Dictionary.com Picks 'Misinformation' As Word of the Year (cbsnews.com) 48
Misinformation was chosen Monday as Dictionary.com's word of the year. "Jane Solomon, a linguist-in-residence at Dictionary, said in a recent interview that her site's choice of 'mis' over 'dis' was deliberate, intended to serve as a 'call to action' to be vigilant in the battle against fake news, flat earthers and anti-vaxxers, among other conduits," reports CBS News. From the report: It's the idea of intent, whether to inadvertently mislead or to do it on purpose, that the Oakland, California-based company wanted to highlight. The company decided it would go high when others have spent much of 2018 going low. "The rampant spread of misinformation is really providing new challenges for navigating life in 2018," Solomon told The Associated Press ahead of the word of the year announcement. "Misinformation has been around for a long time, but over the last decade or so the rise of social media has really, really changed how information is shared. We believe that understanding the concept of misinformation is vital to identifying misinformation as we encounter it in the wild, and that could ultimately help curb its impact."
"Disinformation would have also been a really, really interesting word of the year this year, but our choice of misinformation was very intentional," she said. "Disinformation is a word that kind of looks externally to examine the behavior of others. It's sort of like pointing at behavior and saying, 'THIS is disinformation.' With misinformation, there is still some of that pointing, but also it can look more internally to help us evaluate our own behavior, which is really, really important in the fight against misinformation. It's a word of self-reflection, and in that it can be a call to action. You can still be a good person with no nefarious agenda and still spread misinformation." Some of the runners-up include "representation," "self-made," and "backlash."
"Disinformation would have also been a really, really interesting word of the year this year, but our choice of misinformation was very intentional," she said. "Disinformation is a word that kind of looks externally to examine the behavior of others. It's sort of like pointing at behavior and saying, 'THIS is disinformation.' With misinformation, there is still some of that pointing, but also it can look more internally to help us evaluate our own behavior, which is really, really important in the fight against misinformation. It's a word of self-reflection, and in that it can be a call to action. You can still be a good person with no nefarious agenda and still spread misinformation." Some of the runners-up include "representation," "self-made," and "backlash."
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I was chased by a large thesaurus that had big teeth and a ferocious roar!
(species of dinosaur)
Re: Are they allowed to pick? (Score:1)
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So you're saying that we can choose to ignore misinformation based upon our own free will?
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I thought only the Oxford English Dictionary could pick the "Word of the Year"...
Literally anyone can pick a word of the year. Oblong. There you go.
How would we handle "regurgitation"? (Score:1, Offtopic)
What would Slashdotters call a situation in which main stream media simply regurgitates a government position?
We've seen this through the years, where no journalistic effort is taken; this position is backed up with countless [paid] pundits, spewing vitriol to sway public opinion.
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"The mainstream media" is too broad here. It tends to be just a small number of outlets who are already known to support the government of the day, e.g. the Telegraph or the Mirror in the UK.
By saying "the mainstream media" it sounds like you think a broad spectrum of them are doing it on command or something. Is that what you are suggesting?
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In America, the bastion of freedom, you criticize speech? Even China is freer than that. Chinese think nothing of what they say, who they say it to, or where they say it. Far more free than America in so many ways.
The same China that is rating citizens on their individual behaviour including what they say and who they say it to? That free China?
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In America, the bastion of freedom, you criticize speech? Even China is freer than that. Chinese think nothing of what they say, who they say it to, or where they say it. Far more free than America in so many ways.
The same China that is rating citizens on their individual behaviour including what they say and who they say it to? That free China?
Not only is there no freedom of speech- there is no freedom of listening. You get negative social points just for being friends with someone who said something or did something considered bad (which impacts where you can shop, jobs you can get, where you can stay, etc,)
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Yes, and we also criticize our leaders in America too. How's that work in China? When's the ban on Winnie the Pooh being lifted again?
That would be like Trump trying to ban Cheetos.
Careful! (Score:1)
"... intended to serve as a 'call to action' to be vigilant in the battle against fake news, flat earthers and anti-vaxxers, among other conduits..."
An interesting selection of examples, especially if they are meant to correspond to categories of "misinformation".
"Fake news" is a hopelessly meaningless term. As William Randolph Hearst is said to have declared, "News is something someone doesn't want printed. All else is advertizing".
That being so, we can always rely on those who don't want any particular pi
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"Anti-vaxxers" (presumably meaning people who are concerned that some vaccinations may cause harm) are rather different, as there may well be evidence supporting their position. Moreover, there is a lot of complexity in the issue: which vaccination exactly (or what combination), given to whom under what circumstances?
There isn't and there isn't.
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Archtech posited:
An interesting selection of examples, especially if they are meant to correspond to categories of "misinformation".
They obviously are so intended. You're just being coy here.
"Flat earthers" probably get little support these days, as belief that the Earth is an oblate spheroid has a great deal of evidence behind it.
You are far out of touch with the conspiracy theorist community, which is the source of almost all the actually-fake news. New World Order conspiracists - and, particularly, those who espouse the view that billionaire Zionists make up the heart of the Illuminati conspiracy to enslave the world - and flat-earthers, along with fanatic AGP deniers, fundamentalist Christian apocalytics, and garden-variety white nationalists are treated
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Re: "It's like they're using 1984 as a manual" (Score:2)
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1) The way that our communications are structured in the 21st century, being banned from Twitter is like being kicked out of the "Taco Bell® Public Square". You are being banned from communicating with the public on the same level of people who don't violate wrong-speak and can stay on the platform.
2) "It's a private company and they can determine what content is allowed on their platform." Then they are editorializing and are legally liabl
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1) The way that our communications are structured in the 21st century, being banned from Twitter is like being kicked out of the "Taco Bell® Public Square". You are being banned from communicating with the public on the same level of people who don't violate wrong-speak and can stay on the platform.
But there is zero need or real reason to be on twitter (or facebook, snapchat or whatever else) and being banned from it doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things. Twitter isn't going to last forever, it is and always has been a private entity and a private space, unless you'd like the government to run it and have it funded with taxpayer money. The barriers to entry are just extremely low.
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bleah (Score:2)
"The rampant spread of misinformation is really providing new challenges for navigating life in 2018," Solomon told The Associated Press ahead of the word of the year announcement.
Bollocks.
Translation: some people continue to do unapproved things and think unapproved thoughts. We can't have that.
Since just calling them stupid doesn't seem to be working anymore, we need to blame something for fooling them.
Why not gullible (Score:2)
Timely (Score:2)
Miss Information 2018 (Score:2)
Where can I get the swimsuit calendar?