Information Terrorism as a Tool of the Far Right

This article from Wired is worth a read. It shows how the Kavanaugh hearing fit right in to right-wing conspiracy infrastructure. I don't know what the antidote to radicalization is, but if there is one, surely an understanding of who the players are and how they operate must be part of it. The extended quote below (emphasis added) will give you the basic summary of the article, but you should read the whole thing. Given that Church members in America tend to be politically conservative, I worry that they may be more easily influenced by these things--or at least tolerate the means because they sympathize with the ends. To them I would make two comments:

1. Look the other way, and it will only be a matter of time until you become the target.

2. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive, for such are not exempt from the justice of God." (Doctrine and Covenants 10:28)

Go forth and tweet.

Brett Kavanaugh and the Information Terrorists Trying to Reshape America:

As Kavanaugh was holed up in the White House undergoing intensive prep to combat the accusations, Blasey Ford was off the grid, moving from house to house with a newly employed security detail, terrified by death threats, swarmed and disparaged by trolls and digital attackers whose smears and conspiracies then bleed over into the blogs and then into more acceptable conservative media. So prepared is this landscape for new conspiracies of central bogeymen—crisis actors, pedophiles, Soros, secret CIA plots, and more—that naked absurdities are liked and reposted without much thought.

Gamergate became Pizzagate became QAnon became entrenched modern narrative architecture ripe for exploitation. The cadre mobilized a movement of misogyny and white nationalism and intimidation—of angry boys who reveled in the chaos god of Roger Stone—and cultivated the narrative to make it acceptable to a wider lane of conservatives. This is triggering violence and identifiable forms of extremism that we can no longer ignore.

This is Donald Trump's America. But more, it is Roger Stone's America. Whatever it takes to win is fair game, even if they burn down the minds of Americans in the process. This willful radicalization is a campaign of information terror waged on fellow countrymen—the necessary domestic counterpart for hostile nation-state information warfare to be successful. It seems no accident that Stone is apparently in Mueller's sights, possibly for behavior that suggests coordination with Kremlin-linked actors.

The leading lights in Stone's orbit take scalps and champion memes, only to shed their skins and awake in a new persona, turning their flamethrowers from one topic or group to the next. In a non-Trumpian America, they might have remained the fringe provocateurs they are, trolling the fact-based world for exposure and ad revenue, vitamin hucksters and doomsday preppers masquerading as political commentators.

But as the Trump Train prepared to leave the station, the conservative media was already so thoroughly riddled with conspiracists and storytellers that the fringe had ample bridges to the much-maligned MSM. To name a few: Sean Hannity and his commentators (John Solomon, Dan Bongino, Sara Carter); Tucker Carlson and his Daily Caller, where Johnson and Judge contributed; Breitbart, which helped integrate conspiracy and propaganda like Infowars and Gateway Pundit.

And, of course, the president himself has amplified conspiracy and demonized "the media"—even while elevating a new ecosystem of far-right media groups and personalities, like One America News' Posobiec and whatever TruNews is. This has transformed the way conservative Americans consume information, altering how they make judgments on truth and reality.

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