6 ms·

Unfortunately due to how bad the media is now, truth is is always on a time-delay release. I think in alot of cases if your understanding of a topic is based p

Unfortunately due to how bad the media is now, truth is is always on a time-delay release. I think in alot of cases if your understanding of a topic is based purely on what you've heard in the media, then you are less informed than someone who has never heard of that topic.

autoexec 4y ago
> if your understanding of a topic is based purely on what you've heard in the media, then you are less informed than someone who has never heard of that topic. That's not even possible. Even if you are misinformed or misunderstand something about an issue, simply having awareness of an issue makes you more informed on that subject than someone unaware that it exists.
- _-david-_ 4y ago
  I believe the poster is trying to say if you provide an objective assessment of the situation, a person who hasn't been tainted by the media would have the more accurate take. Large chunks of the media assured us that it was not only impossible that the virus came from a lab but also racist and xenophobic to even suggest it. If you told the average person who didn't watch the news that a lab that studies corona viruses is in a city where a corona virus started many would just assume it came from the lab.
  - hotpotamus 4y ago
    I always just assumed that it didn't come from a lab because it's not like polio or HIV or Chicken Pox came from a lab either.
    - lazyeye 4y ago
      Would need to confirm the detail but I think polio and chicken pox appeared before labs were a thing, and HIV came from Africa where they dont have labs. This is compared to the coronavirus which first appeared just down the road from a lab which studies coronaviruses.
      - hotpotamus 4y ago
        Yes, the idea is that we had viruses emerge without labs in the past, so my first assumption would be that covid emerged like any other past virus had. Also, it seems quite unclear to me what people claim the lab's role was. I can accept that we may never truly know the origin, and I can also say that it seems like a good idea to impose strict restrictions on viral research no matter the origin of covid, but I doubt that China will take much heed of my preferences. It seems that progress in technology is inevitable, and biotech/viruses are not an exception.
  - autoexec 4y ago
    I agree that learning about a subject without having to unlearn a bunch of misinformation is a lot easier! > Large chunks of the media assured us that it was not only impossible that the virus came from a lab but also racist and xenophobic to even suggest it. I don't think that's a fair assessment of "the media", at least not the mass media. When the lab leak theory started there was no evidence at all to support it beyond "A lab exists" and "We don't like China" which gave it status as a conspiracy theory. As evidence grew suggesting that the virus wasn't engineered in a lab and could have jumped from animals to humans, the people who clung to, and very aggressively promoted, the lab leak theory were rightly called out for it. They were dismissing the evidence that we had which was increasingly suggesting it jumped to humans from animals, to support a fringe theory that had no evidence. Wild fantasies were popping up too, like how the virus was developed in the US or was a bio-weapon attack against China. This was all just conspiracy theory. Some of it was clearly borne from anti-Chinese sentiment. In fact it caused a huge spike in violence against innocent Asian Americans which did kind of spoil the lab leak theory and made people hesitate to consider it for fear of being lumped in with bigots and conspiracy theorists. We kept investigating the possibility though, and gradually, we started to get evidence that China was hiding things. They hid early cases and pressured doctors to keep quiet about them. They denied investigators access to records and locations they needed. Researches at the lab had been hospitalized with covid-like symptoms. There was still zero direct evidence of a lab leak, everything was circumstantial, but it was suspicious enough that there were lots of people increasingly calling for more investigation. The mass media reported on all of these things. At a certain point it became actually justified to support the lab leak theory, but people who were spouting off lab leak theories, even the more sensible theories, in the early months of the pandemic were not, and still are not, vindicated. Their suspicions were not based on evidence or reached through investigation of the facts we had. Today we still have no real evidence for the lab leak theory. The department of energy says they have evidence that they won't share with us, and the other agencies they have shared it with were not impressed and haven't changed their views. At this point I'd say the lab leak theory is about as credible as a natural origin. We just don't have conclusive evidence either way. Because all the information we need is in China's hands, and they've been obstructing investigations, I suspect we might not ever never know the truth.
    - 4y ago
- lazyeye 4y ago
  Completely disagree. Having an awareness that is completely wrong due to media disinformation, puts you behind someone who at least knows they are ignorant on the subject.
themedia 4y ago
Sorry, but I'm trying my best.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

