Unity

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

I have been quite blunt about what I think about Fascism/Authoritarianism/Nationalism. From the start of this blog just prior to the 2020 election, it has been the focus of my posts. Many of my posts on the subject have taken a partisan tone because I believe that it has become a partisan issue. I’ll go no farther than that today.

Quite simply, the key to putting the “united” back into the United States of America falls on us and our ability to freely and accurately communicate facts to all U.S. citizens regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality or political party.

For many months, I have opened this blog with a summary of an article from the May 8-22 , 2021 issue of Science News magazine on the subject of information, misinformation, disinformation and propaganda. The Union of Concerned Scientists also addresses the issue with its “Disinformation Playbook.” The purpose has been to call your attention to the key terms on the subject and help you to be a critical consumer of media offerings, some of which is news, some of which is not by looking at it through a scientific lens.

Herein lies a substantial part of the issue. Some of us have been trained to distrust science. In essence, to distrust facts and evidence. My career as a middle school science teacher taught me many things. The most important thing it taught me was that the careful and persistent gathering of evidence through a protocol loosely called “the scientific method” assured that any claims and conclusions made at the end of this process of seeking answers to an experimental question were factually based. This is at the core of good science.

Good science is to be trusted period. There is no debate. When science is done right, which it very consistently is, it is to be trusted. Casting doubt on science is casting doubt on facts. Facts get in the way of those that survive/thrive on disinformation and propaganda. Note here that I’m not referring to misinformation.

Misinformation is incorrect information that is published accidentally and without malice or intent to spread inaccurate information. Disinformation and propaganda are the intentional transfer of information that is known to be false but is published anyway. On occasion, misinformation is published under the guise of good science. But, the massive majority of scientific news that reaches the eyes and ears of us in the general public is done to inform us and not disinform us. News that comes from credible news sources has been gathered in a systematic and scientific way.

In order to reunify those of us in the fifty states that we commonly refer to as America, we must receive news that is scientifically gathered and processed. News that is based on evidence and is not published until it is verified, peer reviewed and fact checked.

I think that this simple solution would put the “United” back into the United States of America. Working out the details is the hard part.

Hard, but essential. Time is of the essence.