So the real question isn’t “who decides what’s true.” The question is, do we still have the ability to decide anything together at all? Because once we lose that, democracy isn’t under threat. It’s already gone.
Replies
They're libertarians. They don't believe in 'society' and a lot of libertarians also reject 'democracy'
jun 27, 2025, 5:56 pm • 0 0 • view
Thanks for the thread @eliothiggins.bsky.social . I watched a talk of yours on youtube about 'disordered discourse' but am still confused why you've used the adjective 'disordered', what are you juxtaposing it against? What would be 'ordered' discourse?
jun 27, 2025, 7:47 pm • 0 0 • view
Disordered discourse develops the term disordered information. If discourse aims towards verification, deliberation and accountability I'd call that democratic discourse.
jun 27, 2025, 8:05 pm • 2 0 • view
There was an attempt to create a quorum of judges 6 years ago based on democratic values. Their leader was attacked, ridiculed and exiled.
jun 27, 2025, 8:02 am • 0 0 • view
Great thread! A question if you don't mind: from looking at the other site it looks like you may have drawn the ire of the stewanon crew in the past. Yes ?
jul 3, 2025, 5:45 pm • 0 0 • view
Not sure who stewanon are specifically but the answer is probably yes.
jul 3, 2025, 5:48 pm • 2 0 • view
www.mind-war.com
jul 3, 2025, 6:22 pm • 0 0 • view
the process of engaging with information, true or not, is as important, and as often as not more important, than whether something is true or false.
jun 27, 2025, 12:26 pm • 1 0 • view
I agree but two points. (1) Cato would disagree that rational discourse is the best way for society to make decisions (see Hayek, market signals etc). (2) Honneth develops a third concept of "social freedom" which I think better captures the relational aspect of freedom you highlight than Berlin's.
jun 28, 2025, 2:53 pm • 0 0 • view
I'm inclined to agree with you broadly here but doubling down on a MDM classification system, which has proven very unhelpful for understanding deliberate propaganda, or accidental misinformation, and where they sit within the information ecosystem, isn't going to help anyone fix this problem.
jun 27, 2025, 10:59 am • 8 0 • view
Would you be willing to say more about this or provide a reference to some material for me to read to understand your point better here? In particular I can't quite get why classification would be counter-productive (it may not be sufficient to fix the problem, but doesn't it help?)
jun 27, 2025, 6:16 pm • 1 0 • view
Classification itself isn't a bad thing, it's just this particular conceptual framework. I've written about it several times, here for example: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
jun 27, 2025, 6:19 pm • 5 0 • view
And in my recent book, with Vian Bakir: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Ha...
jun 27, 2025, 6:20 pm • 6 1 • view
Interestingly enough the paper which purports to be about, "The Misleading Panic over Misinformation And Why Government Solutions Won’t Work" employs a header photo using the words "disinformation" "propaganda", and "fake news", which is in itself a blatant conflation fallacy.
jun 27, 2025, 8:51 pm • 2 0 • view
If only somebody had done some research into how misleading panics arise!
jul 4, 2025, 8:11 am • 0 0 • view
Thank you. Equating the digital-information environment to a Socratic debate in Ancient Greece — which is what Cato does here — is Pollyannaish at best, disingenuous at worst. The underlying algorithms of the internet and social media have already erased the possibility for honest, open discussion.
jun 28, 2025, 11:01 am • 1 1 • view
Even people on the same side of the subject can’t communicate effectively without getting their wires crossed. Some small semantic faux pas or failure to signify the proper FOTM shibboleth.
jul 3, 2025, 5:47 pm • 1 0 • view
Bravo!
jun 28, 2025, 4:48 am • 0 0 • view
At the base of everything, if your goal is to advance yourself at the expense of others, letting everyone else know will bring opposition, so lying or false logic is mandatory. There can be no "discussion" as one side only seeks victory not agreement. Outing such folk is the first step to democracy.
jun 27, 2025, 7:57 am • 0 0 • view
If there are several plans then discussion can choose the best one. The Cato folks idea of "freedom" is no government restraint of their abuse of others. Power comes in many forms but government restraint of abuse is the only one that concerns them.
jun 27, 2025, 8:08 am • 1 0 • view
📌
jun 27, 2025, 11:54 am • 0 0 • view
Poeple build societies by sharing common myths and ideas. This is possible because people agree that there is a source of objective truth. You can interpret it, but a common myth exists. The moment this is abandoned, you and your neighbor stop living in the same society.
jun 27, 2025, 7:13 am • 11 3 • view
You might well think that your neighbor is not worth dealing with because he is alien to your world, or he can think the same about you. Indiference will very fast lead to hostility and antagonism. Media moguls and powerful actors will ubdoubtedly foster this to control society.
jun 27, 2025, 7:15 am • 2 0 • view
And more importantly, service their topline.
jun 27, 2025, 7:20 am • 0 0 • view
Perfectly put ty so much
jun 29, 2025, 1:32 pm • 0 0 • view
@unroll.skywriter.blue unroll
jun 27, 2025, 8:05 am • 2 0 • view
The thread as a shareable webpage: https://skywriter.blue/pages/did:plc:2whlowi5jjjqrdrrj4lxh2lx/post/3lsl2fpxyk22e.
