8 ms·

Youtube and Facebook once denied the lab leak theory. U.S. politicians backed them in the name of the war on fake news.

thatguy0900 5y ago
It's funny that we already have a big politicized example of experts and debunkers being wrong for political reasons and yet their March will continue on with large public support.
- PicassoCTs 5y ago
  In this case the "experts" were the one with the biggest stake of all in it. "Gain of function" research had to be defended at all cost. Even a global pandemic was not to stop the grants from flowing.
- esyir 5y ago
  Pretty much. The next controversial thing with really suspicious surroundings will still be rebuffed in exactly the same way. "trust the experts".
  - thatguy0900 5y ago
    Yep. And YouTube Facebook et all will continue with the censorship and banners with no shame.
  - wycy 5y ago
    What’s the alternative? Trust crackpot amateurs?
    - esyir 5y ago
      The alternative has always been to not blindly trust, but to validate when the circumstances seem suspicious. "trust but verify" , after all. This goes 10x when there's a distinct partisan political slant /objective in the belief.
ratsmack 5y ago
As did every main stream media and news outlet, such as the New York Times.
- makomk 5y ago
  The New York Times coverage of Covid-19 has been really obvious propaganda in general unfortunately - and now it's Pulitzer prize winning propaganda too. Misleading comparisons with other countries, deceptive or occasionally just outright false descriptions of how well everywhere is doing, why, and what measures are in place there, misrepresentations of important figures like the fatality rate, a bizarre insistence that the previous administration was incompetent for not achieving things no other country had managed and that probably weren't technologically possible, blatant rewriting of history, and through it all a constant drumbeat making it clear just what was warping their coverage: Trump! Trump! Trump!

It's funny that we already have a big politicized example of experts and debunkers being wrong for political reasons and yet their March will continue on with large public support.

PicassoCTs 5y ago
In this case the "experts" were the one with the biggest stake of all in it. "Gain of function" research had to be defended at all cost. Even a global pandemic was not to stop the grants from flowing.
esyir 5y ago
Pretty much. The next controversial thing with really suspicious surroundings will still be rebuffed in exactly the same way. "trust the experts".
- thatguy0900 5y ago
  Yep. And YouTube Facebook et all will continue with the censorship and banners with no shame.
- wycy 5y ago
  What’s the alternative? Trust crackpot amateurs?
  - esyir 5y ago
    The alternative has always been to not blindly trust, but to validate when the circumstances seem suspicious. "trust but verify" , after all. This goes 10x when there's a distinct partisan political slant /objective in the belief.

ratsmack 5y ago

As did every main stream media and news outlet, such as the New York Times.

makomk 5y ago
The New York Times coverage of Covid-19 has been really obvious propaganda in general unfortunately - and now it's Pulitzer prize winning propaganda too. Misleading comparisons with other countries, deceptive or occasionally just outright false descriptions of how well everywhere is doing, why, and what measures are in place there, misrepresentations of important figures like the fatality rate, a bizarre insistence that the previous administration was incompetent for not achieving things no other country had managed and that probably weren't technologically possible, blatant rewriting of history, and through it all a constant drumbeat making it clear just what was warping their coverage: Trump! Trump! Trump!