A Firehose of Falsehood

February 1, 2024
Fake news is as current as it's ever been, but, through examples and context, Kanefield shows that disinformation tactics are nothing new, only perfected in our modern time. Though this latest entry in the World Citizen Comics line starts off by tracking disinformation throughout history, it ultimately seems to serve as an important context to current times. Historical examples of disinformation, like Mussolini's reference to "drain the swamp," neatly set up the second half of the book, which focuses on such current events as Putin, InfoWars, and Donald Trump. Though the shift may be jarring to those expecting a more straightforward history, Kanefield easily justifies the change by giving instances of Trump's actions and words that pair unsettlingly well with literal textbook definitions of disinformation. In his artwork, Dorian accentuates the propaganda style of the 1940s; the same style at first seems to clash with the modern events discussed, though it is perhaps a commentary on the unfortunate similarities between these two time periods. A well-executed, accessible primer on a difficult, timely subject.

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February 5, 2024
Attorney Kanefield (Free to Be Ruth Bader Ginsberg) and cartoonist Dorian (Lon Chaney Speaks) join forces for a stylish if somewhat scattershot graphic primer on how the “concealed warfare” of disinformation has been deployed by unscrupulous politicians throughout history to smear opponents and deceive a credulous public. Kanefield reaches as far back as antiquity for examples of these political maneuvers by leaders such as India’s Chandragupta Maurya (350–295 BCE), who deployed undercover gossips to sow discord amongst the military leadership of his rivals, and traces the influence of these early exemplars to modern propaganda efforts by 20th-century bogeymen including Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini (who coined the future Trump campaign slogan “drain the swamp”). Shifting focus to the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Kanefield analyzes America’s descent into “fake news” and online factionalism, underscoring how the present historical moment is distinguished by the fundamental lack of a shared, fact-based reality, leaving citizens as little more than “victims primed to believe entirely fabricated headlines.” The ambitious scope occasionally results in rushed or reductive arguments, as when examples of race-baiting social media hoaxes perpetrated by Russian operatives posing as Black or Muslim activists are accompanied by iconography from legitimate movements like Black Lives Matter. Nonetheless, Dorian’s dynamic page layouts and retro-art style, with a flair for caricature, keep the proceedings brisk and cogent. Despite a few rough edges, this manages to condense a thorny topic into an accessible guide.