A classic example is COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy in PNG, through a strongly held but erroneous fear by the community, that Covid-19 vaccines will cause a range of nasty conditions, coupled with the belief that COVID-19 in the unvaccinated is not a serious disease.. This disinformation has been spread to great effect by social media and little attempt appears to have been made by government to counter it. Unless we learn how to counter such disinformation in whatever form it appears and make a robust, concerted and coordinated effort to do so, we are doomed to suffer the consequences, be it COVID-19 in PNG, Bong Bong in the Philippines or Putin in Russia.

In Lincoln’s time, messaging was limited to the telegraph and then horse and rider. The reach of news was largely confined to industrialised countries.

An event of significance happening in mid-19th century India might have appeared as a footnote in the London Times weeks after the event. Probably nobody in South America or South East Asia ever heard about it. Why should they? Events and impact were largely local.

Today almost every human being is plugged into the daily news cycle in one form or another and almost every portion of the planet, even the poles, is fodder for it.

While I doubt that the manipulation of voters by politicians has changed over the centuries, their ability to reach untold more people certainly has. Trump and Twitter.

And while the worst excesses of the politics of the past might have resulted in the deaths of a few hundred thousand (600,000 in the American Civil War 1861-1865), today we live with knowledge that a nuclear exchange could result in the deaths of many millions.

It is my assessment that the technological capabilities of humans has long surpassed our ability to control our impulses towards violence, greed and ego and the consequences of not doing so have become increasingly dire.

And if you look at the culprits, past and present behind these catastrophes, you would be challenged to find a woman amongst them. In light of our understanding of the pointless horror of war it seems inconceivable that today a European power would go to war with another over some perceived historical grievance.

More incredible still that the technique of the “Big Lie” used to chilling effect by the Nazi’s is still effective in Russia and across “democracies” that claim to cherish the truth and freedom.

But it is also true that truth is the enemy of the lie and in the case of politicians that apply this technique the greatest threat to them. Their survival is invariably dependent upon maintaining the lie that once exposed becomes the instrument of their downfall.

In the last half century, we have discovered beyond doubt that we inhabit a world of finite resources that are increasingly coming under pressure to support us all.

Where changes in what once were predicable weather patterns are no longer so. A world where an estimated 60 million people are on the move from war, famine or both across borders to find shelter and food.

The real challenge for voters is to become sufficiently wised up to the fact that no matter where they live, we are all now connected by more than just the news cycle.

To appreciate the need to elect representatives who speak verifiable truth rather than offer magical thinking and lies. To hold those who would promulgate unfounded and disproven garbage to account with the same gravity as those who seek to spread hatred and violence. Disinformation is a cancer to Democracy.

The need to elect representatives with a deep understanding of just how interconnected we all are. The necessity to adopt a globalised approach to equity as opposed to exploitation, to sustainability as opposed to consumption lest increasing poverty, mass migration and war become part of our near futures.