{"id":2756,"date":"2020-02-14T10:08:03","date_gmt":"2020-02-14T15:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2756"},"modified":"2020-02-14T10:08:08","modified_gmt":"2020-02-14T15:08:08","slug":"the-end-of-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"The End of Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cRemember,\u201d he told a crowd in 2018, \u201cwhat you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.\u201d \u2013 President Trump<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And You Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth Shall Make You Free \u2013 John 8:32 \u2013 KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disinformation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was already happening, but we didn\u2019t know it.  In 2016 the Presidential elections in the United States were influenced and undermined in a way unique to our modern times.  Before, we considered social media, Facebook and Twitter in particular, as innocuous ways to keep up with friends, hear about local concerns, and voice opinions.  But the private owners of those platforms knew that the \u201cmagic\u201d (read profits) was in their ability to gather specific information about each user, and then sell that information to advertisers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaign ads could be \u201cmicro-targeted\u201d to the exact views and concerns of individual users.  Instead of the \u201cbroad-brush\u201d advertising of television, where hundred of thousands of viewers saw the ad, but only a few thousand were the \u201ctargeted\u201d market, on Facebook and Twitter there was the ability to hit near one hundred percent.  The same ad could be \u201ctweaked\u201d with dozens of variables, to specifically match the thousands of pieces of individual information on file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it was more than just ads.  It was \u201cnews\u201d stories, maybe real, but just as likely created from nothing, to motivate the user towards a particular view or action.  Those worried about immigrants were told about grisly crimes, Roman Catholics shown late term abortions, Jews and Christians saw the dangers of Muslims to Israel. They were posted specifically to their news feeds looking like \u201cregular\u201d news stories:  true or not, they looked REAL.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psycho-Engineering<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We blamed \u201ctroll farms\u201d in Macedonia.  We blamed Russian intelligence.  We blamed unknown fat men in their parents\u2019 basement.  And all of them did play a role.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we didn\u2019t blame the political campaigns themselves.  While professionals scoffed at the amateurs at the Trump Campaign of 2016, in one area they were far beyond everyone else.  They learned how to manipulate social media and they were taught by the best.  Cambridge Analytica, a pioneer in social media \u201cpsycho-engineering,\u201d a company largely owned by American billionaire Robert Mercer and lead by conservative political operative Steve Bannon, became part of the Trump Campaign.  And Facebook put their employees side-by-side with the Trump workers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook, \u201cthe referee,\u201d was playing for a team on the field.  We know the results of the 2016 election.  In a contest decided by such a small margin, everything made a difference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Death Star<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Trump Campaign is no longer a bunch of amateurs.  Brad Parscale, the leader of the 2016 social media campaign, is now the overall campaign manager.  They plan to spend a billion dollars on their social media campaign alone, a billion dollars.  It has already begun:  thousands of ads, \u201cnews stories\u201d, and manipulations went out during the Impeachment trial.  If you just watched your social media, and you were a \u201ctargeted user\u201d, Trump was clearly exonerated, clearly innocent of any wrongdoing.  It really was a \u201cperfect call\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Trump understands the strategy:  destroy the legitimacy of any news source that doesn\u2019t tell his story.  As he said in 2018, \u2026what you\u2019re seeing and what you\u2019re reading is not what\u2019s happening\u201d.   Believe what I say, believe what your targeted \u201cfeed\u201d shows; ignore the \u201cmainstream media\u201d.  Don\u2019t engage in a \u201cnational conversation\u201d with \u201cfake news\u201d facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A billion dollars:  not from Russia, or Macedonia, or from the basement.  A billion dollars of social media manipulation from the fourteenth floor of an office tower in Rosslyn, Virginia.  Money directed not just to get your vote, but also to keep those who would vote for the opponent to stay home.  A fortune directed to persuade, but also to confuse and deny, muddying the discourse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, Brad Parscale won\u2019t be the only social media manipulator in 2020.  The Bloomberg campaign\u2019s \u201cHawkfish\u201d operation is spending millions of dollars to try to match Trump\u2019s efforts.  Even if Bloomberg himself fails to win the Democratic nomination, he promises that infrastructure will be available to the winner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Truth <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It won\u2019t just be memes and ads.  It will be comments, stories, and this year, texts.  You have to sign up to get \u201cmass\u201d texts, but if each text is sent out by a single \u201csend\u201d button, then there are no controls.  Texts will arrive; looking like it\u2019s from a friend, just a conversation about \u201cthe news\u201d of the day.  But, of course, it won\u2019t be \u201cthe news,\u201d it will be whatever the campaign wants you to know, to think, and to do.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will all know that it\u2019s happening.  But when we see it, in texts, on Facebook, on Twitter, and through all our other media, we will begin to question what \u201cthe truth\u201d really is.  