Disappointments, November 29

https://newslit.org/

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception:  How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation."  In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information.  They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1.  Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2.  Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs.  Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3.  Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp.  Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4.  When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5.  Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.  

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source:  Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

Today has been a day that exemplifies that we humans are not in control of natural events. We were all excited get onshore and walk a mile to a King Penguin colony starting with the first group loading onto the Zodiac at 0730. So, we got the 0600 wakeup call, had breakfast, geared up and the winds, the Katabatic winds kicked up and it made it unsafe for the Zodiacs safely operate.

So, we continued on to what was supposed to be our afternoon destination, a place called Stromness which was the site of a whaling station from 1912-1931 and a ship repair station until 1961. This is where Ernest Shackleton found help in rescuing his crew from Elephant Island after they were forced to abandon their ship, the Endeavor when it became trapped in pack ice in 1915. Shackleton and five others sailed from Elephant Island some 800 miles to South Georgia in a desperate effort to save the remaining 22 members of his crew in a small 22 foot landing craft. They survived the treacherous journey to South Georgia only to arrive on the opposite side of the island from the whaling station. They then made the trek over a snow covered mountain range in the middle of the island replete with crevasses. They did all of this in frigid cold and wet wearing period clothing and without any mountaineering equipment save ice axes.

But, the winds were too high, gusting to 70 knots (hurricane force) at the entrance of Stomness Bay so we continued on to a third option further down the southern coast of the island. When we moored in Cumberland Bay West (where we are now), we had lunch and waited for news about whether we would be able to go ashore here. The Polar Latitudes staff did a scouting journey and determined that the winds were too high once again for safe operation of the Zodiacs. Disappointing. But the cool thing is that I haven’t detected any complaining or outward disappointment among us passengers. Inside we all are disappointed, but everyone seems to be handling it really well.

There is an Australian Film crew onboard filming for an IMAX project on the Shackleton story and on another longer documentary project. They gave a cool presentation on what they were doing on the ship and went on to explain their equipment which included a very high end drone and a new IMAX-capable digital video camera. They also discussed the realities of funding film projects and the costs of transporting some very sensitive film gear all over the world.

So, even though the day was one of some disappointment, it finishes up with high energy and enthusiasm for the possibilities that tomorrow brings. As miserable as the weather conditions were today, tomorrow could be fair and mostly clear once again. That’s life in the Southern Ocean.

Bruce