My heart is at half mast.
Donald Trump’s electoral triumph has the effect of a ten-wheeler passing over the body of the values that are most dear to me: honesty, equality, respect for the environment, human rights and science.
Values which have been at the heart of the great progress of our societies since the end of the Second World War. Vectors of peace and well-being repeatedly demonstrated at national and international levels.
Disinformation
How could the majority of Americans vote for a liar, racist, misogynist, anti-science, climate skeptic and sexual assaulter?
Disinformation is increasingly being singled out.
Disinformation that has managed to convince many voters to vote AGAINST their own interests.
Examples?
Trump spread lies about migrants, including that they were “eating Americans’ cats and dogs.” But also that they were mainly responsible for the crimes perpetrated in the United States.
This did not prevent millions of American citizens with immigrant backgrounds from voting for him. Including about 45% of Latino voters.
Trump falsely accused Democrats of promoting abortion until the last months of pregnancy, even talking about “executions after birth”!
While in office, Trump restricted access to abortion by appointing conservative justices to the Supreme Court. A measure that attacks the reproductive freedom of women.
This did not prevent 44% of American women from voting for him.
The Musk Effect
With her platform X, formerly Twitter, Ellen Musk undoubtedly contributed to a disinformation campaign favoring Trump.
His publications relaying false or misleading information have been viewed more than 1.2 billion times according to the Center Against Online Hate (CCDH).
This is without mentioning the disinformation coming from internationally!
Remember that American intelligence and security agencies have issued several alerts. Russia, China, and Iran have been identified as the main foreign governments using this strategy to destabilize the United States.
Here too
Our democratic institutions are not immune to the same kind of misinformation.
Pierre Poilievre uses it regularly, particularly when it comes to climate change, but also the role of our institutions, such as that of the Bank of Canada and -.
He also argued that transgender women have no place in bathrooms, locker rooms and shelters.
The Conservative Party of Canada flirts with Holocaust deniers, masculinists and conspiracy theorists, the same electorate that Trump is mobilizing with great success.
All of this worries me greatly.
We live at a moment in human history where, more than ever, we need governments that make decisions informed by rigorous information to face the immense environmental, socio-economic and artificial intelligence challenges that are shaking up more and more our lives.
We have no direct influence on American politics, but please, let’s mobilize here against the disinformation that threatens us here too.
