The Constitution of Knowledge by Jonathan Rauch

Author:Jonathan Rauch [Rauch, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780815738862
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Published: 2021-06-21T22:00:00+00:00

6

Troll Epistemology: “Flood the Zone with Shit”

Disinformation is an old enemy with new weapons and powerful friends

On September, 11, 2014, social media erupted with reports of a toxic leak from the Columbian Chemicals plant in Centerville, Louisiana. Residents living nearby received text alerts; local journalists received tweets; YouTube lit up with CNN footage. “A powerful explosion heard from miles away happened,” someone called Jon Merritt tweeted. A person using the handle @AnnRussela shared an image of flames engulfing the plant. A Wikipedia page was even created for the disaster, complete with a link to a YouTube video.1

It was all fake: the texts, the tweets, the video footage. The plant’s parent company, Birla Carbon, was puzzled. “There has been no release of such toxic gas, explosion, or any other incident in our facility,” the company said in a statement. “We are not aware of the origin of this text message.” Not long after, Duval Arthur, the homeland security director for St. Mary Parish, blamed the hoax on someone with a “sad, sick sense of humor.”2

A troll, in other words. In yet other words: an epistemic sociopath.

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