By Ande Jacobson

A brilliant new book entitled A Firehose of Falsehood: The Story of Disinformation written by Teri Kanefield and illustrated by Pat Dorian is finally available to all (as of 13 February 2024). You can buy your copy at your favorite brick and mortar bookseller, order it online, or borrow it from your local library. In August 2023, I had the opportunity to review a pre-publication copy of this stunning work, and it packed a punch. I more recently received a pre-publication hardcover copy of the book which I was eager to see. Although it was the same material as the digital version I previously reviewed, it was even more gripping in hardcover. This is a must-read book for everyone. A Firehose of Falsehood is a graphic novel, and as such, the illustrations are an integral and powerful part of the story. Kanefield wrote the informative and entertaining prose, and Dorian’s breathtaking four-color illustrations make this book also a work of art.

Kanefield has written extensively about how in our new digital age where information is easily accessible by anyone with an internet connection, we are experiencing a huge disruption equivalent to the invention of the printing press. Such universal access allows both good and bad actors to thrive. As such, disinformation is even more powerful than it was before, and the onus is on the consumer to vet the information they consume.

Long gone are the days when we could sit back and trust editors and writers to get it right and correct any errors post haste. We now live in a world where entire industries are dedicated to deceit. Some of those industries employ what Kanefield calls rage-merchants, something that’s particularly easy to do through social media. These practitioners do all they can to enrage their audiences because rage sells, but profit isn’t their only motive. Division and chaos is also in the mix. Their actions not only divide the public based on the controversy of the moment in the 24/7 news cycles, they inspire fights that may start as heated online arguments and can escalate into physical threats and violence in the real world in service of some bad actor or cult leader. People most susceptible to the rage-merchants find themselves in a state of constant fear and hate. Some are there by choice through their own willful ignorance, but others are swept into this constant state of rage due to an honest lack of understanding of what’s going on. A Firehose of Falsehood can help bring people out of this unhealthy and destructive state.

Disinformation isn’t new. Kanefield tells the long and storied history of how disinformation has been used and how it has evolved over time. Beyond providing this well-sourced and cogent history in an engaging and entertaining story, Kanefield also teaches readers how to spot disinformation, and more importantly, how to protect themselves from it by constructing a virtual raincoat. Armed with this knowledge, readers can help others do the same in the ever more complex information jungle we all inhabit.

Disinformation is most often used to achieve some nefarious political goal, but that’s not its only purpose. We’ve all seen the increase in various consumer scams based on the use of disinformation as a means of coercion. Still, that’s not the focus of the book. Kanefield has focused her story on the political uses and shows how widespread its use has become. The book issues a stark warning of the dangers disinformation poses to the functioning of modern society, particularly democracies worldwide.

While my full review from last August is rather extensive, the chapters in this new book give readers some insight into the direction the story follows. They include:

1. Ancient Lies
2. Disinformation and the Printing Press
3. Fascism and Myth-Making
4. Nazi Germany and The Big Lie
5. Active Measures
6. Russia Attacks America
7. Disinformation Destroys
8. The American Public Sphere Takes a Beating
9. The Desire to Destroy
10. Wear Raincoats

In a nutshell, several methods of employing disinformation are discussed in the book including:

• Lies (the bigger the better), rumors, and malicious gossip.
• Concealed warfare employing lies to sow discord and division and demoralize an enemy.
• Scapegoat a defined group to create an enemy.
• Conspiracy theories to amplify underlying fears and prejudices.
• Myth-making to attack an enemy or boost the in-group.
• Discredit the truth.
• Active measures encompass numerous methods to actively spread false information to a target audience and prevent honest discussion. Methods include whataboutism, censorship through noise, and false balance (a form of noise).

Awareness matters, but that alone isn’t enough. After presenting multiple examples of the use of these methods, Kanefield presents several crucial steps we can all take to protect ourselves from the onslaught of disinformation including:

• Supporting education.
• Supporting good journalism and educating journalists to move away from just seeking clicks.
• Watching out for false equivalences.
• Believing in the truth – truth matters.
• Not amplifying disinformation but instead using a truth sandwich rather than repeating a lie.
• Supporting institutions.
• Getting involved in democracy.
• Pushing to regulate social media ads.
• Repairing the public square so that arguments are based on facts and rational thinking, not rage induced rants; allowing all who want to participate to do so; and exploring different ideas.

As the U.S. moves further into 2024, the election looms over us all. Suffice it to say that what happened in 2016 and 2020 were preludes to the firehose that is already being deployed across the information universe actively creating chaos wherever possible. The sources of the disinformation are varied and very well-funded, so it’s even more important to be vigilant. A Firehose of Falsehood can help us all learn how to distinguish fact from fiction and protect ourselves from disinformation’s ill effects when we inevitably encounter it.

The book is considered a crossover YA/Adult book, and while likely not of interest to young children, it’s a quick read and one that also makes a useful reference greatly augmented by its extensive notes section and bibliography.

Forewarned is forearmed.

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References:
A Firehose of Falsehood, written by Teri Kanefield and illustrated by Pat Dorian
Wear a raincoat!
https://terikanefield.com/
https://agoodreedreview.com/2023/03/20/book-disinformation-warrior/

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