In about a month, AP projections will transition to swearing in ceremonies, stump speeches will turn into the State of the Union, and “promises made” could become “promises kept.” Whether you are pleased or upset by the recent election results, quite a bit will change under the new Trump administration, especially with a Republican Congress and majority conservative Supreme Court backing him up. Those who voted for President-elect Trump were, frankly, banking on that change. One thing that may not change, however? Trump’s rhetoric.
There have been many comments about how Trump’s messaging has become more erratic and off-topic in this election compared to previous ones, but one could argue it has only really changed in intensity. Confusion has always been a part of Trump’s brand and that has remained steadfast through this campaign. He flip-flops on policy positions, puts lies into the information environment, and brought the concept of “fake news” into our consciousness. Do you know his stance on a national abortion ban? How about foreign policy, which countries does he momentarily like? You may be able to check an article for the answer, but one tweet or press conference can change his stance entirely, and that’s on purpose. As one of the most influential leaders in American history, especially when it comes to language (I know you all have at least one of his quotes in your vocabulary, as do I), it’s important to prepare ourselves for his next presidency, as well as brush up on his well-worn propaganda technique: firehosing.
Firehosing, or “the firehose of falsehood,” is a modern propaganda technique, using technology and social media to create an air of uncertainty around certain issues. It was coined by Christopher Paul and Miriam Matthews in an article about how the Russians created this model. They characterize firehosing with four distinctive features: 1) using multiple channels of information, 2) rapid and continuous repetition of lies, 3) a lack of commitment to reality, and 4) a lack of commitment to consistency.
In Russia, this means using state media, amateur journalists, and social media to put out half-truths or whole lies interchangeably. If you’re low-information, in terms of news consumption, you take the “facts” handed to you and if you happen to know better, you laugh or cringe at the absurdity of the lie, creating an environment of confusion for the country, allies, and enemies. When confronted, the lie becomes another lie when officials claim that it was never said or that they’ve been misinterpreted. In addition, those loyal to the message and the leader become defensive to criticism on their behalf, creating distrust in experts and scientific fact.
Now, propaganda can be kind of a dirty word, but it's important to acknowledge that propaganda is any information with a bias trying to convince you of its particular political opinion. It isn’t necessarily nefarious, though we associate it mainly with wartime or foreign threats. Russia has had a consistent and intense propaganda campaign throughout its history, as authoritarian governments tend to, but America has also tried to influence the public through propaganda. However, due to the protections for free speech and press that our nation is founded on, it’s harder to control a narrative as wholly as other governments can. This isn’t a debate on whether Trump or his administration uses this technique cognizantly. It’s very possible that if you asked him what the “firehose of falsehood” is, he’d have no idea. But cognizant or not, Trump, and many other politicians, uses this technique to his advantage whenever possible. The problem is that our current entertainment and news landscape is ripe for this type of information to spread.
Propaganda has been around as long as leaders and groups have wanted to convince you of their ideals or justify their power, but its effectiveness depends on the period and method in which it is being used. We need to address propaganda as much as possible, not to fearmonger or demean opinions we dislike, but to ensure basic principles of our nation, free speech and press, can be preserved for future generations. There have been real threats made to the sanctity of several important institutions under the previous Trump presidency, corresponding with increased attacks on and ridicule of the press at home and abroad. With threats to public education as well, including dissolving the Department of Education, and the critiques of Americans’ current lack of media literacy and dislike of intellectualism, some guardrails, like a free press, must stay intact if we are to continue to be a country that encourages the free exchange of ideas.
Propaganda has always evolved, and it won’t always look as blatant as state media or WWII posters. Social media takes away the normal regulations news publications are under and allows propaganda to be more subtle, making you totally unaware you may even be consuming propaganda at all. We are inundated with so much information, so much diversity of opinion, that it's hard to discern what is true or false, but that’s exactly the goal of firehosing. As long as we know this is happening and remember the four key signs of it, we can be better protected against this deliberately confusing, fast-paced propaganda.
Language and information have power. We need to remember how new the media environment we live in is, and acknowledge that recognition is the first step to building any sort of immunity to these distortions of the truth.
Comments