How to Get Real With the Fake: Politics, Fake News, and Conspiracy Theory

Getting Real with the Fake
Name of the Student
Institution
Course
Instructor’s Name
Date
Getting Real with the Fake
Part I
Chapters three and four reveal how politicians utilize fake news, disinformation, and misinformation to win against their opponents during campaigns. The spreading of lies could persuade other people’s political opinions, yielding the desired voting change (Higdon & Huff, 2019). These lies work because politicians ensure they are big enough to attract the attention of the majority. Furthermore, during public campaigns, the presenters of these lies repeat them. Therefore, people will have easy access to readily available misinformation. The fact that the audience lacks access to the truth regarding the spread of lies makes them vulnerable to believing untrue stories. Modern information and communication technologies have led to new dimensions of spreading political lies in volume, speed, and reach (Vosoughi et al., 2018). Today, millions of voters can consume these lies in the comfort of their homes by accessing their social media accounts via smartphones and other devices. Perpetrators engineer these messages to change opinions. 
For example, President Trump lied to American society about the rigging of the recent election. Communities across the world bought the possibility of this occurrence. Although there lacked solid evidence, the lies led to reduced attention to the news regarding Joe Biden’s assumption of power and the dangers of coronavirus. The president’s claims that his tax overhaul was the largest tax cut were also lies that were bought by most of his supporters (Zeida, 2019). While the propaganda received this huge support, news regarding the deteriorating economy and inequality did not receive adequate attention. In both instances, the lies propagate because of the lack of precise truth. The immense amount of data spread online makes it hard ...