Disinformation, Misinformation. How About “Lies” and “Wrong”?

People talk and complain about disinformation and misinformation constantly.  Disinformation and misinformation are said to be horrible, and in some people’s views, they need to be banned.  But to be honest, I’m not really sure what these terms mean.  Is “disinformation” a statement that is false or does it have to be knowingly false?  Does it need to have an illicit purpose or does that matter?  And what about “misinformation”?  Is it something that is not true but without an illicit purpose or is it something else?  And how is it different from “disinformation”?

I don’t know, and I suspect that I’m not alone in my confusion.  I also suspect that disinformation and misinformation are used more as weapons than as descriptions.  The nice thing about calling something disinformation or misinformation is that you don’t have to explain why it’s false or wrong.  You just get to call it false and tell people to ignore it and sometimes even try to shut people up because they’re saying it.

But back to what disinformation and misinformation mean or don’t mean.  As I said above, I don’t know what they mean and I think I’m not alone.  So let me suggest that we stop using these words and go back to words whose meanings we really do know: “lies” and “wrong” [[or maybe "false" - see Update below]].  A “lie” is something that is not true and is said even though the person saying it knows it’s not true or says it with reckless disregard as to whether it is true or not. 

Something is “wrong” when it is just not right.  Like two plus two is not five.  Or Manchester is not the capital of New Hampshire.  Those are wrong.  Sometimes the answer is not absolute, but when it is clear, or when we know some answers are incorrect, even if we don’t know what answer is actually right, then we can say those answers are wrong. 

There are some connections between “wrong” and “lie”.  If you know something is wrong and you say it anyway, that’s probably a lie.  If you don’t know it’s wrong and you say it, it’s not a lie, but that doesn’t make it right.  Senator Joe McCarthy told lies.  Then-Senator John F. Kennedy wasn’t telling a lie during the 1960 presidential campaign when he said the US had a missile gap with the Soviet Union.  But he was wrong – there wasn’t a missile gap – it just wasn’t a lie because he didn’t know it was wrong.

Disinformation and misinformation, when they mean lies and wrong, have been around for a long time.¹  But disinformation and misinformation are confusing and unclear – and they are often used as a weapon more than a description.  “Lies” and “wrong” are clearer – and because they are clearer, they are less susceptible to being misused as attacks and as calls for censorship.
--------------
¹ I remember National Enquirer at the supermarket check-out counter.
UPDATE (1/16/25 7:45 am): I am thinking that maybe "false"works better than "wrong".