Fake News
Fake News Fake news is nothing new. History abounds with examples of bending the truth for material gain, aka lying, or flexing the truth for political gain, aka propaganda. One of the earliest recorded examples is the use of fake news by Octavian against Marc Anthony which started the final war of the Roman Republic (32 BC to 30 BC). There were many parallels with the elections of today. On one side was Octavian, Julius Caesar's adopted son, on the other Marc Anthony backed by Cleopatra! Instead of Twitter, Octavian used short slogans written on coins that denigrated Anthony for being a puppet of Egypt, disloyal to Rome, a philanderer and a drunk. The vicious propaganda campaign culminated in the reading of a will purported to belong to Anthony to the Senate House that concluded with Anthony being declared a traitor and war declared on Cleopatra as Queen of Egypt. History has a habit of repeating itself, as we saw last year in the US. But this time around it's become almost ...