Fighting war of words

There is a war going on, and it began during the run-up to the last national election in 2016. This is not a war of bombs and bullets, but rather of information. Each of us needs to enlist in this fight to prevent this war from spreading, although it already has engulfed many of us who tend to believe too readily and too willingly.

Misinformation, disinformation, and prevarication are all parts of this war, which is intended to defeat the truth and put a smokescreen over many day-to-day events, items that you see on the news. Some of the bogus information has apparently been injected into this country by at least one foreign government, but it is our government that needs to take the lead in preventing and dispelling all bad information, and not be its originator. Wherever bad information emanates from, it must be silenced.

More than ever, the media, especially the electronic version, needs monitoring to ensure that what we see, hear and read is what actually occurred and that the truth indeed does prevail. Information can be a powerful tool in persuading or dissuading those of us that give in to it. We must be a nation of skeptics, and fact-check anything that we base a decision on, whether large or small.

This war will only come to an end when individuals and organizations are identified so that you and I will know where some of the problems originate. Hopefully that will happen soon. GEORGE WILKEN Little Rock