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I'm against censorship pretty strongly, but I'm wrestling with the tremendous potential damage today's world has to share compelling but completely wrong inform

I'm against censorship pretty strongly, but I'm wrestling with the tremendous potential damage today's world has to share compelling but completely wrong information with people who can't tell the difference. That's how we got the damaging leadership we have. My dad has fallen into the sway of fox news and the people who peddle conspiracies via forwarded email chains (obama did this or that terrible thing, chloroquine will save me from covid-19). He used be a leader of 1000 people in a company, he was an electrical engineer. He's old but its terribly sad to see him there. He'd be better off if he didn't get exposed to all these things. In his case he has heart problems and when I forwarded him an article from a doctor about the interaction of chloroquine with people with issues like this he said it was a lie from a democrat who wanted covid-19 to destroy the president. He stopped trusting the newspaper in his town because it doesn't talk about these conspiracies he hears about. It does matter that real journalists have the ability to talk about things that are uncomfortable to powerful people, have the freedom and capability to do things. And there have always been people pushing the conspiracy stories to explain things away. The new thing is how much damage the big lie can get today.

mirimir 6y ago
Before Snowden's leaks, mass surveillance by the NSA was considered to be conspiracy theory. Or the CIA's MKUltra project.
- belltaco 6y ago
  So because one conspiracy turned out to be true, all of them must be true?
  - mirimir 6y ago
    Not one. Two came to mind immediately. With some effort, I could come up with dozens. But the point is that some may be true. It's not all or nothing. However, it's important to keep in mind that stupidity and recklessness are generally more likely than malice and conspiracy.

mirimir 6y ago

Before Snowden's leaks, mass surveillance by the NSA was considered to be conspiracy theory. Or the CIA's MKUltra project.

belltaco 6y ago
So because one conspiracy turned out to be true, all of them must be true?
- mirimir 6y ago
  Not one. Two came to mind immediately. With some effort, I could come up with dozens. But the point is that some may be true. It's not all or nothing. However, it's important to keep in mind that stupidity and recklessness are generally more likely than malice and conspiracy.