This edited book collection offers strong theoretical and philosophical insight into how digital platforms and their constituent algorithms interact with belief systems to achieve deception, and how related vices such as lies, bullshit, misinformation, disinformation, and ignorance contribute to deception. This inter-disciplinary collection explores how we can better understand and respond to these problematic practices. The Epistemology of Deceit in a Postdigital Era: Dupery by Design will be of interest to anyone concerned with deception in a ‘postdigital’ era including fake news, and propaganda online. The election of populist governments across the world has raised concerns that fake news in online platforms is undermining the legitimacy of the press, the democratic process, and the authority of sources such as science, the social sciences and qualified experts. The global reach of Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms has shown that they can be used to create and spread fake and misleading news quickly and without control. These platforms operate and thrive in an increasingly balkanised media eco-system where networks of users will predominantly access and consume information that conforms to their existing worldviews. Conflicting positions, even if relevant and authoritative, are suppressed, or overlooked in everyday digital information consumption. Digital platforms have contributed to the prolific spread of false information, enabled ignorance in online news consumers, and fostered confusion over determining fact from fiction. The collection explores:
• Deception, what it is, and how its proliferation is achieved in online platforms.
• Truth and the appearance of truth, and the role digital technologies play in pretending to represent truth.
• How we can counter these vices to protect ourselves and our institutions from their potentially baneful effects.
Author(s): Alison MacKenzie, Jennifer Rose, Ibrar Bhatt
Series: Postdigital Science And Education
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2021
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF
Pages: 312
Tags: Education (General)
Series Editor’s Preface
References
Foreword: Lying, Politics, Government
References
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Genesis of Dupery by Design
The Genesis of Dupery by Design
Organisation of the Book
Part 1: Epistemology of Deceit
Part 2: Dupery, Politics, and Democracy
Part 3: Discourse and Digital Literacy
Part 4: Towards a Critical Pedagogy
References
Contents
About the Editors
About the Authors
Part I: Epistemology of Deceit
Chapter 1: Bad Faith, Bad Politics, and Bad Consequences: The Epistemic Harms of Online Deceit
Introduction
Bad Politics and the Media: Beware Overlooking the Mass Media in Strategic Disinformation Campaigns
Mass Media and Social Media Consumption Driven by Dis/Mistrust
Polarisation for One’s Own Bad Faith Ends: The Cynic’s Toolkit and the Humanist’s Response
The Allure of Deception
Countering Bad Consequences of Deception: Reducing Harm
Conclusion
References
Chapter 2: An Epistemology of False Beliefs: The Role of Truth, Trust, and Technology in Postdigital Deception
Introduction
Interdependence and the Search for Truth
Dupers and Dupees: The Missing Link in Deception
Certainty and Truth
The Exploitation of Trust Through Psychological Certainty of Truth
Postdigital Deception: Virtual Reality or Reality as Virtual?
A Way Forward: Revisiting Epistemic Values
References
Chapter 3: Towards a Response to Epistemic Nihilism
Introduction
Epistemic Nihilism
A Unified Theory of Epistemic Nihilism
Epistemic Nihilism as a Worldview
The Threat of Epistemic Nihilism
The Nihilist’s Rhetorical Advantage
The Dangers of Nihilistic Speech
The Media’s Effect on Epistemic Nihilism
Countering Epistemic Nihilism
Conclusion
References
Part II: Dupery, Politics, and Democracy
Chapter 4: Duperation: Deliberate Lying in Postdigital, Postmodern Political Rhetoric
Introduction
Post-truth Politics
From Postmodern to Post-truth
Medium and Message: Politics as a Digital Commodity
The Degradation of Language
The Lie of the Real
From Flattery to Abuse: Cultivating Internal Resentment
From Abuse to Revenge
From Revenge to Panoptical Surveillance: The Enemy Within
Resisting Dupery
References
Chapter 5: The Right to Freedom of Expression Versus Legal Actions Against Fake News: A Case Study of Singapore
Introduction
International Human Rights Law Challenges to Fake News
The Right to Freedom of Expression and Opinion
The Concept of Fake News
Legal Acts Against Fake News and Freedom of Expression and Opinion
Singapore: A Case Study
Alternative Methods and Recommendations
Censorship Is Not a Way Out
Media and Information Literacy
Transparency
Conclusion
References
Chapter 6: US Digital Nationalism: A Habermasian Critical Discourse Analysis of Trump’s ‘Fake News’ Approach to the First Amendment
Us Protests as Foundational to American Democracy
Trump’s ‘Fake News’ Approach to the First Amendment
Theoretical Framework
US Digital Nationalism: Reconceptualizing the Hyper-Partisan Right
Critical Incidents of Authoritarian Technic Within US Digital Nationalism
Critical Incident: BLM Protests
Glonacal Critical Discourse Analysis: State, Rightist, and Leftist
The State
Hyper-partisan Right
Hyper-partisan Left
Implications of US Digital Nationalism: A Potential End to the US Democratic Experiment
Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: A Project of Mourning: Attuning to the Impact of ‘Anthropocentric-Noise Disorder’ on Non-Human Kin
Introduction
Gulf Livestock 1 and the Informatic Eschewal of Non-Human Animal Trauma
Conclusion
References
Part III: Discourse and Digital Literacy
Chapter 8: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet: Is There an Obligation to Correct False and Oppressive Speech on Social Media?
