Like duh? “Higher narcissism linked to more active role in politics”
Narcissistic people are more active in politics and they like to “broadcast their politics”. Can you spot such people on social media?
Public health messaging was a fiasco: “Coronavirus: Six months after sheltering, why things fell apart”
Public health messaging in the pandemic has been a fiasco of inconsistent, contradictory and incoherent messaging.
A 2006 paper by four epidemiologists explained that most public health mitigation steps do not actually work. First, the measures that might work – like lockdowns – are understood to be infeasible over wide regions or countries and not sustainable. Many other steps that seem intuitive do not work well or do not work at all, or have no evidence to support that they work.
Combine ineffective public health mitigations with lousy public communications and you end up with a fiasco.
Wild fires: Is everything a single variable problem?
Western state Governors are increasingly blaming climate change for western wild fires, as if the wild fires are a single variable. If only we could control the climate, we would no longer have wild land fires. Realistically, there is no magic control knob on climate that we can control and which will reduce fire danger for decades to come.
There are concrete steps that can be taken immediately to reduce the threats of future wild fires – but politicians would rather blame climate change – which they do not control – because to acknowledge there are factors which they can control is to acknowledge that their leadership has failed.
A common mistake people make is to focus on a single variable in a multiple variable problem. In this case, the focus is on one variable that cannot be controlled in the near term, while ignoring other variables that can be controlled.
Some what misleading social media propaganda poster
An actual assault by right wing political supporters on the campaign manager of a Democratic Party rival was misreported as an assault on a senior citizen, probably to increase the emotional appeal of the message.
PolitiFact | No, Wisconsin mailbox picture isn’t proof of “massive voter suppression”
Social media has gone wild over a photo showing stacks of USPS mail boxes, as proof that the USPS is removing mailboxes to damage mail in votes this fall. Except the photo was taken at a company that takes in and repairs/refurbishes older USPS mailboxes for re-installation and use.
Amazing story of an intense, large scale propaganda campaign waged in the U.S. over health care
A detailed expose, by a participant, in a massive, highly coordinated propaganda campaign that trashed Canada’s health care system during discussions about the ACA. Ultimately, the ACA’s first draft was written by the former legal counsel of a health insurance company – who had been hired by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) to do just that. In other words, the ACA was, to a large extent, written by the health insurance industry itself. Source: Health insurance whistleblower: I lied to Americans…
TV news producer says all “news” is driven by ratings
A national TV news producer says all news is basically driven by ratings – not importance or value to the viewer. Most news is intentionally devoid of context and facts.
Where do we stand on new Covid-19 cases?
Recent news reports emphasize the spike or surge in new Covid-19 cases, and often continue to focus on that narrative for days to weeks after the trend has reversed. According to the CDC, the trend in new cases recently plateaued in the U.S. and may now be in decline. But don’t expect to see that widely reported 🙂
False: Full-time low income wage earners cannot afford a 2 bedroom rental anywhere in the U.S.
This claim comes out every year, from the same activist lobbying organization. They use misleading language and obfuscated definitions to imply a conclusion that is not true – a conclusion that the media laps up like good little puppies and uses to make false conclusions. This blog has covered this item twice previously. Nothing has changed.
“Cult tactics – learn how they use mind control”
“Cult programming” refers to the methods used to brain wash targets into unquestioning conformity, to draw them into group membership. They often begin by putting you on a guilt trip – since you are guilty of something, may be wrong think, you can be saved by agreeing to us without question. Lay over that a dose of fear and you soon have compliance.