jun 27, 2025, 8:05 am • 3 1 • view
Cato definition of liberty is simply freedom for super rich people from government control. And to hell with everyone else because they don’t care. Civilisation requires everyone to be governed. Democratically. Fairly. As in fair for everyone.
jun 27, 2025, 2:17 pm • 0 0 • view
Please unroll @unroll.skywriter.blue. Thank you in advance 𓃠
jul 26, 2025, 7:40 pm • 0 0 • view
The thread as a shareable webpage: https://skywriter.blue/pages/did:plc:2whlowi5jjjqrdrrj4lxh2lx/post/3lsl2fpxyk22e.
jul 26, 2025, 7:40 pm • 1 1 • view
Yes it matters & yes you should care. Also see quoted thread.
jun 27, 2025, 7:25 am • 0 0 • view
Cato: 'The panic over technology-powered misinformation is little different from moral panics throughout history in which elite institutions and interest groups feared giving greater expression to average people.' Hard to take the report seriously with such obvious distortions of the real concerns.
jun 27, 2025, 2:13 pm • 0 0 • view
Really useful thread. Tha k you
jun 27, 2025, 7:24 pm • 0 0 • view
📌
jun 27, 2025, 7:08 pm • 0 0 • view
📌 A better question than 'who decides?'
jul 3, 2025, 4:55 pm • 0 0 • view
Excellent thread, thank you!!
jun 27, 2025, 7:14 am • 3 0 • view
📌
jun 28, 2025, 3:55 am • 0 0 • view
Thank you for writing this. And thank you for not being cowed into silence.
jun 27, 2025, 7:29 am • 7 0 • view
Excellent thread. In much of Cato institutes contributions to debates the 'negative freedom' is a clear amd singular throughline. In my view, they do so to such an uncritical extent that this current paper on disinformation comes awfully close to disinformation as you defined it here in the thread.
jun 28, 2025, 5:23 pm • 3 0 • view
Psychological operation ….build a belief system which embeds itself into identity ie a cult ?
jun 27, 2025, 3:12 pm • 0 0 • view
📌
jun 27, 2025, 10:39 am • 0 0 • view
I have a MAGA in my life. We don't really talk much now, because he keeps me at arms length... Last June we got into a verbal knock-down drag-out, and when he started repeating talking points straight off of FOX Propaganda, so I screamed at him, "FOX isn't news, that's not reality", his reply p-1
jun 27, 2025, 1:06 pm • 2 0 • view
P-2 ... destroyed our ability to communicate, really at all...he said, "But, it's MY news and it's MY REALITY!". He was lost to me at that moment. A year later now, our relationship is hollow, at best.
jun 27, 2025, 1:11 pm • 3 0 • view
@unroll.skywriter.blue
jun 27, 2025, 2:13 pm • 0 0 • view
The thread as a shareable webpage: https://skywriter.blue/pages/did:plc:2whlowi5jjjqrdrrj4lxh2lx/post/3lsl2fpxyk22e.
jun 27, 2025, 2:13 pm • 1 1 • view
Your key insight here is shifting how we define the problem. This isn’t a policy problem. It’s a systems problem. I’ve been thinking about this concept as my 5 year old attends Safety Town soon. She’ll learn to be afraid of strangers. Will that fear of fellow humans set her up for disinformation?
jul 3, 2025, 5:58 pm • 1 0 • view
Cato is still recycling ‘the market of ideas’ from what you write.
jun 27, 2025, 7:20 am • 0 0 • view
@unroll.skywriter.blue unroll
jun 27, 2025, 11:55 am • 0 0 • view
The thread as a shareable webpage: https://skywriter.blue/pages/did:plc:2whlowi5jjjqrdrrj4lxh2lx/post/3lsl2fpxyk22e.
jun 27, 2025, 11:55 am • 0 0 • view
what a brilliant piece! - thank you so much
jun 27, 2025, 8:46 am • 29 0 • view
Agree! Very logical and well written. Any chance this thread can be converted into an article format with a link to the Cato article? I’d love to share it on other platforms and text to friends not on social media.
jun 27, 2025, 3:14 pm • 8 0 • view
Brilliant take Eliot! The Public Sphere has been blown to pieces, beyond misinfo MoI is based on equal "ignorance" - a situation BigTech claims doesn't exist bc. they have info to predict and manipulate our behavior. There is no "post truth society" it's just a phase of growing Fascism.
jun 27, 2025, 2:14 pm • 0 0 • view
@skyview.social unroll
jun 27, 2025, 7:35 pm • 0 0 • view
I DO like graphics, but I think one way people can help counter #disinfo and #misinfo is by providing a source for graphics, often in the #AltText
jun 27, 2025, 2:12 pm • 3 0 • view
📌
jun 28, 2025, 5:34 am • 0 0 • view
I do think centre left governments are going to have to bring back censorship to a much higher level to encourage the return of common decency. People are making a lot of money from promoting violence and hatred. Time for it to end.
jun 27, 2025, 8:18 am • 3 0 • view
That is the whole reason they wrote it in that way.
jun 27, 2025, 2:10 pm • 0 0 • view
📌
jun 27, 2025, 7:16 am • 0 0 • view