> I understand why these things have to be posted, but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't utterly exhausted by the constant shit that the Trump administration is spitting at us.
> The firehose of falsehood, also known as firehosing, is a propaganda technique in which a large number of messages are broadcast rapidly, repetitively, and continuously over multiple channels (like news and social media) without regard for truth or consistency. An outgrowth of Soviet propaganda techniques, the firehose of falsehood is a contemporary model for Russian propaganda under Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Think in Bayesian terms. If you update your priors at all when the lie comes, then the firehose will overwhelm you, because the lie (or a similar, related lie) comes so often. If you update at all, then you wind up believing it.
But the only defense is to not update your priors. That means that you don't update on things that are actually true, either.
This is basically the death of epistemology. How do you know, and how do you know you know? It's no longer possible in this environment.
Postmodernism talked about a post-truth world. Putin has made it a reality.
From 2017:
* https://www.vox.com/polyarchy/2017/3/7/14844120/how-to-fight...
The firehouse is also a deliberate strategy:
> The firehose of falsehood, also known as firehosing, is a propaganda technique in which a large number of messages are broadcast rapidly, repetitively, and continuously over multiple channels (like news and social media) without regard for truth or consistency. An outgrowth of Soviet propaganda techniques, the firehose of falsehood is a contemporary model for Russian propaganda under Russian President Vladimir Putin.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firehose_of_falsehood
* https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html
If you need to take a break, certain do so ("touch grass"), but be mindful that everyone's support is needed, and this will be a marathon.
See also recent post on Snyder's book On Tyranny:
* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43503004