Sowing the West Texas Wind: Misinformation Causes, Consequences, and Interventions

In an era defined by information overload and polarized discourse, Sowing the West Texas Wind brings together a diverse array of scholars, scientists, journalists, and legal experts to examine the rise of misinformation and its real-world impacts.The scope goes from the deeply local to the national and global to understand how trust is won and lost.With a focus on the last decade's most defining crises-including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate disinformation, and election interference-this timely collection uses West Texas as a revealing microcosm for understanding how falsehoods take root and spread. Rather than preaching from political extremes, however, the book probes how misinformation distorts community life, corrodes democratic processes, and complicates public health and policy decisions.The contributors explore the phenomenon through case studies that span health communication, climate science, law, media studies, and security policy.From the infiltration of "pink slime" journa