Disinformation

Industry disinformation campaigns took new and creative forms:

Sylvester Stallone was paid $500,000 to use Brown and Williamson products in no fewer than five feature films to link smoking with power and strength, rather than sickness and death. The Centre For Tobacco Research set up a ’special projects’ office to deal with secondhand smoke, including the development of countervailing scientific evidence, expert witnesses, and industry-sponsored conferences to challenge the emerging scientific consensus.

Marxists are often criticized for believing that the ends justified the means, yet old Cold Warriors were now using ends to justify the means, misrepresenting what their colleagues had done and said; taking quotes out of context. Making allegations that were unsupported by evidence. One claim in particular was repeated several times in the Forest [British pro-smoking alliance] report on secondhand smoke: that of a prominent epidemiologist who had allegedly said of the EPA work, “Yes it’s rotten science, but it’s in a worthy cause.” Did anyone actually say that? There’s no way to tell, because it was given without attribution and was likely  fabricated.

All freedoms have their limits, and none more obviously than the freedom to kill other people, either directly with guns and knives, or indirectly with dangerous goods. Secondhand smoke was an indirect danger that killed people.

Seeking The Truth

Here in the UK we have suffered over many years from several major scandals involving the government and a variety of public services. Some have been subject to judicial Public Enquiries. These include the Contaminated Blood Scandal, the David Kelly enquiry (re the accusation of Blair ’sexing up’ the Iraq Report), Payment Protection Insurance, MP Expenses, Hillsborough (where 96 football fans died), Sex Abuse (Jimmy Savile-generated), Windrush Scandal (involving the Home Office), Post Office Horizon Scandal (where hundreds of sub-postmasters were falsely accused of theft and fraud with many being convicted), ‘Partygate’ (involving Downing Street staff attending illegal parties during the Covid lockdown), Phone Hacking (by sections of the press) and several enquiries involving the Metropolitan Police. In addition enquiries involving the National Health Service Maternity Services are current, and others involving falsely imprisoned and accused individuals. The Grenfell Tower (where 72 residents died) enquiry is also current and in its third year…

In most, if not all, these cases lies, misinformation and non-disclosure led to individuals suffering injury, death and loss. The enquiries also took decades to start and complete.  And justice for all - I don’t think so.

In Conclusion

The writer C.S. Lewis observed: “The lack of evidence is thus treated as evidence; the absence of smoke proves that the fire is very carefully hidden. A belief in invisible cats cannot be logically disproved, although it does tell us a good deal about those that hold it.”

We live in an increasing fantasy world of smart phones, war games, reality shows, conspiracy theories and downright lies. We have become less discriminating, less selective; followers rather than thinkers and leaders. The blind following the blind. We are being peddled with falsehoods many of which have real and negative implications to our lives.

Millions of lives have been diminished and lost through misinformation from the highest levels. We need change and above all we need the truth, especially from those bestowed with the responsibility to govern, inform and repair.

From MERCHANTS OF DOUBT By Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway