If you want to keep your faith in politics, stay away from this book

I don\’t know who or how many people Sharyl Attkisson had to talk to to get all of the information in this book, but if it\’s all true, this book is quite the feat.

Fake news has turned into a household term since the 2016 election but Attkisson reminds us that it\’s been around for much longer. The CIA was literally founded on the premise to disseminate fake news.

She writes about everyone from the Clintons to Rupert Murdoch and clearly shows the meticulousness behind creating smear campaigns and spreading fake news.  I was just starting to really read about politics two years ago when I read this book and it forever shifted how I thought of the political game.I can\’t recommend this book enough, especially in our political climate.Here are my notes.

44% of American adult population got their news from Facebook during 2016 election yearPaid forces devise covert ways to shape the information landscape to fool you. Ideas are orchestrated to appear random, op-eds are ghostwritten by paid agentsThe elements of a Smear

1. 1. 1. Must be interesting, preferably salacious, dealing with sex, greed etc.
      2. Must be explainable in a sentence or two
      3. Must confirm what people want to believe, must confirm preexisting suspicions, can\’t be too disconnected from reality

Media outlets = thinly veiled political institutionsMorale Operations Branch turned into CIA, meant to spread misinformation (did it with almost all Civil Rights leaders)Propaganda works best when people are manipulated feel like they are acting on their own free willA lie told a thousand times becomes the truthPolitical, corporate and other special interests disguise themselves and their causes as being represented and supported by a lot of ordinary citizens