How do we counter fake news?

In my blog (yes, in this blog), I have posted a set of posts under the label 'MEMEHIF Paradox'.

MEMEHIF stands for 'My Engineering MBA Educated Highly Intelligent Friend'. In the language of gentle humor I try to highlight some of the hypocrisies indulged in by MEMEHIF.

I am not a supporter of the current BJP government in the country. I think the last four years of this government has been characterized by lack of planning, lack of application of mind, 'bold' decisions that were taken to score media brownie points that later backfired and plain administrative incompetence. But I am also mature enough to understand that there are many people that support this government.


My expectation is that the people will engage and debate with me on facts. However, that is not normally happens. One of the standout feature of the last four years in this country (India) has been the sidelining of facts and the predominance of fake news. Obvious fake news abound. 

I have taken a lot of pains in the last four years to list out fake news  and propaganda with clear factual examples. For example, when I say that demonetization was a failure, I back it up by facts and numbers, like the fact that all the demonetized currency was back in the bank, not much of black money was seized in the last two years since the decision, major impact that it had on businesses, especially SMEs, Farmers and daily wage labourers who depend on cash has been badly impacted, and finally that other governments have achieved the same goals with much more nuanced and targeted policy decisions etc.

But I have been frustrated by the facts that my MEMEHIFs, my educated friends, do not accept the presented facts. I mean they are not even ready to accept the numbers given! For example, it is widely documented that in a span of 50 days, government changed the decision 63 times during the tumultuous days of late 2016. These are facts available in the public domain for god's sake...

Blaming the messenger has replaced serious debate on the issues. The other day I had presented to a friend of mine an article written by reputed policy wonk Mr.Shankkar.Aiyar on the pathetic 'achievement to promises' ratio of the current government and he responded by saying that 'Shankkar Aiyar is a cynic'. So what? How does it matter if he is a cynic or a supporter?  What do you think of the numbers that he has provided in the article that shows that most of the policy goals set out in the first budget in 2014 has not been achieved by this government.  

I have often been wondering as to how is it that very highly educated individuals, who are otherwise realistic, do not accept facts in some cases and continue to argue, mostly by blaming the messenger?

Many of them are Engineers and have trained to be analytical and factual. 

They are scientifically literate. So why do they strenuously object to facts in some areas?

The other day, I got my answer while reading the article 'The problem with facts' written by Tim Harford in FT.com. In this article, the author asks the question, why educated people do not accept facts. He comes up with many examples from both Brexit and the US under Trump to show that many educated people support the obvious lies peddled by some people despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary. Opposition to climate change is an example.

Author draws a line between Scientific literacy and Scientific curiosity. He says that Scientific literacy do not necessarily imply fact based analytical thinking, and in many cases scientific literacy will motivate the person to double down on their view points. 

Research shows that fake news is negated by scientific curiosity. While scientific literacy strengthen the set positions, scientific curiosity motivates people to seek out facts that could counter their positions.It is the people with 'Scientific Curiosity', those who are interested in understanding the facts without any prejudice, that use facts in decision making. They change their viewpoints when presented with other perspective of the data.

It was an 'Aha' moment for me. 'Aha', I told myself, 'this is why MEMEHIF is arguing with me on numbers that are in public domain, that is why 'experts' on SM refuse to acknowledge facts and continue to stubbornly touts information that is disputed by facts.'

They are scientifically literate, but have lost their scientific curiosity

But how do you develop scientific curiosity if that is the only answer to the fake news problem?

We need champions who can present facts. One example is Carl Sagan. Another example is Swedish doctor Hans Rosling who reached an astonishing wide audience with facts like the official world bank data.

So I guess it is possible to develop Scientific curiosity. Someone should do it fast before fake news overwhelms us.