3 ms·

I guess we'll find out how susceptible viruses are to propaganda, political spin, and troll farms...

bilekas 7y ago
Will it matter ? There will just be a barrage of BS about how the numbers are fake news, and how the media is being dramatic. We've seen this all before and it's become so predictable.
- josephorjoe 7y ago
  I predict the virus will persist in being unmoved by public opinion no matter how fake the news is. With less confidence, I predict people who get sick, have friends and family get sick, and/or watch their 401k value drop 25% in a month will develop antibodies to certain types of fake news.
  - Loughla 7y ago
    >With less confidence, I predict people who get sick, have friends and family get sick, and/or watch their 401k value drop 25% in a month will develop antibodies to certain types of fake news. With 100% confidence, I predict those people will use all of the things you mention there to further increase the political divide and entrench their already solidified world and political views.
    - magduf 7y ago
      Probably, but eventually something is going to break because reality doesn't care about peoples' political views or worldviews.
      - Loughla 7y ago
        I honestly think you're underestimating just how stubborn and short-sighted people are/can be.
        magduf 7y ago
        No, I don't think so. People can be extremely stubborn, yes, but sooner or later, reality is going to force them to make a change. No amount of stubbornness can change the laws of physics. Note that I am not claiming that things will get better for these stubborn people, in fact I'm claiming that things will get much, much worse for them when reality gives them a wake-up call, and there will be nothing they can do about it at that point because it'll be too late to fix things.
  - evan_ 7y ago
    The right-wing media is already telling people that it's a bioweapon from China that is being used to attack the United States. Anyone saying differently will be attacked as a deep-state conspirator. It's practically written in stone at this point.
- brink 7y ago
  But the media has been dramatic about many topics, the media has cried wolf many times. This isn't entirely everyone else's fault.
- three_seagrass 7y ago
  It will matter, because with a ~2% fatality rate, everyone will know someone who has died of the corona virus. That's a bit more influential than a liked facebook post with false numbers.
  - joering2 7y ago
    Roughly %50 of the country voted for Trump despite all we known about his crimes, money laundering, corruption etc. Same 50% did not vote for Clinton because thanks to online propaganda (mastered by Trump campaign) they believed Hillary Clinton herself took buckets of Uranium and walked through Alaska to deliver it to Russians. I don't think its far fetch to believe with million dead from Corona, its still will be good news for this administration that we have hundreds of millions save, sound and alive!
    - nostrademons 7y ago
      It's different when it's personal. It's easy to ignore talking heads on TV, because they're talking heads on TV. If you personally watch a parent die from coronavirus, there is no amount of spin that will erase that.
      - fzeroracer 7y ago
        Unfortunately I don't think it is any different. Parents have watched their children die from preventable diseases because they decided against vaccination and they still came out believing that they did the right thing. People will just double down. The conspiracy will be that it's just an attempt by the government to get you to vaccinate or something.
        nostrademons 7y ago
        Many anti-vaxxers reconsider and become staunch pro-vaccine activists when it's their own kids who get sick from preventable diseases: https://nypost.com/2016/09/20/i-was-an-anti-vax-crackpot-until-this-happened/ https://nypost.com/2016/09/20/i-was-an-anti-vax-crackpot-unt... https://www.self.com/story/from-anti-to-pro-vaccine https://www.self.com/story/from-anti-to-pro-vaccine https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/i-used-to-be-an-anti-vaxer/385786/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/i-used-to...
- joering2 7y ago
  Absolutely. Some 3,500 american citizens died during last PR hurricane devastation and that was barely covered in media. WH said its fake numbers and its not even 100 people that died. Trump is a genius at spinning things, so I would imagine if someone dies from Corona, it will be "fake news".

Will it matter ? There will just be a barrage of BS about how the numbers are fake news, and how the media is being dramatic. We've seen this all before and it's become so predictable.

josephorjoe 7y ago
I predict the virus will persist in being unmoved by public opinion no matter how fake the news is. With less confidence, I predict people who get sick, have friends and family get sick, and/or watch their 401k value drop 25% in a month will develop antibodies to certain types of fake news.
- Loughla 7y ago
  >With less confidence, I predict people who get sick, have friends and family get sick, and/or watch their 401k value drop 25% in a month will develop antibodies to certain types of fake news. With 100% confidence, I predict those people will use all of the things you mention there to further increase the political divide and entrench their already solidified world and political views.
  - magduf 7y ago
    Probably, but eventually something is going to break because reality doesn't care about peoples' political views or worldviews.
    - Loughla 7y ago
      I honestly think you're underestimating just how stubborn and short-sighted people are/can be.
      - magduf 7y ago
        No, I don't think so. People can be extremely stubborn, yes, but sooner or later, reality is going to force them to make a change. No amount of stubbornness can change the laws of physics. Note that I am not claiming that things will get better for these stubborn people, in fact I'm claiming that things will get much, much worse for them when reality gives them a wake-up call, and there will be nothing they can do about it at that point because it'll be too late to fix things.
- evan_ 7y ago
  The right-wing media is already telling people that it's a bioweapon from China that is being used to attack the United States. Anyone saying differently will be attacked as a deep-state conspirator. It's practically written in stone at this point.
brink 7y ago
But the media has been dramatic about many topics, the media has cried wolf many times. This isn't entirely everyone else's fault.
three_seagrass 7y ago
It will matter, because with a ~2% fatality rate, everyone will know someone who has died of the corona virus. That's a bit more influential than a liked facebook post with false numbers.
- joering2 7y ago
  Roughly %50 of the country voted for Trump despite all we known about his crimes, money laundering, corruption etc. Same 50% did not vote for Clinton because thanks to online propaganda (mastered by Trump campaign) they believed Hillary Clinton herself took buckets of Uranium and walked through Alaska to deliver it to Russians. I don't think its far fetch to believe with million dead from Corona, its still will be good news for this administration that we have hundreds of millions save, sound and alive!
  - nostrademons 7y ago
    It's different when it's personal. It's easy to ignore talking heads on TV, because they're talking heads on TV. If you personally watch a parent die from coronavirus, there is no amount of spin that will erase that.
    - fzeroracer 7y ago
      Unfortunately I don't think it is any different. Parents have watched their children die from preventable diseases because they decided against vaccination and they still came out believing that they did the right thing. People will just double down. The conspiracy will be that it's just an attempt by the government to get you to vaccinate or something.
      - nostrademons 7y ago
        Many anti-vaxxers reconsider and become staunch pro-vaccine activists when it's their own kids who get sick from preventable diseases: https://nypost.com/2016/09/20/i-was-an-anti-vax-crackpot-until-this-happened/ https://nypost.com/2016/09/20/i-was-an-anti-vax-crackpot-unt... https://www.self.com/story/from-anti-to-pro-vaccine https://www.self.com/story/from-anti-to-pro-vaccine https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/i-used-to-be-an-anti-vaxer/385786/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/i-used-to...
joering2 7y ago
Absolutely. Some 3,500 american citizens died during last PR hurricane devastation and that was barely covered in media. WH said its fake numbers and its not even 100 people that died. Trump is a genius at spinning things, so I would imagine if someone dies from Corona, it will be "fake news".