As the wildfires rage on, and stay safe out there everyone, we have a pop culture opportunity to break down the misinformation versus disinformation situation that Elon Musk and Gavin Newsom delivered.
Paulie Walnuts in the famous season 3 episode of The #Sopranos called the Pine Barrens. It illustrates misinformation perfectly. When Paulie bungles a hit, he calls Tony Soprano to say he took care of a Russian mobster. Paulie thought he was correct, this is #misinformation. Classic Paulie, always has the wrong info and screws something up, right?
That’s also where Gavin Newsom is – he’s working with information from a dynamic and evolving situation, trying to get it right, but being wrong. Things are complicated on the ground and there is no intent to deceive.
Misinformation is in just about any episode of the Sopranos where Paulie overhears a rumor at Satriale’s and spreads it around without knowing it’s false.
So what’s #disinformation then?
Let’s say Tony knew the Russian was still alive and then spread a story about the Russian’s fate to gain a strategic edge, that would cross the line into disinformation.
Disinformation is Tony planting a juicy, fake story to manipulate the rival Russian crew. Elon leveraging the fires to spread fake political information is just the same. It’s deliberate, calculated, and serves a purpose.
Misinformation spirals into chaos, leaving a big mess. Disinformation is a power move, it crafts a narrative to persuade, deceive and control.
So, next time you scroll and find a similar story, ask yourself if the talking head is Paulie-level cluelessness or Tony-mastermind scheming. Either way, make sure you’re not the guy wandering clueless in the Pine Barrens.
