Sir — This refers to the article, “Information, real and designed” (December 22) by Kushan Mitra. Given the magnitude of false news doing the rounds in social media during the US presidential campaign, a part of Facebook, Twitter et al, appears to be in the shoes of Joseph Goebbels, who said, “A lie told once remains a lie, but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.”
The chemistry of a repeatedly told lie becoming truth is inherent in our potential for obedience. According to American psychologist Stanley Milgram, human potential for obedience is the prerequisite for social organisation but this potentiality can also come to a sticky end as human vulnerability to tyranny. Indeed, tyranny is based on mass obedience.
So, obedience must be combined with a spirit of enquiry. Otherwise, gullibility can reduce democracy to dictatorship and nationalism to jingoistic hysteria. We need to verify the veracity of the news before believing the material.