mine I also read it in a book somewhere along the line.
I have no issue telling people I’m not doing good if that is the truth. The meal example I can’t say. Telling the truth there would be the right thing to do according to my principles but a situation like that almost never occurs - at least it hasn’t for me over the past 7 years or so. Therefor I can’t say that I absolutely would.
However, I’ve answered truthfully to even more uncomfortable questions than that in the past - regarding people’s appearance for example - so from that perspective I see no reason why I wouldn’t.
I’m unsure how I feel about a lie by omission. For me the point has always been not to actively deceive people by telling them something that’s not true. I’m not obligated to tell everything that’s on my mind. I can also just say that I don’t want to answer. However if I evade answering the thing they are asking by dancing around it then that would count as deception.
Would you want to be lied to if your guest didn’t like the food you served to them at all?
