Propelled by the internet and modern technology, real-seeming content passes for the truth. Many of those who pledge allegiance to trump have been fed a constant stream of conspiracies, disinformation, and propaganda through the parallel alt-right media apparatus. Fox News alone has promulgated unabashedly conservative and biased views for the better part of 20 years. Websites like Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit have delivered an unrelenting stream of disinformation and misinformation and half-true murkiness for years. Conservative talk radio giants like Rush Limbaugh deliver paranoid, angry rantings to their throngs of listeners. White people are being robbed of their identity through multiculturalism, Immigrants are murderers and rapists, blacks are rioting, Muslims are terrorists, Mexicans won't stop having babies.

When the parallel alt-right media network (for lack of a better term) mobilize, they are potent. Anonymous posters on 4chan and Reddit concoct conspiracies and untrue narratives, disinformation is pushed on Twitter using bots and trolls, hashtags start trending, alt-right media personalities like Mike Cernovich and Jack Prosobiec post the conspiracy to hundreds of thousands of followers, alt-right websites like Breitbart publish articles, memes are blasted through social media, until eventually someone at Fox News or a mainstream conservative news outlet report on it. The Seth Rich conspiracy is an example of this phenomenon. From the nebulous corners of the internet to the mainstream, the machinations of the parallel alt-right media network are not to be underestimated.

There is abundant evidence indicating conservatives and the alt-right receive their news and information through a relatively small group of conservative and fringe right-wing outlets, members of the parallel right-wing media structure. These websites, twitter accounts, radio stations, and so-called news outlets don't report events neutrally. Rather, they warp events to fit a narrative. The narrative is pushed relentlessly and supported with misinformation. The line between journalist and pundit is nearly non-existant; Fox News' primetime lineup, for instance, consists solely of pundits - with no mention of the difference to the viewer.

It's all about the clicks, online at least. Fake news gets more clicks than real news. Sensationalized news stories are viewed more than thoughtful, articulate pieces. The more clicks, the more ads. The more ads, the more money. That part is very simple. More junk news than real news was shared on Twitter during the 2016 Presidential campaign. The Russians spent over $100,000 to buy and spread dezinformatsiya on Facebook during that same time. They created thousands of fake accounts and impersonated real people and real organizations in doing so. Twitter has no mechanism to report fake news, and Facebook's version is ineffective. It seems as if there is no way to stop the spread of fake news online.

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The philosophy of the alt-right, which has infiltrated public discourse and is reinforced by the parallel right-wing media network, can best be described as a 'crude equipage' of relativism: a belief that nobody really knows anything for certain, where things are true because they feel true, or because they stoke emotions, or worse yet - where things are "true" because one's worldview has been formed through years of radical online content which seems real, but is actually inaccurate or only half-true. This crude interpretation of relativism contends most everything is false but anything is possible, there are no experts, a secret cabal of globalists actively work to subvert what is really happening. Right or wrong, good or evil, true or false, moral or immoral, rational or irrational, it's all relative.

Morals, values, even the truth itself is relative, they contend. This deception is achieved using logical fallacies such as false equivalency - that both sides are equally as "bad" - and whataboutism - What about the other guys?! Many people are saying they've done horrible things too! Quite simply, they refuse to engage at a fact-based level. Rational justifications for the core tenants of their worldview are few and far between. Arguments aren't based in reason or logic, but feeling and emotion. For every assertion, a deflection. None of this rhetoric was prevalent in US discourse before trump, as its usage in modern geopolitics traces to the USSR and Russia.

The contemporary flat-earth phenomenon not only provides a perfect example of the post-truth era, but also disproves the crude equipage of relativism so prominent in today's public discourse. While there have long been tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy theorists embracing flat-earthism, the issue has returned with more veracity and believers than ever. With so much information available online, how can one believe things which are so demonstrably false?

The answer may be simpler than we think: technology has advanced to the point where things on the internet just seem real, even if they're not. Special effects and editing combined with social media platforms delivered through smartphones fool people. When you're scrolling through your twitter feed, there's no filter for the true and the false. The fact that flat-earthers are attracting non-negligible amounts of followers illustrates the shift away from reason-based belief systems across our society.

The earth, of course, is not flat. Both sides aren't right here. One side is right, one side is wrong. There's no relativity in discussing certain issues. And while morals, for example, aren't always absolute, there is such a thing as the truth. Sometimes an issue is black and white. Sometimes there clearly is a difference between right and wrong. The false equivalency of Charlottesville is an example; both sides weren't at fault, and both sides weren't just as bad. And no, there weren't "very fine people on both sides". The POTUS and thus millions of Americans seem to believe the presence of ANTIFA members as a small portion of the counter-protestors partially justify the actions of white supremacists on that violent and fateful day.

Any rational thought process should arrive at a certain conclusion concerning what transpired: a violently-demonstrating group whose ideology is based in the inferiority and termination of other ethnic groups should be met with resistance, not only in the public realm, but also the virtual. The Constitution guarantees freedom and equality for all citizens. It's beyond debatable that only one side was to blame. Yet, plenty have fallen victim to narratives of false equivalency. It's not just that Americans can't agree who were the good guys and bad guys in that situation, it's the terrifying justifications for inexcusable actions and ideologies. We arrived at this point in part because of the disinformation being pushed across the internet.

Furthermore, large numbers of people no longer have the cognitive tools to decipher sleek and sophisticated misinformation. Our educational system no longer cultivates critical thinking and philosophy, it prepares us to pass standardized tests. It's not the journey of discovery and knowledge which is emphasized, it's memorizing information to regurgitate in order to fill a bubble. Without clear thinking, logic, and reason, one can fall prey sophisticated misinformation. These are powerful tools.

At a more fundamental level, language is being stripped of its meaning and power. Memes are rising to replace them. It may sound like a joke, but it's not. The alt-right communicate primarily through memes - images with a handful of words scrawled across the top and bottom - a form of new age, modern-day hieroglyphics. Rather than using words to convey meaning and create a rational, logical argument, memes are used as tools to produce feelings. In the post-truth era, words themselves are being diluted of their power. Without the tools to articulate oneself, the individual is neutralized and freedom hangs in the balance.

The best metaphor to illustrate how words lose power is that of a dull knife. In the beginning, a new knife is sharp and can penetrate. But if one hit it repeatedly against a boulder for hours it would lose its sharpness and be rendered obsolete. It wouldn't be able to fulfill its instrumental purpose, cutting. And like a dull knife, words stripped of their power wouldn't be able to fulfill their instrumental purpose, transmitting meaning through symbol and oral cadence. The alt-right narrative isn't based in reason, it's based in feeling and emotion, so it makes sense they communicate through memes, rather than words. It's another indication of the mass shift away from reason and toward fantasy-based belief systems.

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Many may doubt the impact of disinformation and propaganda. You may be tempted to think: it's just a few articles online, or a few silly memes. How much damage could it do? One may scoff at the notion our worldview is subconsciously altered and formed through online content. And it may hard to believe we are the targets of an information war, a psyops campaign aimed at manipulating public opinion and ultimately affecting real-life behavior. The world is changing very fast thanks to technology, but one thing is certain: disinformation accessed through social media and viewed via smartphone is incredibly powerful.