The Information War (and adding impromptu content to my outreach platforms)

The world is engaged in an information war. It's a war because many of the people involved quite literally see it as a conflict in which they are fighting others they view as their enemies — enemies they view as against their own interests — and it's an information war because information is the weapon of this war (or more often misinformation for those with shallow morals). Huge portions of the human population are being duped into believing conspiracies and outright falsehoods, into voting for self-interested politicians, and into supporting policies which literally are against those voter's own interests. Although all the examples in the links I provide above reference US politics, make no mistake — this is a global trend.

I grow increasingly concerned about this state of affairs we are currently in. While it is true that it has never been easier in human history to share your views across the world, it is also now easier to spread lies and deception and currently the self-interested forces of the world are leveraging modern technology more effectively than the forces fighting for the greater good. One might be able to ignore this conflict and turn a blind eye to the immense amount of global suffering that we inflict on ourselves if not for the fact that we (humanity) are driving perilously close to precipices from which we may not return if we aren't careful, precipices such the rise of authoritarianism and the decline of democracies, as well as the precipice of climate change which threatens to destabilize our planet. Whether we slide into authoritarianism, greed, and oppression, or we become the champions of democracy, equality, and human rights is up to us. Whether we allow ourselves to destroy our planet or we stand up to protect it is up to us — passivity is not an option.

As a result, I feel I have no choice but to join the global conversation in the hopes that I can help move us away from the cliffs-edges before us and towards a healthier, more sustainable direction. To do that I started my YouTube channel and podcast, and I started writing more with much of that writing being shared on various social media platforms. I have now merged these efforts together, such that all content I produce starts with a blog post where I research and write about a topic and then I share it to other platforms. This has been slow-going at first but I think I've just about found my groove, and the question that has always been with me is how do I expand my reach?

While some might suggest focusing on one platform for best success, I've found that's only true if focusing on more than one reduces my overall output of content. In my case focusing on YouTube primarily I think has actually hindered me, not only because it takes longer to produce a YouTube video than other types of content, but also because I have a fairly high standard for my work that I think slows down the rate at which I can produce content, and thus why I've been noticing my list of topics to write about outpacing the content I'm creating. So I'm trying to find a balance in which some topics I write about will involve lots of research and planning and others will be more impromptu, allowing me to share my thoughts more quickly without the overhead of a full, in-depth production. For this new impromptu content, I've decided to use TikTok/IG Reels/YouTube Shorts. 👍

This war of information we are in isn't new and it isn't going anywhere any time soon, but fortunately there is a way to end it. It begins by giving people the skills they need to combat misinformation by showing people how to become more critical readers and consumers of information. It's also important to help people discover the way our world works and the ways it works against us, and help people recognize the beliefs and ideologies which hold us back. But above all, the war ends when we help people understand that there needn't be a war in the first place. We are all in this crazy, chaotic world together, and at the end of the day we all want more or less the same things — to be free, to be happy, healthy, and to be able to pursue the life we want. Only when we realize that we are all on the same team — and that working together is far more effective in getting what we want than fighting and competing with each other — will humanity truly begin to flourish.