Day: May 29, 2024

Is It True Or False?

I know this subject has been touched on by many…..and since I try to be a little FYI I thought once more could not hurt.

We are surrounded these days by conspiracy theories….it seems like there are new ones every week….but how do we tell if they are true or false?

I am so glad you asked.

This is just a little help in deciding what is true and what is false (not that too many will actually use this to find out)….but a clarification is needed now more than ever for there are too many that have wrong-minded ideas.

The extreme consequences of unfounded conspiratorial beliefs could be seen on the staircases of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and in the self-immolation of a protestor outside the courthouse holding the latest Trump trial.

But if hidden forces really are at work in the world, how is someone to know what’s really going on?

That’s where my research comes in; I’m a social psychologist who studies misleading narratives. Here are some ways to vet a claim you’ve seen or heard.

Step 1: Seek out the evidence

Real conspiracies have been confirmed because there was evidence. For instance, in the allegations dating back to the 1990s that tobacco companies knew cigarettes were dangerous and kept that information secret to make money, scientific studies showed problematic links between tobacco and cancer. Court cases unearthed corporate documents with internal memos showing what executives knew and when. Investigative journalists revealed efforts to hide that information. Doctors explained the effects on their patients. Internal whistleblowers sounded the alarm.

But unfounded conspiracy theories reveal their lack of evidence and substitute instead several elements that should be red flags for skeptics:

  • Dismissing traditional sources of evidence, claiming they are in on the plot.

  • Claiming that missing information is because someone is hiding it, even though it’s common that not all facts are known completely for some time after an event.

  • Attacking apparent inconsistencies as evidence of lies.

  • Overinterpreting ambiguity as evidence: A flying object may be unidentified – but that’s different from identifying it as an alien spaceship.

  • Using anecdotes – especially vaguely attributed ones – in place of evidence, such as “people are saying” such-and-such or “my cousin’s friend experienced” something.

  • Attributing knowledge to secret messages that only a select few can grasp – rather than evidence that’s plain and clear to all.

https://www.iflscience.com/how-to-tell-if-a-conspiracy-theory-is-probably-false-74168

This is probably a waste of time for most people will believe a lie as long as it feeds their idiocy.

Just look at the comments on current events to see what I am talking about.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Should We Worry About Our Health?

Under normal circumstances I would say yes just because we are all getting older but with the coming election it should be a prime motivator for your vote.

I know there are many that think the winner of the 2024 election has already been decided in Trump’s favor…..if that is indeed the case then maybe there are a few things you should consider as your vote draws near.

Under a GOP led Trump government our health and safety will be under assault….

Those bodies now find themselves under threat from right-wing politicians and legal activists alike, who together are working to gut the so-called administrative state on the grounds that it is supposedly bloated, leftist, and too powerful. But these efforts, which include two Supreme Court cases this term as well as Donald Trump’s second-term plans, would have tangible and severe consequences not just for those who keep our government functioning every day but for the hundreds of millions of Americans who rely on that government to keep them safe and healthy.

The federal government is a gargantuan institution tasked with regulating all sorts of small but consequential minutiae of American life—everything from regulations on airline safety to workplace standards for dealing with hazardous chemicals. Congress grants agencies the power to set these rules themselves—the FDA is governed by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, while the EPA’s power is spread among laws like the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts—because Congress itself has neither the time nor the expertise to decide, or even simply review, the thousands of rules finalized every year.

But conservatives want to eliminate these agencies’ long-standing legal authority, and they just might succeed thanks to two consequential cases before the Supreme Court. One is a challenge to the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, the abortion medication, which the plaintiffs—a coalition of anti-abortion medical professionals—claim was insufficiently vetted. In oral arguments last month, the Supreme Court signaled it might find that the plaintiffs do not have standing, but if the justices decide otherwise and side with the plaintiffs, experts warn that the FDA’s regulatory processes would be completely undermined. People would have the ability to challenge drugs for any reason, political or otherwise.

https://newrepublic.com/article/180704/trump-war-government-administrative-state-public-health

Watch for this attack on your health for if these toads win the election it will be forthcoming.

Just something to think about….that is if you care about your health.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”