Truth Killers: A Manifesto on How to Fight Disinformation and Protect Democracy

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From the bestselling author of Post-Truth and How to Talk to a Science Denier, a powerful, pocket-sized citizen's guide on how to fight back against the disinformation campaigns that are imperiling American democracy.

The effort to destroy facts and make America ungovernable didn't come out of nowhere. It is the culmination of seventy years of strategic denialism. In Truth Killers, Lee McIntyre shows how the "truth killers" did it, and how ordinary citizens can fight back against the scourge of disinformation that is now threatening the very fabric of our society. Drawing on his twenty years of experience as a scholar of science denial, McIntyre explains how autocrats wield disinformation to manipulate a populace and deny obvious realities, and why the best way to combat disinformation is to disrupt its spread.

Truth Killers takes readers through the history of strategic denialism to show how we arrived at this precarious political moment; identifies the creators, amplifiers, and believers of disinformation; and, most importantly, explains how we can win the war on truth. McIntyre lays out the important steps that our government must take , as well as everyday practical steps for the rest of us. Along the way, he also demonstrates how today's "reality denial" follows the same flawed blueprint of the "five steps of science denial" used by climate deniers and anti-vaxxers; shows how Trump has emulated disinformation tactics created by Russian and Soviet intelligence dating back to the 1920s;provides interviews with leading experts on information warfare, counterterrorism, and political extremism; and spells out the need for algorithmic transparency from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Compact, easy-to-read , and never more urgent, Truth Killers does nothing less than empower us with the tools and knowledge needed to save our republic from autocracy before it is too late.