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
Retirement hasn’t been quite what I expected it to be. I had expected to roughly divide my time up evenly between volunteering and service to the community , recreation, reading and writing. COVID messed up the division of time formula.
It also messed up how I was going to spend my volunteer and service time. I’ve spent considerably more time volunteering with my church basically because those opportunities didn’t go away with COVID and the church always needs volunteers. I have not done nearly as much work on outdoor and science education, although that is starting to change as we figure out how to live with COVID.
In case you hadn’t yet noticed, I am a radical. My radicalism can be tempered to simmer below the surface where it is essentially invisible. That’s where it has been for most of my life. That has been gradually changing over the past 15 years The radicalism is sort of like the Earth Science concept of vulcanism. Molten hot rock rises through the Earth and some of it eventually reaches the surface in the form of a volcanic eruption. Sometimes the eruptions are relatively calm and sometimes (ask the people of Pompeii) they are more explosive.
I’m still singing, bicycle riding, backpacking, golfing, hiking, reading and writing and stuff like that. But there is an element that figures to eat into a bigger chunk of my retirement time now.
Being a revolutionary.
Revolutionary in the model of former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Meredy decided that this evening would be a good time to revisit Justice Ginsburg’s documentary film “The Notorious RBG.” How appropriate to revisit the life and work of RBG.
Revolutionary in the spirit of our founding fathers almost 250 years ago. The same founding fathers that drafted the Constitution that the current Supreme Court has decided to re-write in it’s own image.
Just as the Bible and the great religious scriptures of the world are meant to be living, breathing documents that incorporate the timeless wisdom of their composers, so too is the Constitution of these great United States of America. It’s words, so carefully drafted, were meant to grow with this young nation. The words were not put to paper lightly.
This Supreme Court, for reasons that I do not know, has chosen to turn its back on Democracy and its vital institutions and precedents. It has turned its back on the Constitution. The time for us to speak up is now. Justice RBG was an outwardly quiet and reserved person for most of her life in the law as a lawyer and a judge. Toward the end of her life and career, she became outwardly vociferous in her dissents of Supreme Court rulings that she felt were wrong headed. In the spirit of the revolutionaries that founded this country, she fought for what she believed in. This week’s rulings on guns and women’s rights were appalling. Would would RBG have done?
I intend to do what I know she would be doing. I will follow in her example and speak up and take the actions that I believe to be right. I cannot sit idly by and watch my country be dismantled before my eyes. With my Dad’s 19 year old Army Air Corps eyes looking over my shoulder, I’m going to continue to do his work in making the United States of America a better place for all of our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and for all subsequent generations to come.
Fight like hell to preserve it. That is my retirement job…for now at least.
What would RBG do? Haunt the sexist six Supremes until they either see the light or die of fright.
I’d be good with that…for a start!
Mike, maybe one of our UU playwrights could come up with a script modeled after “A Christmas Story.” Ghost of Roe past, ghost of Roe present and the ghost of Roe to come. It would make a good Saturday Night Live skit!
I look forward to your revolutionary activities Bruce! By example you may lead us.
💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻
Well said, Dad would be proud! He was always ahead of his time.
Yeah. I look over my shoulder and see his photo on the wall and ask myself what he would be doing all the time!
B
When I figure out what they are, you’ll know about it! Hope your Summer is going well and that you are out and about a bit. When are getting back together?
I’m radical/revolutionary, too. I don’t think anyone in this culture needs a gun!
And, reproductive care is a medical decision to be made by a doctor and patient. It doesn’t belong in the courts or legislature.
I’ve always suspected that you were a quiet and dignified radical and a fellow traveler!
That puts me in good company!
Glad you read it!
Bruce
Sometimes I wonder if we may be heading for a national divorce due to irreconcilable differences between ‘Red and Blue’ America. Not sure what that looks like and I am not an advocate of such a plan. My concern is we will begin to see an uptick in the number of people on both sides who are willing to use violence to break things and hurt people. Too much talk about putting people in prison on both sides. Obama had the right idea. Some of my best discussions have been in airport bars waiting for a flight while drinking a 20oz Sam Adams. I try to bring an open mind to the table and ask questions hoping I can maybe gain some insights into the experience of the person sitting across from me. So take to the streets, peacefully protest outside the courthouse, write your representatives and local and national newspapers but stay inside the guard rails of civility.