For Luli Radfahrer, you don’t fight wrong information with bad information, but by getting to the root of the problem and trying to change it.
In this week’s column, Luli Radfahrer comments on the problem of fake news. For him, there really is no solution to fake news, but he believes that the problem is being approached from the wrong perspective. “We need to start understanding why people consume fake news. […] It’s more or less like you support your team and you’re going to talk to someone who supports the other team. You have to understand that she has the same reasons, deep down, as you do.”
According to the columnist, they do not believe themselves, for example, that the world is fair. “If you believe the world is flat, you can’t use a cell phone, because cell phones rely on satellites and satellites won’t work on a flat earth, right? What this person really wants is to have some kind of authority, some kind of power”, he says. And it questions why people seek information. “You find out about some things and not others. One example is that I have no idea what the political regime is in Bangladesh. And I have no authority what is happening in Russia or Israel. So why do I see this news? I see this news, really, because I want to show my social group that I am not a ‘square beast’. So, often, you read the news to talk about something and to be able to convey some authority to your group, to establish yourself. Therefore, reading the news is also a very social function”, says the Professor.
Faced with all this, what can be done? Radfahrer suggests that it is possible to help by offering community work. “Sometimes you take someone who is radical and you put them to community work. It could be in a public garden, it could be giving midnight soup, you could do anything to make her feel appreciated, to start feeling important. And she quickly drops the ‘flat ground’ or any other nonsense”, he advises. For him, misinformation can be combated by getting to the root of the problem.
Datacracy
A column Datacracywith professor Luli Radfahrer, broadcast every week, Friday at 8am, on Rádio USP (São Paulo 93.7; Ribeirão Preto 107.9) and also on Youtubeproduced by Rádio USP Jornal da USP and TV USP.
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