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
Whiteness has its privileges. My whiteness has its privileges. One of those privileges is that I have remained relatively safe and sheltered from the three headed tyrannical Medusa-like monster of Covid, (Skin) Color and Climate Change over the past two years. A three headed monster fed by the wealthy, white elites to try and bring our country to its knees and open it up to the dark forces of tyranny.
While over 637,000 Americans have died from Covid, our family has experienced two cases of Covid in our extended family and both of those resulted in minor illness. My wife and I have each had a negative Covid test and that’s about it.
Many, many, many families have not been as fortunate as ours. So please explain to me, someone, why are the states of Alabama, Texas, Georgia, Arkansas and Mississippi all nearly out of Intensive Care Unit beds statewide? Why is this happening when it has been clearly established that the COVID vaccine reduces the impact of Covid infections? Is it that the Republican governors of these states are actively discouraging vaccination? According to the Center for Disease Control, African Americans are twice as likely to die from a Covid infection and Hispanics are 2.3 times as likely to die from a Covid infection.
Add in the state of Florida whose governor, Ron DeSantis, refuses to allow local school districts in his state to mandate the wearing of masks to provide a safe environment for the students enrolled in Florida public schools. Again I ask you why on Earth would the governor of a state, any state, prohibit locally controlled school districts from making their own decisions on protecting children?
Does race or immigration policy play a role in these illogical, immoral, inhumane and otherwise unexplainable efforts by red state legislators to allow the Coronavirus to spread and cause unnecessary suffering on minority groups and on the health care workers affected by these policies? There is one thing that causes me to question my thesis statement. Why would red state governors be a part of killing their own Republican voters. That one is a head scratcher.
Allow me to digress a bit into the world of disinformation about the Covid vaccine and the promotion of alternate “treatments” like drinking bleach, taking anti-Malarial drugs (Hydroxychloroquin) or anti tick medications for animals (Ivermectin). What snake oil distraction will the tyrants unveil next? You won’t have to wait long. Fox, Facebook, Newsmax and OAN are ready to cause further Covid illness and suffering to keep the virus alive and well in the American public. To what end will the tyrant makers go to maintain white power in this country? Are the white folks that die nothing more than collateral damage in a Nazi-style attempt at racial cleansing?
Then there’s the second “C,” color. By virtue of my skin color, I am instantly spared the indignities, threats and dangers associated with not having white skin in the U.S.A. These racially motivated atrocities are a disgrace to the United States of America. The United States of America that I have longed for my entire adult life. The United States of America that I was taught to expect.
These atrocities are too numerous to name. Suffice it to say that wealthy, white elites are attempting to drive a wedge between us on the grounds of race. Why? It’s yet another way to disrupt progress towards a just, anti-Racist, economically stable America. They are trying to do this through a shameful disinformation campaign to stoke white fear and undermine improvements in how white people address the topic of racial inequality. Evidence for this claim is the way the the words “critical race theory” have been used by the white right. Those three words are a threat to the right’s attempts to hide America’s dark racial history. The right’s use of the words critical race theory are a not so thinly veiled effort to destabilize the United States and it’s institutions.
The third (and fourth) C’s are Climate Change. When then President Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris Climate Accords, the goals of the wealthy, white, right elites was far more then a short term move to allow the fossil fuel industry a final chance to squeeze out it’s last profits before the rug gets pulled out from under them. It has been intended to join forces with COVID and Color as the third diabolical head to the right’s three headed monster to subvert American Democracy.
The effects of this campaign to mislead and disinform millions of Americans are now in plain sight. There is no hiding from the impact of climate change now. Another massive hurricane, this one called Ida, has devastated Louisiana and numerous states in the South and Northeastern U.S with wind and flooding.
Wildfires run wild through the western states. Two of them burning in California, Dixie and Caldor are number two and fifteen on the the list of the states largest wildfires in terms of acreage burned.
Is it a stretch to make the claim that these three things are linked in a diabolical super plot to destroy America? Sure it is.
But, that’s the way I see it and I’m paying for the Blog host. Take care, be well and stay informed.
Your working hypothesis would explain a lot, but it is a conspiracy theory. As such it needs smoking-gun evidence of its planning and executing by the conspirators to make it credible.
Do you know of any investigative journalists hunting for such evidence?
Taken from the Kaiser Family Foundation webpage.
Overall, across these 40 states, the percent of White people who have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose (50%) was roughly 1.3 times higher than the rate for Black people (40%) and 1.1 times higher than the rate for Hispanic people (45%) as of August 16, 2021. Not really much difference.
It would be interesting to survey those people who refuse the vaccination and see if their motives have any statistical significance between white, black and brown people. I know the rural white community in Southern Oregon is all about ‘medical freedom’ and the view that a mandatory vaccine is the state of Oregon, namely the ‘libs’ trying to force an ‘unapproved, medical experiment’ on to the people. Bruce, you and I were born in 1955, had the public put up a fit against the polio vaccine in the early 60’s we might of had to face polio during our years at Royal Oaks Elementary School. It did take three Nurses to hold me down for the shot at the National Guard Armory in Visalia. Shiena told me it would be a sugar cube. I was so mad at her.
We are good up here in the smoke of Medford. Watching Fresno State lose a close game to Oregon in Eugene. I hope your able to get to one of the Giant-Dodger games this weekend. How I wanted to see the Sunday final in person with you. Maybe next year.
I would not call it a conspiracy exactly, but a culture of white supremacy and a system of predatory capitalism link these three things together. Initially COVID was not taken seriously by the Republican administration because it was seen as affecting cities and blue states – now they have created a monster that some are trying to ride to gain power. The current Republican power structure is locked into appealing to the basest instincts of white conservatives: “freedom” over responsibility and xenophobia are key features. Now COVID denial is a mark of their tribe. Powerful energy corporations want to preserve the status quo and their profits, so they peddle misinformation about the climate, which has also been picked up as another marker of loyalty to white extremist conservatism. A political system awash in dark money fuels minority government.
I don’t know what to say; it’s pretty overwhelming and I hear your angst!