From the recently released Council of Canadian Academies report on healthcare misinformation:
...If those who reported believing COVID-19 is a hoax were vaccinated when they became eligible, over 2.3 million additional people in Canada would have been vaccinated, resulting in roughly 198,000 fewer cases, 13,000 fewer hospitalizations, and 2,800 fewer deaths from COVID-19 between March 1 and November 30, 2021...
Gosh.
With all the bleating and impugning that has gone since the fall of 2021, one can only wonder what the number of 'Hoaxians' among us would be now.
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With all the bleating and impugning that has gone since the fall of 2021, one can only wonder what the number of 'Hoaxians' among us would be now.
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Link to the report's executive summary is...Here.
Link to a Postmedia report on the report is...Here.
Members of the panel that generated the report can be found...Here (scroll down and click on 'view full expert panel').
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5 comments:
The scary part for me, after reading the Post Media link, is contained in the comments to the article. They are not unlike comments I read elsewhere on other articles about Covid, Trudeau, climate change, oil extraction and use, education, and the list goes on. These comments for me represent the worst of the people talked about in the misinformation study. These people are either really , really stupid and will believe anything coming from random, anonymous, online sources or they are the random, anonymous, online source.
I do not have a high education level and have worked as a labourer, tradesperson, ski industry, among many other jobs but I can make my way around an article, a public health announcement, a review of a science paper, information from trusted sources that includes government and some media and not find myself needing to go to great lengths and far out places to somehow cast doubt or question the veracity of said information. Yes questions arise and are usually answered, yes information changes as more is known, yes there are always exceptions, yes there can be some variation in information between sources. It’s not a concerted effort however by some shadowy figures or institutions to manipulate the “narrative “ and bend us to their will or cause us harm.
Now this thinking, since trump, has infected our politicians and politics. In fact, most of this is since trump. This mind set and type of person has always been around but trump made it safe for them to come out of the woodwork and revel in their ignorance and display it proudly, publicly. To use their phrase they virtue signal by spreading their twisted facts and out right made up information, fake news. They are bunk purveyors.
I like to think that there is more of the rest of us and that when it comes down to it we, most of us, will do what's right for ourselves and for all. I’m hoping it really is just the fringe minority. They are loud though and those that are at the root of propagating misinformation have figured out how to use the information channels against us. The online methods being the quickest and most affective.
The next little while to 10-20 years could be very interesting as to how this goes, what direction. There is push back so I’m hopeful but if it goes more in the favour of these bunk purveyors and believers what does look like? What do our societies look like, our communities? Again, I hope for the best.
Having just said allll of the above this, https://nor-re.blogspot.com/, from a fellow blogger of yours and another one of my stops around the sphere. Sigh.
Grahmn said it all very well.
Some times people just like to jump on a band wagon to be accepted by others and feel part of a group. I don't mind what people think, but I do mind when they infect others and it results in deaths.
I think Graham is absolutely right when he says:
"...those that are at the root of propagating misinformation have figured out how to use the information channels against us..."
That the media, especially the social media platform component, does not take this seriously is the real problem in my opinion.
For every Alex Jones they finally call to account there are dozens of mini-hims they ignore.
Zooming out a little, I feel that we, in a societal sense, should enact legislation that recognizes any and all social medium platforms that use an algorithm to direct people to posts and pieces, propaganda or otherwise, as publishers of those posts and pieces such that they will then be held responsible for their content.
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YES! Ross, yes.
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