There has always been untrue information present in our societal systems. In fact, there is plenty of solid reasoning to suggestion that all information, in some way is untrue. Epistemology has grappled with this for thousands of years.
However, despite the failure to capture real truth in societal knowledge, this misinformation came from a small number of trusted local authorities (Priests, local experts, village elders, newspaper editors).
These sources, while they were almost certainly often wrong in comparison to the vast knowledge we have today, retained trust because there wasn’t a constant competing flood of equally authoritative-sounding voices.
Now, with the internet and social media, we face an overabundance of authorities. As each authority contracts the others, an actually reasonable outcome for any collection of free thinking individuals, the shared baseline of trust collapses.
This, rather than the misinformation itself, is what is causing the fracturing of our cultures and society.
Connections
Social Media Is An Excellent Aggregator
Reference
� First You Don’t Hear Other Views. Then You Can’t Trust Them. Your Personal Information Network Entraps You Just Like a Cult