8- Misinformation, Disinformation, and Fact Checking
How Misinformation and Disinformation is harmful to Black Women
When it comes to the spread of incorrect information in mass media (especially online), it’s not just harmless chatter, oftentimes there is real danger in misinformation and disinformation. In today’s brief I want to look at how false information has affected black women in a disproportionately negative way and how fact checking could be a matter of life and death.Throughout history there have been many instances of widespread misinformation and deceptive practices that have been harmful to black communities and specifically black women. Researching this topic as a black woman is very eye opening and I feel it’s important to share information on these topics to help stop the spread of harmful misguided beliefs.
In the 1840s while developing surgical techniques for gynecological procedures, J. Marion Sims experimented on enslaved women in Alabama without consent or anesthesia. The women often had to endure multiple excruciating surgeries and were viewed at as research tools rather than human beings. Misinformation comes into play here because it was widely believed that black people had much higher pain tolerance than other people. This belief led to many cases of medical malpractice and may even still be perpetrated in today’s society.
The “welfare queen” stereotype gained a lot of attention due to politicians calling attention to certain welfare recipients, black women. This stereotype portrayed black women as exploitive, lazy and dishonest people who used government assistance for personal gain. These beliefs were not factually accurate because black women were and are not the only recipients of welfare in our country. In this graph we see percent of people based on race who receive food stamps.
A 'Misinformation Campaign' is a deliberate and coordinated effort to spread misleading information to influence people to vote a certain way. In recent years, especially during election years we have seen more misinformation campaigns popping up. The article linked above talks of how black women in particularly are affected by these campaigns. Shireen Mitchell has been researching disinformation in social media for years, well before the 2016 presidential election. Here's what she had to say...
"Many of these campaigns co-opt the language and images of Black women to manipulate Black voters...fake accounts pretending to be Black women, some by foreign actors and some by other Americans, spend years gaining trust by crafting online identities and followings...They connect with the American Black community online attempting to learn Black vernacular and key issue areas,” Mitchell says. “Once the election ramps up, they’ve gained enough following and trust. That’s when they begin to share disinformation. The goal is to make sure they have enough of a following before the shift to disseminate the disinformation.” wp
This is one of the many reasons it is super important to fact check everything especially when it comes to polarizing information that could sway public opinion.
In conclusion, I hope that this brief helps protect everyone from the harm that misinformation and disinformation can cause, as well as highlight the importance of fact checking in today's society.
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