Repetition will make fake seem real, false seem true, wrong seem right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe someday we will regulate social media. But if our twenty-four hour news networks are an example of regulation, that won\u2019t help the problem.  And meanwhile our data will continue to be collected, a little piece at a time, so that the message is honed to exactly influence \u2013 you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The definitive Atlantic Magazine Article on Parscale and the Trump Social Media Campaign – The Atlantic<\/a> \u2013 by McKay Coppins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More Information about Bloomberg and Hawkfish <\/a>  – CNBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cRemember,\u201d he told a crowd in 2018, \u201cwhat you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.\u201d \u2013 President Trump And You Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth Shall Make You Free \u2013 John 8:32 \u2013 KJV Disinformation It was already happening, but we didn\u2019t know it.  In 2016 the Presidential elections in the … Continue reading “The End of Truth”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe End of Truth : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There's lots of "scary" things coming in the 2020 election - but perhaps the most disconcerting is the manipulation of "truth" tailored to us.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The End of Truth : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There's lots of "scary" things coming in the 2020 election - but perhaps the most disconcerting is the manipulation of "truth" tailored to us.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-14T15:08:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-14T15:08:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/14\\\/the-end-of-truth\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/14\\\/the-end-of-truth\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"headline\":\"The End of Truth\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-14T15:08:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-14T15:08:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/14\\\/the-end-of-truth\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":999,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/14\\\/the-end-of-truth\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/14\\\/the-end-of-truth\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/14\\\/the-end-of-truth\\\/\",\"name\":\"The End of Truth : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-14T15:08:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-14T15:08:08+00:00\",\"description\":\"There's lots of \\\"scary\\\" things coming in the 2020 election - but perhaps the most disconcerting is the manipulation of \\\"truth\\\" tailored to us.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/14\\\/the-end-of-truth\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/14\\\/the-end-of-truth\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/14\\\/the-end-of-truth\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The End of Truth\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\",\"name\":\"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration\",\"description\":\"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\",\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"width\":480,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"Marty Dahlman\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\"},\"description\":\"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dahlman.online\",\"https:\\\/\\\/m.facebook.com\\\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/martydahlman\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The End of Truth : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","description":"There's lots of \"scary\" things coming in the 2020 election - but perhaps the most disconcerting is the manipulation of \"truth\" tailored to us.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The End of Truth : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","og_description":"There's lots of \"scary\" things coming in the 2020 election - but perhaps the most disconcerting is the manipulation of \"truth\" tailored to us.","og_url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/","og_site_name":"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","article_publisher":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_author":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_published_time":"2020-02-14T15:08:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-14T15:08:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marty Dahlman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@martydahlman","twitter_site":"@martydahlman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marty Dahlman","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/"},"author":{"name":"Marty Dahlman","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"headline":"The End of Truth","datePublished":"2020-02-14T15:08:03+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-14T15:08:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/"},"wordCount":999,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/","name":"The End of Truth : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-02-14T15:08:03+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-14T15:08:08+00:00","description":"There's lots of \"scary\" things coming in the 2020 election - but perhaps the most disconcerting is the manipulation of \"truth\" tailored to us.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/02\/14\/the-end-of-truth\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The End of Truth"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/","name":"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration","description":"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c","name":"Marty Dahlman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","width":480,"height":640,"caption":"Marty Dahlman"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1"},"description":"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.dahlman.online","https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","https:\/\/x.com\/martydahlman"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2757,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2756\/revisions\/2757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}