Let's Discuss Agnotology, the science of creating stupidity
AGNOTOLOGY.
Agnotology is the science of creating stupidity.
First coined by a history professor,3 agnotology (from the Greek for “not knowing”) is the study of culturally constructed ignorance, usually manufactured by special interest groups to suppress facts and create confusion. Its specious methodologies are often deployed in complex scientific issues, by sowing the seeds of doubt with inaccurate or misleading data.
For decades, cigarette companies notoriously implemented the tactics of agnotology, ignoring any evidence that huffing a carton of Marlboros might cause harm. As millions died from lung cancer, the tobacco industry actually hired thousands of scholars to produce a mountain of research about all aspects of smoking—except its health risks. “Doubt is our product,” said one tobacco marketing exec, “since it is the best means of competing with the body of fact that exists in the mind of the general public.”
This is the insidious conceit of agnotology: It succeeds not by a lack of information but by a surfeit of it. Agnotologists inundate the citizenry with enough disinformation to cast doubt on an entire issue. Masters of the discipline have muddied countless scientific waters, formulating questions that already had answers: Is global warming a hoax? Do football concussions create chronic brain damage? Are prescription opiates addictive? Do vaccines cause autism?
This is the dilemma of living in the age of plentiful data. Someone out there has created the answer you want—the one that matches your preexisting beliefs. They have it down to a science.
from
The Encyclopedia Of Misinformation
by Rex Sorgatz
Abrams Publishing 2018
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Sounds familiarly like something we have all been witnessing for a while now.
Yes the entire Russian collusion fiasco is a great example.
Defenses of the current president would certainly fit the description of agnotology, as would his own personal tactics. He has even personally spread a few of the hoaxes mentioned in the OP and the first comment, that climate change is a hoax, that vaccines cause autism, and that Obama was not an American. You could call him our national agnotologist.
"Russia" was never the "Issue" in the first place. Thus …… Just another Practicing of agnotology by the peoples media and the Left. Both have this down to a "Science" !
Fox, Sinclair and other propaganda machines, right wing pundits, no labeling on "news" programming informing viewers about the kind of media product they are consuming leads people to believe in opinions over fact.
Right wing Republican followers want to believe in their party like Santa Claus. It doesn't matter if it's a lie, there is no Santa Claus, they want to believe and pretend.
Same with whoever the GOP puts forward as a candidate, they can lie, cheat and steal, but if they are running on a Republican ticket their blind misinformed followers adopt that candidate as their "daddy". They will hear no truth against their "daddy" and behave accordingly.
Until news programming is forced to label it's products like movie ratings, informing viewers they are not watching an actual truthful "news" program when they watch pundits presenting opinions, then nothing will change.
We have to start somewhere to break the cycle of lies and adopted false realities. There is no Santa Claus, opinions are not news.
Let's Discuss Agnotology
No, that would be stupid!
Sorry John, I just could not help myself. But seriously, Mr. Trumps entire life has been nothing more than a marketing campaign.
The expressed opinion does not capture the full context of agnotology. The art of stupidity applies to pro-science arguments as well as anti-science arguments.
Consider the example of corn ethanol. The science community promoted the idea of corn ethanol as a biofuel to replace fossil fuels. Environmental activists touted ethanol biofuel as a critical means of addressing climate change and protecting the environment. There was bipartisan support for government subsidies to create a corn ethanol infrastructure. Environmentalists engaged in efforts to force auto manufacturers to build cars that would run on ethanol and other biofuels. Where is support for corn ethanol now?
Why are anti-nukes any different than anti-vaxxers? How is marijuana consumption different than tobacco consumption? What happened to biofuels being critical for eliminating fossil fuels and stopping climate change?
IMO there is plenty of stupidity on both sides of the issues. Attempting to use a made up science like agnotology to promote a particular type of stupidity is an example of echo chamber logic.
Looks like a fun book.