Disinforming

THAT WE LIVE in an age of disinforming, with the internet and social media the main vehicle for spreading disinformation, is well known and widely discussed. Theories and explanations abound. False information, popularly called "fake news", is another societal opiate, like alcohol or religion, diverting attention from harsh reality Social media affords everyone the opportunity of inventing, disseminating, and living in a safe, separate reality, and we tend to take advantage of the opportunity. Alternative realities, or as a Trump spokesperson famously said "alternative facts" often appeal to like minded asylum seekers, and loose knot groups rooted deeply in delusion spread across the internet, virus like. Q - Anon, for instance, is a loosely knot alternative reality right wing internet group dedicated to the crazy proposition that there exists a "deep state" somewhere in space, time, and government, which  purpose is the destruction of Donald Trump and his political movement. Onemight be tempted, assuming one is sane, to wish this mythical deep state well, if only it actually existed. For a fictional organization to destroy an existing powerful, dangerous, and destructive political movement is the stuff of dystopian science fiction, alas. Q - Anon further alleges that the deep state operates a massive pedophile operation. The "Q" might appropriately stand for "queer", in the true meaning of the word, as in extremely odd. This anonymous right wing queer gang is delusional, happily so. so it right wind evangelical Christian U.s. Senator Tom Cotton, who wants to remove all federal funding for any school district which teaches the actual history of slavery and racism in America. Among the religious right, delusion is contagious. Donald Trump, and most of his supporters, consider climate change a hoax, racism and Covid 19 over hyped, and the imminent appearance of the Christian God from the sky as solid fact. America's right wing is where delusions spread rampantly. America's extreme right wing is demonstrably mentally ill.