Misinformation, disinformation and malinformation are just words used to shut you up.
The Imaginary Monsters Under the Bed
Misinformation does not exist, nor do its more recently conjured up cousins: disinformation and malinformation.
Either something is true or false. There are, of course, opinions and nuance and massaging and context and partial truths and incomplete assertions and internet ravings littered about but in the end something is either a lie or it is not.
The epithets of mis, dis, and malinformation do not address those basic concepts and are only shut-up words, ways to imply someone is lying without actually having to prove they are lying.
Once something has been declared mis, dis, or mal, it is now beyond the pale of proper consideration. A statement tarred as such becomes the equivalent of the ravings of a street corner lunatic arguing with the clouds.
Since they do not exist – in fact, cannot actually exist at all – mis, dis, and mal are the equivalent of imaginary monsters under the bed of public discourse.
They are used not to inform or clarify but to scare, to terrify into silence and compliance... to keep the public quivering and silent under the covers lest they suffer societal opprobrium.
Go read the whole thing here!
