Poisoned Chalice

Yochai Glick

Cambridge Dictionary:

poisoned chalice; noun [S]

something that seems very good when it is first received, but in fact does great harm to the person who receives it.

"The Poison Machine" is an expression in the Israeli press referring to the propaganda mechanism of distributing false or incorrect information, hate discourse, polarisation, incitement and false news against opponents, mainly through online social networks.

The techniques and methods, however, are not unique to Israel and we must be vigilant in not allowing them to infiltrate into our community. Understanding the machinations and the reasons why these ‘machines’ are so effective is crucial to the task of identifying and rejecting them.

Importantly, the Poison Machines flooding our media are attacking and warping every one of the values of HATIKVAH. For any hope (tikvah) of preserving and disseminating HATIKVAH values we must understand and utilise effective counter measures. Let me give some background and history, research findings, and sanitary detox techniques for us regular and rational folk.

Background and history

As far back as 2014, I inadvertently stumbled into a think tank of journalists, academics, and civil servants who took it upon themselves to identify and analyse areas of public discourse that threaten democracy, health, and the environment. What I learnt shocked me and set me on a new path of research and activity.

The academics described a body of research into the psychology of mass persuasion. More precisely of countering ‘inconvenient truths’ and convincing of ‘convenient disinformation’. The techniques and ways to increase their effectiveness were anchored in evidence-based science and research. In the typical American way of monetising science, some of these academics were hired by Public Relations (PR), marketing, and lobbying firms.  One of the top academics was hired by Netanyahu, others by Trump.

In 2020 I joined and supported an international initiative whose Aussie franchisee was the RMIT ABC Fact Check. It was shut down in 2024, but continues as The RMIT Information Integrity Hub. My fact-checker tasks were focused on climate-change, energy, and environment, but I learnt the techniques of identifying published disinformation and fake news.

Research findings

Human beings are endowed with a collection of traits called Cognitive Biases. These were hard-wired into us from the time we started walking on two feet and had incredibly strong rationale driven by evolution (or God if you prefer).

I’d like to look at two categories relevant to this discussion:

Brain Power

When the forces of nature: evolution, God, intelligent design, your choice, realised that the brain is our big differentiator in the fight for survival, a new problem arose. The brain is the body’s largest consumer of energy and must be programmed to conserve energy and time. Some of the resulting cognitive biases:

• Confirmation bias: given a choice, prefer your previously learnt conclusion rather than testing a new one. Prejudice and dogmatism are some of the negative side-effects.

• Tribal bias: use wisdom of the crowds and listen to a leader rather than work it out yourself. Stick with your tribe and prove that you belong to it. Racism, intolerance, xenophobia, and the false-consensus effect are some of the negatives. Many anthropologists believe this is the source of religion and priesthood.

Threats

In animals, training for a new action or response requires many reward-based repetitions, but a trauma is learned in one lesson. Risk is given much more weight than benefit. After all, there is no lesson learnt after death. Some of the resulting cognitive biases:

• Negativity bias: If something is labelled as counterproductive or a threat, join the side that offers to fight it off. Shaming, tagging, and identity politics are some of the cons.

• Threat-related attentional bias: Given a choice between joining a friend or fighting an enemy, choose the fight. If doubt is raised about a positive, treat it as negative.

In a stable, business-as-usual, steady world these traits are ingenious, incredibly effective at improving survival. However, the world is changing at a faster than ever rate. As Leon said in his Imagine newsletter: Help! Stop the world, I want to get off. In such a world, cognitive biases are not fit for purpose. They have exceeded their use-by-date. Unfortunately, evolution trails reality by hundreds of thousands of years.

While we are all familiar with some of the techniques to manipulate the public with disinformation by exploiting these cognitive biases, I will list the main ones:

Invent an enemy. When you’re caught with wrongdoing invent a bigger threat.

Tagging. Assuming there’s a majority, or even tribal agreement of an enemy, just label an opponent as that enemy. For example, traitors are undoubtedly a dangerous group. If you want to sway the public against an opponent, simply tag them as a traitor. It’s much more efficient than evaluating your pros and the opponent’s cons. Polarisation of the public ensures your tribe sticks behind you.

• Barnaby Joyce recently declared: ".. (we) will follow the will of the people, not warnings from economists ...".

Instil doubt. When evidence has mounted against your position, your decisions, or your conclusions, then raise doubt about the evidence. Some classic examples: science has been wrong in the past, look what my opponent did when he was young, the other side is worse (two wrongs make a right). I highly recommend a book that describes this technique amazingly well: Merchants of Doubt.

• Science has been wrong

Before 1969 scientists had an estimate of the distance to the moon. The Apollo 11 landing in 1969 led to the installation of laser ranging reflectors, which allow scientists to correct the measure the distance to the Moon with millimetre precision. Would you tell the scientists: “you admitted your previous measurement was wrong, why should I trust you now?”.

• Pauline Hanson explained why the One Nation immigration policy ignores warnings from the experts: "Do you trust these economists ..? Because I don't."

Sanitation and Detox

If a bad actor stands for political leadership, it is a sign of democracy. If millions support that bad actor, we have a problem. Same for the publisher of disinformation. Unfortunately, social networks profit from polarisation (read the news about Meta paying for Neo Nazi posts).

When members of the public succumb to manipulation by a bad actor taking advantage of cognitive biases, they are reacting in a normal human way, behaving as designed. They are victims of a poison machine, to the perpetrators.

Criticising, judging and attacking the victim of manipulation results in a behavioural version of Newton’s third law of motion: exert a force and the other side will react with equal force in the opposite direction. The I’m right and you’re an idiot approach is counterproductive. The instinct to act in this way is normal, it proves to our tribe that we belong.

In his book I’m Right And You’re An Idiot, James Hoggan suggests using empathy, better listening, and respectful dialogue instead of attacks. This generates constructive public conversations.

• If a friend tells you that your way leads to disaster, or that your leader is a traitor, put an arm around their shoulder and say: I understand where you’re coming from, can you please explain why your way is good and how your leader will solve the problem. This approach is likely to be a much more effective than judgement or attack.

• Consider the unproductive outburst by Hilary Clinton calling Trump supporters: “..a basket of deplorables”.

Maybe, just dreaming here, we can start lobbying our politicians to regulate against lies. While I am against nanny-state policies and support giving people the freedom of choice, if there are forces that take advantage of our natural traits, the perhaps regulation is justified. This is why addictive products are regulated. Addictive products take away our freedom of choice. Manipulation by utilising cognitive biases does the same and should be treated similarly.

Gmar Chatima Tova

May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year