And for the simplest of reasons. It’s a word made up out of whole cloth because everything anyone claims as misinformation is and can only be, well, INFORMATION no matter how anyone tries to spin it. The “mis,” “dis,” or “fake” is all up to the holder, seeker or receiver of that information.

That’s it. It’s up to you whether the information you’re processing has value, truth or matches your beliefs. No one can, or should, determine it for you. That goes especially for those providing the mass of information available today at breakneck speeds.

Here’s a good summary in how I first look at information when it hits my attention. Along with going to the other end of the spectrum, I look at what the infobots AREN’T saying.

“Secrecy is the keystone to all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy and censorship. When any government, or church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, ‘This you may not read, this you must not know.’ The end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man who has been hoodwinked in this fashion; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, whose mind is free. No, not the rack nor the atomic bomb, not anything. You can’t conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.”  — Robert Heinlein.

So really, “misinformation” is about controlling information. Misinformation is simply a term they’ve come up with to control what you’re allowed to hear and say and what conclusions you’re allowed to come to given the controlled information they allow you to hear.

Just look at what happens to citizens who don’t come to the conclusions those in control of our language and political direction demand. They’re labeled “conspiracy theorists.” Without getting into just how many of the “theories” have been proven true over the past several years, let’s look at what this label actually does to people who dare to believe or understand information differently than the folks in charge of the Ministry of Truth. 

After all, who believes “crazy” conspiracy theories? The key word is the first word. They’re obviously insane individuals. Who are those insane individuals? You and me and those of us who dare to think for themselves. As Dave Chapelle once stated, the act of calling someone crazy is dismissive. It’s equal to calling them not human. Then again, it’s to be expected from those who won’t call the growing group of cells in a womb human, but a single cell on Mars is life. It’s simply another way to make any life somehow less than human, making certain lives not worthy of being part of, or taking part in, society.

Let’s get back to secrets by talking about a topic we’re not allowed to talk about — unless of course the topic can be tied to Christian conservatives — mass shootings. We’ve had two recent mass shootings. Both, as usual, made immediate headlines with the appropriate, righteous condemnation. But what else did these two shootings immediately come with? The ever-present rush to judgment, stating the shooters must be disgruntled, white, Christian conservatives. Without getting into specifics, they weren’t. I wonder as I write this column how many folks really know the profile of these two shooters? The shootings aren’t in the news any longer. Why? You know already, but you aren’t allowed to talk about that either. Because stating the facts would make one a conspiracy theorist based in our controllers’ ideas and demands in how we think about race and gender. 

Facts are scary, disallowed, unmentioned things when it comes to tyrants because they’e true — many times eternal truths. The last things tyrants want citizens to have are facts or the truth. When was the last time you listened to a “leader” demanding you believe what you’re hearing and not what you’re seeing and thought, “Wow, I should blindly follow them?” If you have, perhaps you’re a true misinformation conspiracy theorist. 

Quick example: President Joe Biden saying the inflation rate is 0 percent because it was at the same 8 percent rate as it was the month before. Here’s what he’s not telling you. Inflation rates are based on a given month versus the previous year for the same month. So, if the inflation rate in a month was 8 percent, it means things on average, since a lot of what they track aren’t really necessities, cost 8 percent more than last year in the same month. Worse, those same things cost 20 percent or more than they did from two years before based on that month’s PREVIOUS year’s inflation rate.

In laymen’s terms, the $20 widget you bought in 2020 costs about $26 today. That’s a 30 percent increase, and that’s being generous. It’s worse on necessities. Just look at your natural gas bill. Rates have nearly doubled over the past year and are set to go up again. Then again, our leaders don’t make energy a part of the Consumer Price Index as they should. Too many folks might get crazy, conspiracy ideas about inflation. 

For tyrants, that beats knowing the truth about inflation, or anything, any day.