To know or not to know, that is the question

People use a word, “disinformation,” loosely because it means nothing more than words spewed out devoid of actual meaning, context, proof, fact, or ownership.

That does not mean those words were spewed without intent, written without intent, broadcast without intent. The old adage of “sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me” was wrong when I was a kid and even more wrong in the age in which we live, where words can travel to millions of people instantaneously, permanently circulating, always causing harm. I’ll take physical sticks and stones over diarrheal vituperous words promulgated on the Internet any day.

The world we are entering, where a sole person can decide to rename a 600-year-old, internationally accepted place name as a whim requires us to stop and think of the dystopian world that’s being built around us, for us, encaging us, corrupting us. The Gulf of Mexico being renamed may seem like a trivial matter as it rebounds to and is endorsed by Google, MSN, and other Internet platforms. However — at a stroke — truth and fact have been obliterated. This is a modern form of book-burning. Once burned, those books cannot be re-read, cannot be learned from, cannot influence thinking and intelligence. The Gulf of Mexico as historic fact has been obliterated, sanctioned by the very backbone of the Internet providers.

But, like book burning in the ‘30s, they have shown their hand, their capitulation to the new dystopian world; no doubt for profit or ideology. It doesn’t matter which. The fact is this, if you know it is the Gulf of Mexico, has been for 600 years, and someone tells you it is no longer named so, then you can easily decide if that someone is to be trusted. If not, tell everyone you know that they are wrong. Don’t simply roll over. In short, you have to decide if you want to join the book burners or stand against their intent and distortion of fact and reality. Speak up.

Acceptance without revolt is capitulation, corruption of your very being. How do you revolt against such entities as Google, MSN and others? Probably you cannot. But then at least you will know that whatever they make, whatever they promote, whatever they post is not to be blindly trusted ever again. Remember, if it seems false, if it smells like smoke, it is likely a form of book burning in the modern Internet age. You can check, you can become a gatekeeper of truth. You have to. If you don’t, they have won and the world as you know it will not survive.

A solution? Read actual books. Rejoin your library, become a supporter of literary fact, research, and time-tested fact.

Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, now lives in Gila, New Mexico.