Misinformation, Disinformation, and Information Consumers

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Information Consumers

• Information consumers: US! The people receiving and acting on the information

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Information Consumers

• Information consumers: US!

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Information Consumers

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Information Consumers

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Information Consumers

• Misinformation: false or misleading information that is unknowingly shared

    - Someone shares a meme that they think is true, but it is false
    - Someone shares a rumor
    - Someone shares a news story that is false, perhaps purposely planted
    - Someone misinterprets satire and shares it as fact

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Information Consumers

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Information Consumers

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Information Consumers

• Disinformation: false or misleading information that is purposely created and distributed

            - Lies: complete falsehoods
            - Planted false news stories
            - Out of context: missing surrounding words and circumstances, real meaning may be the opposite
            - Unusual definitions: different meaning than normal speech of the *information consumer* 

Misinformation, Disinformation, and Information Consumers

• Information consumers: US!
• Misinformation: unknowingly shared
• Disinformation: purposely created and distributed

Three kinds of lies

Related: “Liars, damned liars, and experts!”

Attributed to:

            - Benjamin Disraeli
            - Mark Twain
            - Aldous Huxley
            - Leonard Henry, Baron Courtney of Penwith
            

55% of Budget for Defense

55percent_defense meme

55% of Budget for Defense

• This meme is disinformation with a footnote
• The number is for the “discretionary” budget, which is only about 27% of the budget
• Does not include state and local spending, which is about 45% of government spending
• There is virtually zero defense spending in the nondiscretionary budget

The real number

• 55% x 27% = 15% of the total federal budget

• 15% x 55% = 8.25% of total government spending

• Nondiscretionary and state/local defense spending may add a few percent so

• Defense: 8.25% to 10% of total government spending

• Everything else: 90 to 91.75% of total government spending

Unusual Definitions/Lack of Context

Tax Dollars Meme

Unusual Definitions/Lack of Context

• Doesn’t say that this is discretionary spending
• Doesn’t give a source

Unusual Definitions/Lack of Context

Unusual Definitions/Lack of Context

Where our tax dollars go

Note - this is a hypothetical, AI generated using Copilot and not accurate

Unusual Definitions/Lack of Context

• These memes purposely confuse two different things

Simple definitions:

            - Discretionary: set in every budget
            - Nondiscretionary: set far in advance
            - Total budget: Discretionary plus Nondiscretionary
            

• This shows only discretionary spending

            - Most spending on the little categories is nondiscretionary
            - Virtually all defense spending is discretionary

• If we show the total budget, the picture changes drastically

• If we show only nondiscretionary, the rocket disappears

Why is this a problem?

Why is this a problem?

“This week on Facebook I ran into a couple of memes about the defense budget that I thought were worth addressing. While the core message that the United States spends too much on the military is sound, these particular memes are so massively misleading that I think it would be irresponsible to let them go unanswered…”

Human Economics

Why is this a problem?

Why is this a problem?

Human Economics

Practical and Moral Dimension

• Practical issues:

            - Does the dishonest information distract from real root causes?

Practical and Moral Dimension

• Practical issues:

            - Does the dishonest information distract from real root causes?
  
            - What happens if someone arguing for something gets caught lying? What do the people listening think?

Practical and Moral Dimension

• Practical issues:

            - Does the dishonest information distract from real root causes?
  
            - What happens if someone arguing for something gets caught lying? What do the people listening think?

• Moral Dimension

            - Do you personally want to unknowingly spread disinformation?

Just to be clear

Extra Credit Quiz Answers

The Extra Credit Quiz Answers are based on actual federal budget data from the US Department of the Treasury from 2021 fiscal year:

Preview

Goals: Understand the problems. Understand the solutions. Argue more effectively for what you want. Don’t spread misinformation and look dishonest.

Healthcare vs Defense Spending

defense healthcare coronavirus meme

Question 1

Of the four following categories, which does the federal government spend the most on?

1. police
2. national defense
3. healthcare
4. veteran’s benefits

Question 1: Answer

Of the four following categories, which does the federal government spend the most on?

Correct answer C

1. police - in “other” category, unknown share of 4%
2. national defense - 13% of budget
3. HEALTHCARE - 14% plus 12% for Medicare
4. veteran’s benefits - 4% of budget

Healthcare vs Defense Spending

Honest meme: Healthcare should be twice as big as defense!

defense healthcare coronavirus meme

Question 2

Of the following categories of spending, which does the federal government spend the most on?

            a - interest on the national debt
            b - national defense
            c - social welfare spending
            d - transportation
            

Question 2: Answer

Of the following categories of spending, which does the federal government spend the most on?

Correct answer: C - social welfare spending

            a - interest on the national debt - 9%
            b - national defense - 13%
            c - social welfare spending - 65% including healthcare, 39% excluding healthcare. Does NOT include veteran's benefits!
            d - transportation - 2%

Election Budget vs Healthcare Spending

election_healthcare_budget_meme

Question 3

Of the following categories of spending, which does the federal government spend the most on?

            a - customs and immigration
            b - healthcare
            c - national defense
            d - veteran's benefits

Question 3: Answer

Of the following categories of spending, which does the federal government spend the most on?

Correct answer: b - HEALTHCARE - $741 billion plus $657 billion for Medicare vs $2 billion for that election

            a - customs and immigration - included in "other" less than 4%
            b - healthcare - 27% including Medicare, 14% without Medicare
            c - national defense - 13%
            d - veteran's benefits - 4%
            

Election Budget vs Healthcare Spending

TRUE MEME: We already spend $1,398 billion on healthcare. How much difference would $2 billion more make?

RESPONSE MEME: If free healthcare only cost $6.06 per person, why does it even need to be free? I’ll pay for mine and 100 other people and still save money!

election_healthcare_budget_meme

Biden Cutting Social Security

Biden Cut Social Security Meme

Disclaimer: I have no idea if these are true. It’s just related.

Question 4

If we combine national defense spending and veteran’s spending to create a category called “defense related spending,” which of the following categories gets the largest share of federal spending?

            a - defense related spending
            b - Social Security
            c - Medicare

Question 4: Answer

If we combine national defense spending and veteran’s spending to create a category called “defense related spending,” which of the following categories gets the largest share of federal spending?

Correct Answer: b - Social Security

            a - defense related spending - 17%
            b - Social Security - 21%
            c - Medicare - 12%
            
            

Trump Cutting Social Security

Biden say Trump will cut social security meme

Disclaimer: No idea if this is true either, it’s just funny given the Biden meme!

Question 5

Which of these gets the largest share of federal spending? Consider these categories:

            a. Courts and police of all types
            b. Defense related = national defense plus veteran's benefits and services
            c. Senior citizens benefits = Social Security and Medicare
            d. Welfare for non-seniors

Question 5

Which of these gets the largest share of federal spending? Consider these categories:

Correct Answer: C - Senior citizens benefits at 33% d. Welfare for non-seniors is close at 32%

            a. Courts and police of all types - less than 4$
            b. Defense related = national defense plus veteran's benefits and services - 17%
            c. Senior citizens benefits = Social Security and Medicare - 33%
            d. Welfare for non-seniors - 32% 

Authorship and License

Do not submit to Quizlet, Chegg, Coursehero, or other similar commercial websites.

• Author: Tom Hanna

• Website: tomhanna.me

• License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.