Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World

The “firehose strategy” is designed to leave the audience disoriented and despairing of ever being able to separate truth from falsehood.

The study found that the most successful headlines don’t convey facts, they promise you an emotional experience.

So why is there bullshit everywhere? Part of the answer is that everyone, crustacean or raven or fellow human being, is trying to sell you something. Another part is that humans possess the cognitive tools to figure out what kinds of bullshit will be effective. A third part is that our complex language allows us to produce an infinite variety of bu

He described bullshit as what people create when they try to impress you or persuade you, without any concern for whether what they are saying is true or false, correct or incorrect.

Still, fake news is not primarily a propaganda tool. Most fake and hyperpartisan news is created for a different reason: to generate advertising revenue.

There are three basic approaches for protecting ourselves against misinformation and disinformation online.

“The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”

The Internet site is not necessarily designed to perpetuate a long-term relationship; it is designed to make you click, now. Quality of information and accuracy are no longer as important as sparkle.

Disinformation flows through a network of trusted contacts instead of being injected from outside into a skeptical society.