LogFAQs > #962307760

DarkRoast posted...

Do you have evidence to back that up other than an anecdotal observation? I'm not trying to be argumentative, and I appreciate you defending my post earlier, but in the spirit of seeking the truth is your conclusion evidence-based, or one that simply reinforces your current perceptions? Were you aware of how the 2016 and 2020 disinformation campaigns or slanted? If not, is it causing you to reevaluate your opinions or did you just blow it off?

So I will start by fully acknowledging that I am using my own anecdotal observations, and in addition I am limiting what I'm talking about to primarily covid misinformation on twitter. That said, in my experience, there seems to be a very coordinated and very specific fusion of the old Anti-vax guard and tropes (RFK Jr, pseudo-experts, etc) and the semi libertarian wing of the GOP through essentially meaningless buzzwords like "health freedom" that has allowed an insidious amount of old school anti-vaccine rhetoric into the discussions I've seen with my fellow conservative friends. As you may recall, I am still a Republican and I was conservative for decades. So I have a large number of conservative friends, and without question the sheer volume of misinformation coming from them is nothing short of classic Russian-era Firehosing

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/6/3/AAeEwGAAC4Sv.jpg

It doesn't matter how many times they are disproven, it doesn't matter how many stories turn out to be false, they just keep retweeting it and posting it. They literally don't care if it's true or not at this point; it's almost like a badge of honor.

It also reminds me a lot of the post-2020 election QAnon "follow the White Rabbit / Kraken" stuff in which deliberately vague and pseudo religious imagery is used to imply that a new world order is trying to take control. That sort of thinking has bled over into nearly mainstream Republican ideology, and it's very dangerous. Because it's predicated on the belief that you can't even trust objective reality, which means now sources like Epoch Times (which is literally owned by a doomsday cult, seriously) are given undue credibility.

Given your profession it's probably fair to say your observations carry more weight and you're bringing up fair points about the danger of the specific messaging being used. I guess my point is mostly just to be a general reminder that disinformation takes many different forms and while vaccine sentiment may be specifically targeting one portion of the population, other portions are being targeted in different ways around covid specifically to try and make it worse.

I think the most productive thing to do in terms of countering disinformation is to not give in to the us versus them mentality that Russia is trying to stoke. That doesn't mean you can't be frustrated with people falling for misinformation, but the less we can make it about putting down others the more likely we are to succeed. It's a pretty well-known aspect of psychology that people tend to further entrench themselves if they feel they are being antagonized. If it's already difficult to convince people to get the vaccine, painting it to look like they are somehow uniquely poor in their ability to avoid being influenced is definitely not going to change their minds or make it any easier.