Disinformation is a weapon of the ruling circles to maintain the
status quo. The triumvirate of big government, big business and big
labor uses it to keep the people, particularly the working class,
in a state of ideological and political disorientation about the
problems facing society and what is required to open the path for
progress. It deliberately conveys a false idea about what is
engendered in a particular situation.
Disinformation is incorrectly considered synonymous to
misinformation. It is similar to, but not the same as
misinformation. To equate the two is to seriously underestimate the
deliberate and calculated character of disinformation, which has an
unbreakable attachment to keeping the working class from acquiring
the consciousness it requires to open the path to social progress.
The response of various trade union officials to the recent
release of unemployment figures by Statistics Canada illustrates
the difference between disinformation and misinformation. After the
release of the figures, the trade unionists issued press statements
to complain that the figures do not include workers who have
stopped actively seeking employment. Unemployment is really higher
than what the government claims, they said. Their main point,
however, was to criticize the Liberal government for not doing
enough to create jobs and failing to implement promised "job
creation policies."
By correcting "the facts" about the unemployment figures, the
trade unionists are exposing a case of misinformation. But far from
informing the people about the facts, and even further from
informing their working class constituency about what needs to be
done for the creation of a new society, which guarantees the right
to a livelihood, they are promoting disinformation. Declaring that
the problem of unemployment rests in a lack of "political will" on
the part of the Liberals constitutes one of the key aspects of
disinformation in Canada at this time.
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
