COVID-19 misinformation

Nathan

Nathan

SF VIP
Location
High Desert- Calif.
Media opinion* pieces abound, lots of money to be make in exploiting the Pandemic through the propagation of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.Many such pieces can be viewed in this section of the forum.

*
Code: 
o·pin·ion
/əˈpinyən/

noun
noun: opinion; plural noun: opinions

    a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in misinformation and conspiracy theories about the scale of the pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease. False information, including intentional disinformation, has been spread through social media, text messaging, and mass media. Journalists have been arrested for allegedly spreading fake news about the pandemic. False information has also been propagated by celebrities, politicians, and other prominent public figures. The spread of COVID-19 misinformation by governments has also been significant.

Commercial scams have claimed to offer at-home tests, supposed preventives, and "miracle" cures. Several religious groups have claimed their faith will protect them from the virus. Without evidence, some people have claimed the virus is a bioweapon accidentally or purposefully leaked from a laboratory, a population control scheme, the result of a spy operation, or the side effect of 5G upgrades to cellular networks.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared an "infodemic" of incorrect information about the virus that poses risks to global health.[5] While belief in conspiracy theories is not a new phenomenon, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this can lead to adverse health effects. Cognitive biases, such as jumping to conclusions and confirmation bias, may be linked to the occurrence of conspiracy beliefs ." Article
 

Nathan said:
Media opinion* pieces abound, lots of money to be make in exploiting the Pandemic through the propagation of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.Many such pieces can be viewed in this section of the forum.
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Sometimes I think that maybe I'll try to cash in on the people susceptible to canards. I could start a website that aggregates all these batsh*t crazy conspiracy theories and make up a few of my own. I do write fiction as a hobby, and rather than do it in the form of a novel, I could probably make money from it if it's published as reporting — that I have insight into what's really going on and what the government is hiding from us. I could call myself a journalist.

Of course, if I did that, it would make me as bad as the people I so detest.
 
Nathan said:
@Irwin, that would be a money maker, but would put you in the same league with numerous unsavory characters.
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If you were guaranteed a million dollars a year for propagating misinformation, you wouldn't do it?

I'd seriously consider it. I'd lose respect for myself, but the money would compensate to some extent. After all, the people who buy into that crap are going to do so anyway. But trying to build a following would be enormously painful. It would involve lying and manipulating, and being an all around despicable character. That's how people become successful in those spheres.

So I guess I might do it if the money was guaranteed but not if I had to give up my integrity. These days, it seems like my integrity is all I have.
 
Sunny said:
I wonder, when HIV first appeared, was there the same outbreak of con artists trying to capitalize on it?
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Yes there were, and also, of course, a bunch of nut jobs that said it was all a conspiracy, and that there was no such thing. Just like we see on here with Covid.
 
Buckeye said:
Yes there were, and also, of course, a bunch of nut jobs that said it was all a conspiracy, and that there was no such thing. Just like we see on here with Covid.
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Not to mention those who insisted AIDS was God's punishment to gays. (They didn't discuss the people who contracted it from blood transfusions or heterosexual relations.)
 
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StarSong said:
Not to mention those who insisted AIDs was God's punishment to gays. (They didn't discuss the people who contracted it from blood transfusions or heterosexual relations.)
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They didn't know at first. I think the first heterosexual person to contract HIV got it at her dentist's office, from a piece of equipment, apparently. That changed everything - suddenly medical scientists went to work on the HIVirus with a great deal of urgency.
 
Gays and IV drug users were considered expendable undesirables by the people running the US government. Ronald Reagan, president at the time, didn't even mention the word AIDS until his friend, Rock Hudson, died of it. That was in 1985, five full years after it emerged in the US, and long after it was front page news.

You're right, @Murrmurr, it wasn't until the government realized anyone could contract HIV that they started taking it seriously. Fortunately the gay and celebrity community had already mobilized in a very big way by the time the government decided to prioritize it.
 
StarSong said:
Gays and IV drug users were considered expendable undesirables by the people running the US government. Ronald Reagan, president at the time, didn't even mention the word AIDS until his friend, Rock Hudson, died of it. That was in 1985, five full years after it emerged in the US, and long after it was front page news.

You're right, @Murrmurr, it wasn't until the government realized anyone could contract HIV that they started taking it seriously. Fortunately the gay and celebrity community had already mobilized in a very big way by the time the government decided to prioritize it.
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Like in the movie Dallas Buyer's Club about that guy in 1985 who worked around the system to get the medication that AIDS patients needed. It's a really good movie. (Matthew McConaughey)
 
StarSong said:
Not to mention those who insisted AIDS was God's punishment to gays. (They didn't discuss the people who contracted it from blood transfusions or heterosexual relations.)
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I was waiting for "Covid is God's punishment for... (pick your sin)". Of course, everybody knows Covid is a Chinese bioweapon gone bad. It doesn't matter that every year we get a new variant of flu, and we anticipate which new kind with appropriate flu shots. And this year, we got a very virulent strain.
 
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