1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Term for the day, and for every day currently…Political technology. Disinformation as reality. We see it all the time. Our daily lives are inundated with it. Social media feeds on it. It has created a society ruled by conspiracy and suspicion and fear. And anger. Meta. Google. Facebook. Instagram. Etc etc etc. Their algorithms groom us. They hold the power to corrupt our minds and lives. And because they are so heavily invested in the government being on their side, it seems they are using that power to openly corrupt us…we the people who gave it all life in the first place. We’re experiencing a corruption of a technology that was sold as a way to bring people together. Now they’re turned it against us. Using it to divide. To misinform. To create such a sense of suspicion that we don’t know what to believe. However, they well know that fear and hate is always something we can be convinced to believe it. Disinformation, driven by AI, is running rampant on social media in the US in the runup to the midterm election. Social media companies had reduced efforts to stop the flood of disinformation after Trump’s reelection. And now official government sources like the Department of Homeland Security sometimes amplify the lies. It’s SOP. Trump and his allies have always relied on false narratives. They adopted the Russian political strategy to overturn democracy by using modern media to create a false political world. They bullied and extorted media into participating in the supporting of lies. And voters begin to base political decisions on that fake image. Not on reality. Manipulated into giving up control of their government to an authoritarian. Who promises to fix it all. A successful Russian strategy to pervert democracy. “The Democrats don’t matter,” Trump ally Steve Bannon told a reporter in 2018. “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with sh*t.” Keeping listeners constantly trying to distinguish what is real from what is not destroys the ability to make sense of the world. Many turn to the strongman who promises to create order. Others will get so exhausted they simply give up. Tune out. Give up their power. Brainwashing works. But guess what? It didn’t work in Brazil. It didn’t work no matter how much manipulation happened. It didn’t work no matter how much money was thrown doing so. And it’s not going to work here. Americans are not bots. And we’re definitely not Russians. VOTE!!!