We’ve all heard the cliché that laughter is the best medicine. Of course, in public health we don’t take that literally, because we believe evidence-based medicine is the best medicine. But there can be no doubt that laughter is a powerful force. And we should be using it now more than ever.
We are now thoroughly entrenched in information warfare. Take for example the recent message that went up on CDC and other HHS web pages that were recently restored by court order. The message reads as follows:
Per a court order, HHS is required to restore this website as of 11:59 PM on February 11, 2025. Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from the immutable biological reality that there are two sexes, male and female. The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology and condemns the harm it causes to children, by promoting their chemical and surgical mutilation, and to women, by depriving them of their dignity, safety, well-being, and opportunities. This page does not reflect biological reality and therefore the Administration and this Department reject it.
This message has all of the hallmarks of the Trump administration: It is poorly worded, inaccurate, and shows a breathtaking lack of regard for basic science. It’s also a stunning show of weakness and evidence that there is real resistance to this overwhelmingly unpopular attempt at prioritizing political ideology over life-saving medical research.
So what’s so funny about all of this? Well, nothing really, but we do know one thing for certain: this administration cannot take a joke.
Those who followed the early days of the current Russian occupation of Ukraine may remember that amidst the devastation and destruction, Ukrainians never lost their sense of humor. In fact, an international online coalition of meme-posters and troublemakers known as NAFO (North Atlantic Fella Organization) have consistently used humor to battle Russian mis/disinformation. And they’ve largely been successful. Think of NAFO as akin to the internet collective Anonymous, except that many among NAFO’s ranks publicly identify as such, including high-profile public figures like Congressman Adam Kinzinger. And instead of hacking, they use humor as a weapon against disinformation.
NAFO has been successful in engaging the Russian propaganda machine because they recognized early on that the battle lines were not just on the field but in the information space; in other words, they knew they were fighting an infowar. According to the United Nations, an infowar “consists in controlling one’s own information space, protecting access to one’s own information, while acquiring and using the opponent’s information, destroying their information systems and disrupting the information flow.”
This insight is just as important for those of us holding the line in public health–and for science more broadly–as it is for national security experts. The internet is full of paid “trolls” whose sole purpose is to stir up discord on social media platforms along with bots spewing toxic disinformation. These bad actors rub shoulders with real citizens who have already fallen victim to the infowar. Keep this in mind the next time you consider hitting “reply” to an inflammatory remark and consider saving your efforts for engaging with the public in venues where you are more likely to make an impact, for example in face-to-face conversations with members of your own community. Those who are outwardly hostile online are unlikely to have their minds changed through their interactions with you.
The good news is that there is a playbook for fighting back, and we can learn from organizations like NAFO. They have already developed an extremely effective strategy for fighting these bad actors on social media, and it’s very simple–when faced with an opponent, overwhelm them with ridicule and funny memes until they either give up and disengage or become so angry they commit a violation of terms of service and are removed from the platform.
Here’s how it works, according to NAFO’s own website:
After identifying Russian propaganda or pro-Russian sympathizers, NAFO responds to the post with funny memes or quick fact-checking. Rather than debunking the Russian lie in detail, they use memes and humor to troll and confuse the Russian narrative, which is extremely effective. If it is possible to ridicule the originator of the lie, it can be much more effective than the fight against the lie itself [emphasis added].
This is the key to fighting an infowar. For too long we have tried to engage online with bad actors by responding with facts, as if simply providing accurate information will be enough to turn the public tide. It won’t be. We need a more aggressive stance against health mis/disinformation. We need to embarrass them. We need to make people laugh at them.
If you’re wondering what that might look like in practice, check out the work of one of my favorite health communicators, who goes by the name Dr. Glaucomflecken. Dr. Glaucomflecken is the comic persona of William E. Flannary, an ophthalmologist who makes short-form humorous content about the healthcare system in the U.S. While many of Dr. Glaucomflecken’s sketches are silly fun, he often uses his platform to throw sharp satirical barbs at the deep inequities of the healthcare system in the U.S., particularly its for-profit insurance companies.
I do not want to suggest that this should be our only strategy, nor that these tactics should be used in face-to-face communications or against people who are simply confused and afraid. Toward that end, make sure that you balance these types of actions (which some NAFO members refer to affectionately as “meme warfare”) by also filling the information space with high quality, accurate content. And showing empathy and understanding and relating on a personal level is nearly always a more effective communications strategy than arguing back. Other health communication experts like Katelyn Jetelina and the wonderful team at Those Nerdy Girls have done an excellent job creating accessible and trustworthy science content, and the podcast Why Should I Trust You is making efforts to open lines of dialogue that cross the political aisle.
But we need multiple ways to fight mis/disinformation, and humor is a powerful weapon. Let’s not be afraid to use it.
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