Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22, 2021 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
Update: September 22, 2023: This is more important now than ever. Be vigilant and speak in your own way. Love Wins.
In the spirit of how to debunk misinformation and disinformation, I encourage you to examine The Financial Services Forum, The American Accountability Foundation, The Epoch Times, Fox News, and One America Network(OAN), among others, using the media literacy skills taught by the News Literacy Project from #1 above under "How to Debunk." Click on the News Literacy Project link to start your work.
I reluctantly watched the Presidential Debate tonight and having watched it, my reluctance was justified.
All I’m going to say on the subject is thank God for Joe Biden. Whatever he lacks in communication skills he makes up for in his courage and with his heart. He had to stand up to a bully tonight and God bless him for taking on the bully despite knowing that this was not his best platform.
I wish that he had answered some questions differently, but this “debate” made the choice of the next president ever so much clearer to me and I was already pretty clear about it. Before the opponent’s indefensible attacks on his own country and personal attacks on his President, the Make America Grimace Again candidate was everything (and more) of what he wrongly accused the President of being. He is a despicable human being who has no business being anywhere close to representative government.
He is an embarrassment on what it means to be an American. I refuse to bullied by this idiot and it is in expressing my opinion and writing my letters and talking to people that I stand up to this bully. I spent 30 years of my life as a public school educator. Bullies are a fact of life for kids. Bullies are pained and insecure in their own lives and bodies. They lash out because they are desperately unhappy and troubled. President Biden’s opponent tonight fits that definition to a tee.
Don’t be distracted by performance. Be focused on results. There are some very rich and very powerful players both foreign and domestic that stand to benefit from a )((&^%^(& presidency. Biden’s opponent does not care about the people that vote for him. He’s already said that he doesn’t care about them. Does he care about you? Not a freaking lick.
When Hitler pulled the wool over the eyes of the German people in the last Century, Germany had real problem and the Nazis were able to exploit those problems into a political movement that resulted in the murder of on the order of six million Jewish people and a World War that resulted in the deaths of somewhere around 65,000.000 people.
America is not Germany of the mid 20th Century. The puppet candidate is trying to enunciate and create problems that do not exist in order to justify his need to be a strongman authoritarian style ruler in the model of people like Hitler, Putin, Orban, Xi and Kim Jung Un. Don’t be fooled and don’t be fooled by master communicators. What they communicate is not always true
So tonight’s debacle of a debate really serves no one. It should be forgotten and filed way. I yearn for the days when we will again have a real debate on issues affecting the United States of America. Your work over the next four months and your vote in November will demonstrate that Americans do have the courage to stand up to and defeat bullies, tyrants and dictators.
Indeed we have already done it and will do it again.
