Book Review: FACTS* and other lies

How best to combat wharfie bashing

New book takes a good look at fake news over the ages and sets out what to do about it

Wharfies are not bludgers” is the last thing wharfies, or their union should be saying. Sound counter intuitive? Research shows that all people will hear is the “bludgers” bit. Repeating and rejecting lies and falsehoods, especially on social media, will only help reinforce and spread them.

Facts and Other Lies, Welcome to the Disinformation Age by Ed Coper is both a serious and satirical look at the history and psychology of lies.

It goes from John Adams winning the unwinnable election in 1800 by simply saying his opponent, Thomas Jefferson, had died (knowing truth in those days travelled slowly) to the perfect storm of social media and algorithms of today that like fast food in a microwave cook up conspiracy theories in an instant.

The book looks at the anti- Vaxxer private Facebook groups co-ordinating “Sovereign Citizen” convoys from Canberra to Cleveland, USA, via fake accounts pumping out “disinformation for hire” from Bulgaria to Bangladesh. How fake news goes viral.

Facts and Other Lies also examines the history of truth, the news and its death at the hands of News Ltd and media monopolies. How in regional Australia people no longer have newspapers and have little choice but to rely on hearsay and social media to find out what’s going on. How people increasingly club together on social media to shop for tailor-made facts to suit their opinions and prejudices. How confronting people about their beliefs only sets them in concrete.

Facts and other lies is a must read for every wharfie, maritime worker and union all too often subjected to lies and vilification.

That’s us!

Coper’s book goes beyond telling the story, it is a guide to how to rewrite the story.

Coper lived through the Trump era in New York and now lives in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. He is a founder of Australia’s first online political movement GetUp, worked on Change.org’s global expansion and has advised climate strike leader Greta Thunberg, Pakistani women’s activist Malala Yousafzai – and the Australian Labor Party. •