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‘An age of manufactured mistrust’: Here’s what rampant disinformation means for health, climate, and democracy (barfy concern troll alert)
Fortune ^ | February 13, 2024 | Bill Novelli

Posted on 02/17/2024 6:55:30 AM PST by DoodleBob

“Well over 300,000 Americans are in graveyards today because of the misinformation, the doubt, the suspicion, the distrust that caused them to say that vaccine is not safe for me. And it continues,” Dr. Francis Collins, the former head of the National Institutes of Health said in September 2022, citing a KFF estimate.

Disinformation not only continues but it’s getting worse. Public trust is declining due to social media, and increasingly, artificial intelligence (AI). As the COVID-19 pandemic showed, distrust can lead to preventable deaths.

Confidence continues to decline

Last month, the Florida Surgeon General called for a halt to COVID-19 vaccines, saying they can cause permanent harm. The FDA and CDC refuted his claim, but the harm is done. Last September, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who backs his Surgeon General, said, “I will not stand by and let the FDA and CDC use healthy Floridians as guinea pigs for booster shots that have not proven to be safe or effective.”

A 2023 UNICEF report warned that confidence in childhood vaccines in many countries continues to decline, and a 2023 PEW study found that 28 % of Americans said parents should be able to decide not to vaccinate their kids, up 12% from the previous year.

Recently, the U.K. had to launch a campaign to persuade parents to have their kids vaccinated for measles, mumps, and rubella, following an increase in cases and a decrease in vaccination rates.

Worse, politicians are among the spreaders of disinformation. People who oppose vaccine requirements are winning seats in state legislatures. In Louisiana, 29 candidates endorsed by a national group that works to defeat mandatory vaccinations, won in state elections last fall.

Some groups appear to be more vulnerable. A survey taken a few years ago indicated that Black respondents anticipate discriminatory treatment for COVID-19. And the roots of Black distrust in health care go back well before that. As Karen Bullock, a professor at Boston College, told me, “Why should Black people believe that a health care system is going to honor their wishes when, for your lifetime, the system hasn’t honored your wishes?”

Shifting tactics

The Coalition for Trust in Health & Science, an alliance of 90+ organizations, is working to combat disinformation. Their chairman, Dr. Reed Tuckson told me, “We live in an age of manufactured mistrust, and it works. People are drowning in…articles, videos, memes and posts. They don’t have a firm grasp on what to believe.”

Social media contributes to the problem. “It’s not clear that social media platforms can or even want to limit disinformation,” Lorien Abroms of George Washington University told me.

Her research found that Facebook tried to remove vaccine misinformation but failed to do so in a way that would have lasting effects. “They may want to limit disinformation, at least for some topics, but actually don’t know how given the dynamics of their system; it’s a moving target,” Abroms said.

Even Big Tech CEOs like Marc Benioff of Salesforce agree that regulators have not done their jobs regarding social media.

Another health emergency is climate change. The most vulnerable to its effects are children, seniors, pregnant women, those with chronic illness, and people living near toxic substances.

And climate disinformation appears to be evolving. Ed Maibach of George Mason University, an expert on climate communication, told me that most disinformation previously denied there is a problem at all. (A certain U.S. president famously claimed that climate change is a “hoax.”)

Now, Maibach explained, since outright climate denialism is less persuasive, “disinformation agents are instead trying to undermine public confidence in alternatives to fossil energy, like wind and solar power, and EVs.”

Adding AI to the mix threatens not just trust in health and science but also in public institutions and even democracy itself. The World Economic Forum in Davos recently released a survey of nearly 1,500 experts, business leaders, and policymakers who said that AI-fueled disinformation poses a near-term threat to the global economy.

Fake news and propaganda by means of AI could make it easier to influence elections and increase social conflicts. At Davos, Bill Gates predicted that with AI tools, “the bad guys will be more productive.” And Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar talked about AI-generated fake videos of him peddling cryptocurrency on the internet.

Companies have a big stake in communicating truth and transparency to their many stakeholders, including employees, customers, and regulators. Employers thrive and compete with healthy workplaces. Employee health benefits are among their highest expenditures, and disinformation could lead to higher health care costs and absenteeism.

Susceptibility to disinformation threatens everyone, from school kids to voters to corporate CEOs. We are past the point of simply applying healthy skepticism–we all need to do more to protect ourselves, our families, and our constituents.



TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: misinformation; msm
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To: DoodleBob

This pretty well explains it:

https://tuckercarlson.com/uncensored-the-national-security-state-the-inversion-of-democracy/


21 posted on 02/17/2024 7:59:27 AM PST by Paraclete
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To: DoodleBob

Mistrust eh...... what do you expect when the medical industrial complex continues to put profit over the health of the general public. Why do they give our infants Prevnar 20 when their own white paper says it’s not safe nor recommended for them? Don’t get me started. Spit...


22 posted on 02/17/2024 8:00:00 AM PST by LastDayz (A blunt and brazen Texan. I will not be assimilated.)
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To: DoodleBob
"Well over 300,000 Americans are in graveyards today because of the misinformation, the doubt, the suspicion, the distrust that caused them to say that vaccine is not safe for me. And it continues,”

Dr. Francis Collins should be tried, convicted and executed for mass murder and trying to incite a war.

23 posted on 02/17/2024 8:03:55 AM PST by Theophilus (covfefe)
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To: Grampa Dave

Very nice, however there is one problem, the deep state doesn’t care one bit what judges or congress require through laws or decisions. The deep state simply ignores decisions it doesn’t agree with. And what can the courts or congress do about it? Nothing.


24 posted on 02/17/2024 8:15:37 AM PST by Nuc 1.1 (Liberals aren't Patriots. Remember 1789!)
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To: DoodleBob

gotta love the fact that those who continuously sling about the word “disinformation” NEVER define it!

and here’s why, here’s the REAL definition of “disinformation”:

“disinformation” is any and all claims that disagrees with one’s own claims without the necessity for providing ANY proof or facts in support of one’s claims and without the need to provide any proof or facts that contradict the claimed “misinformation” ...


25 posted on 02/17/2024 8:21:59 AM PST by catnipman (A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil)
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To: DoodleBob

And how many of them are in the ground because they were sedated, ventilated, dehydrated, and left to die alone, by hospitals following the “COVID” protocol?


26 posted on 02/17/2024 8:47:02 AM PST by Sicon ("All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - G. Orwell>)
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To: catnipman

You nailed it, catnipman!


27 posted on 02/17/2024 8:52:07 AM PST by Walrus (I do not consent)
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To: DoodleBob
Lying has been with us since Eden. They act like this is something from 2020.

Lying previously required deception, usually done by sane people with ill intent. Now narcissistic and delusional people look you right in the face and insist you didn't see what you just saw.



28 posted on 02/17/2024 9:08:27 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
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To: larryjohnson

“Another health emergency is climate change.”

That is good news—that means we have no health emergency.

Lol.

https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-of-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions/


29 posted on 02/17/2024 9:14:55 AM PST by cgbg ("Our democracy" = Their Kleptocracy)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...

30 posted on 02/17/2024 9:28:31 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: DoodleBob
This is the first time they've been caught that they haven't been able to brush it off with (in effect) the "nuts and sluts" defense.

When ordinary people have friends and co-workers get myocarditis, turbo cancers, heart attacks, strokes...

They might not have the courage to speak up, but the will no longer be the voices in the crowd immediately calling out "He's right!" when a $hot $hill speaks up.

31 posted on 02/17/2024 10:29:12 AM PST by grey_whiskers ( The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: glorgau
Complete and peer reviewed clinical trials with all risks fully examined and exposed. The acceptable standard for any vaccine.


32 posted on 02/17/2024 10:30:50 AM PST by grey_whiskers ( The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: DoodleBob; wjcsux; glorgau; ransomnote; bitt; Melian; Jane Long; aMorePerfectUnion; fireman15
https://thehighwire.com/editorial/breaking-first-look-at-the-free-text-covid-vaccine-safety-data-the-cdc-wanted-to-hide/

It's enough to give a Democrat Mother a heart attack!

33 posted on 02/17/2024 11:55:23 AM PST by grey_whiskers ( The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: DoodleBob

No, but I have been asked that before.

Sounds like they have their head glued on securely.


34 posted on 02/17/2024 10:21:58 PM PST by DoughtyOne (I pledge allegiance to the flag of the USofA & to the Constitutional REPUBLIC for which it stands.)
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To: grey_whiskers

Great link.

The thing is, with natural language processing (NLP) models, they’d be able to synthesize and analyze this pile of free text in no time at all.

All you need are some punk rock-like data junkies with an open source NLP and the answers will come out quickly.


35 posted on 02/18/2024 2:34:58 PM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s²)
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