Attack from Within

How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America

De: Barbara McQuade

Narrado por: Barbara McQuade

MSNBC's legal expert breaks down the ways disinformation has become a tool to drive voters to extremes, disempower our legal structures, and consolidate power in the hands of the few.

American society is more polarized than ever before. We are strategically being pushed apart by disinformation-the deliberate spreading of lies disguised as truth-and it comes at us from all sides: opportunists on the far right, Russian misinformed social media influencers, among others. It's endangering our democracy and causing havoc in our electoral system, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and in our Capitol. Advances in technology including rapid developments in artificial intelligence threaten to make the problems even worse by amplifying false claims and manufacturing credibility. In Attack from Within, legal scholar and analyst Barbara McQuade, shows us how to identify the ways disinformation is seeping into all facets of our society and how we can fight against it.

Disinformation is designed to evoke a strong emotional response to push us toward more extreme views, unable to find common ground with others. The false claims that led to the breathtaking attack on our Capitol in 2020 may have been only a dress rehearsal. Attack from Within shows us how to prevent it from happening again, thus preserving our country's hard-won democracy.

©2024 Barbara McQuade (P)2024 Tantor

HONESTY MATTERS

An honest warning to all of us in America who wish to continue an America we have always taken for granted.

Important information

I thought was thought provoking and helpful information. Sometimes redundant examples but under different topics. As even handed as possible in today’s circumstances.

Important topic, great analysis

The last two chapters were amazing. Excellent suggestions toward resolving a difficult and important problem.

knowledge

I enjoy her explaining things on MSNBC. this book is filled with truths and reminders of the nightmare we loved through with Trump.

Clarity, truth, positivity forward for our democracy

Barbara has brought me knowledge in the law and better understanding of how it works.. she and the sister-in-law provide us all with hope.

Please read this book

Every American, regardless of party affiliation, needs to read and understand this book. Barb lays out what is tearing our country apart and suggests ways to fix it. Much like The Social Dilemma opened eyes about the dangers of social media this book does the same with our politics.

This is not a feel-good book. Review and commentary:

I almost quit the book multiple times. The content makes me sick. I don’t find fault with Ms. McQuade at all. I am actually grateful. The truth hurts though. She is just one of the messengers, but maybe the most effective. She tries to offer hope at the end, but the current state of affairs in our country gives me no hope that democracy will survive the attack from within she so eloquently, expertly, and exhaustively described. She certainly says the right things to offer actions to remedy the sickness and try to reverse the disinformation problem. Alas, I believe the dark collective force of lies and will-to-power that has risen up through Trump and the MAGA right moment has captured too many Americans. Democracy is already too far gone. Trust is broken. Truth is buried. It seems takeover must run its course before the darkness is truly exposed and hopefully taken down. The reality of the power and the non-compromising drive of the authoritarian MAGA right movement hasn’t even been fully acknowledged by “we the people”. The MAGA movement is a cancer that’s already completely taken over the Republican Party and seems to be too strong and resistant to being defeated as it takes over the entire government. Our country is too overwhelmed to stop it peacefully. And only “we the people” can bring back democracy. It will be a war not to stop what’s happening but to resurrect something new. As is obvious to me in this book, and in the many others that have recently been published by political and social leaders and journalists, democracy is terminally ill. Most of us are still in denial, and the massive cult of Trump adherents who are living in a delusional alternate reality of lies actually believe God is on their side. It’s hard to thank a doctor for delivering news that you have terminal cancer. Like a good doctor she tries to give hope. History, science, and common sense, with which Ms. McQuade not so subtly winks at us throughout her book, tells us that our current democracy doesn’t have long to live.

Just the facts mam.

Dislike?? Not a thing this book was in my opinion absolutely spot on and Barbra’s narrative was again smooth, and factual without being confrontational

Truth Is Paramount

I really liked and believed Barbara’s constant topical approach to moving back to the central main point, which I so strongly agree with, that true facts, along with compassion in behaviour towards others is so important in these times.

AWESOME!!

I listened to Barbara McQuade while I read her book and I enjoyed every minute. Very informative and pleasant reading. I may have found a new way to read and listen and stay more focused.