Introduction
Why You Might Feel You Should Speak Up
Speech Act Strand
Silence as Assent Strand
Epistemic Obligation Strand
Problems with Counterspeech
Problems with Objecting on Social Media
Amplification
Generation of Sympathy
Abuse
Summing Up
Not Objecting on Social Media
Institutional and Group Responses
Institutional Responses
Group Responses
Conclusion
References
Chapter 9: Writing Against the ‘Epistemology of Deceit’ on Wikipedia: A Feminist New Materialist Perspective Towards Critical Media Literacy and Wikipedia-Based Education
Introduction
Problematic Information and Critical Media Literacy in Wikipedia-Based Education
Problematic Information
Critical Media Literacy
Entangling with Differences: Feminist New Materialisms as a Method to Study Critical Media Literacy Practices
Assignment Descriptions
Intra-action in Student Edits and Reflections
Lively Assemblage in Students’ Edits and Reflections
Towards Assembled Reliability
Countering the Vices of Problematic Information in Wikipedia: Implications for Wikipedia-Based Education and Critical Media Literacy
Teaching Towards New Understandings of Agency and Activism
Teaching Towards a Distributed Notion of Reliability
Opportunities for Pedagogies of Intersectional Feminism
Challenges and Conclusions
References
Chapter 10: The Neoliberal Colonization of Discourses: Gentrification, Discursive Markets and Zombemes
Introduction: Towards an Inflation of Discourses Colonized by Neoliberalism
Discourse and Neoliberal Markets
Discursives Spaces as Resources
Colonization, Gentrification and Zombemes
Conclusion: Decontaminating Discourses in a Postdigital Society
References
Chapter 11: Social Memes and Depictions of Refugees in the EU: Challenging Irrationality and Misinformation with a Media Literacy Intervention
Introduction
Social Memes
Paradoxical Memes/Welfare/Irrationality as ‘Common Sense’
Brexit, the Remix and the ‘Mememification’ of Politics
A Threat to National Identity/Being Swamped/Invaded Memes
Islam/Islamophobia ‘Common Sense’ and Deceptive Paradoxes
Refugees as Bodybuilders
Meme Generator and Creators
Developing a Media Literacy Intervention: Countering the Impact of Derogatory Memes
Explanation of MILT, Memes and Context
The Research Process
Final Thoughts …
References
Part IV: Towards A Critical Pedagogy
Chapter 12: Scallywag Pedagogy
Pillow Talk at 100 Seconds to Midnight
The Demonic Pact with Capital
True Words Require Actions
Revolutionary Critical Praxis
Truth in the Dialectic of History
Scallywag Pedagogy
Postscript
References
Chapter 13: Learning from the Dupers: Showing the Workings
Introduction: Dupery and Its Intentions
Satire: We Are Not Supposed to Be Deceived
Magic: We Know We Are Being Deceived
Fake Science and Classroom Deception: We May Be Deceived, but We Are Being Educated to Avoid It
Reactions: We Are Exposed to Deception that Exposes Other Deceptions
Dupers Who Tell: Whistleblowers, Debunkers, Provocateurs and Poachers Turned Gamekeepers
The Extent of the Problem of Dupery: Insider Stories
Conclusion: What We Learn from the Dupers
References
Chapter 14: Ghosting Inside the Machine: Student Cheating, Online Education, and the Omertà of Institutional Liars
Introduction
Three Illustrative Examples
Case 1: Harrisburg Area Community College and Online Plagiarism
Case 2: Penn State and the In-Person Exam Proctoring Requirement
Case 3: Harvard University and Syllabus Regret Clauses
The ‘It’s-Not-So-Bad’ Objection
The Neoliberal/Corporate University Machine
The Lies Institutional Actors Tell Us
Social Epistemology and the Postdigital
References
Chapter 15: ‘Choice Is Yours’: Anatomy of a Lesson Plan from University V
As You Are
Choice Is Yours
Come as I Want You to Be
Bring ‘Em All In
As I Want You to Be
Conclusion
References
Conclusion: Some Resolutions to Dupery and the Power of Online Platforms
Social Media’s Ledger of Harms
Combatting Dupery: What Can Be Done?
Moving Forward from Dupery: Human Right and Humane Technology
References
Index