autoexec 4y ago

> if your understanding of a topic is based purely on what you've heard in the media, then you are less informed than someone who has never heard of that topic. That's not even possible. Even if you are misinformed or misunderstand something about an issue, simply having awareness of an issue makes you more informed on that subject than someone unaware that it exists.

_-david-_ 4y ago
I believe the poster is trying to say if you provide an objective assessment of the situation, a person who hasn't been tainted by the media would have the more accurate take. Large chunks of the media assured us that it was not only impossible that the virus came from a lab but also racist and xenophobic to even suggest it. If you told the average person who didn't watch the news that a lab that studies corona viruses is in a city where a corona virus started many would just assume it came from the lab.
- hotpotamus 4y ago
  I always just assumed that it didn't come from a lab because it's not like polio or HIV or Chicken Pox came from a lab either.
  - lazyeye 4y ago
    Would need to confirm the detail but I think polio and chicken pox appeared before labs were a thing, and HIV came from Africa where they dont have labs. This is compared to the coronavirus which first appeared just down the road from a lab which studies coronaviruses.
    - hotpotamus 4y ago
      Yes, the idea is that we had viruses emerge without labs in the past, so my first assumption would be that covid emerged like any other past virus had. Also, it seems quite unclear to me what people claim the lab's role was. I can accept that we may never truly know the origin, and I can also say that it seems like a good idea to impose strict restrictions on viral research no matter the origin of covid, but I doubt that China will take much heed of my preferences. It seems that progress in technology is inevitable, and biotech/viruses are not an exception.
- autoexec 4y ago
  I agree that learning about a subject without having to unlearn a bunch of misinformation is a lot easier! > Large chunks of the media assured us that it was not only impossible that the virus came from a lab but also racist and xenophobic to even suggest it. I don't think that's a fair assessment of "the media", at least not the mass media. When the lab leak theory started there was no evidence at all to support it beyond "A lab exists" and "We don't like China" which gave it status as a conspiracy theory. As evidence grew suggesting that the virus wasn't engineered in a lab and could have jumped from animals to humans, the people who clung to, and very aggressively promoted, the lab leak theory were rightly called out for it. They were dismissing the evidence that we had which was increasingly suggesting it jumped to humans from animals, to support a fringe theory that had no evidence. Wild fantasies were popping up too, like how the virus was developed in the US or was a bio-weapon attack against China. This was all just conspiracy theory. Some of it was clearly borne from anti-Chinese sentiment. In fact it caused a huge spike in violence against innocent Asian Americans which did kind of spoil the lab leak theory and made people hesitate to consider it for fear of being lumped in with bigots and conspiracy theorists. We kept investigating the possibility though, and gradually, we started to get evidence that China was hiding things. They hid early cases and pressured doctors to keep quiet about them. They denied investigators access to records and locations they needed. Researches at the lab had been hospitalized with covid-like symptoms. There was still zero direct evidence of a lab leak, everything was circumstantial, but it was suspicious enough that there were lots of people increasingly calling for more investigation. The mass media reported on all of these things. At a certain point it became actually justified to support the lab leak theory, but people who were spouting off lab leak theories, even the more sensible theories, in the early months of the pandemic were not, and still are not, vindicated. Their suspicions were not based on evidence or reached through investigation of the facts we had. Today we still have no real evidence for the lab leak theory. The department of energy says they have evidence that they won't share with us, and the other agencies they have shared it with were not impressed and haven't changed their views. At this point I'd say the lab leak theory is about as credible as a natural origin. We just don't have conclusive evidence either way. Because all the information we need is in China's hands, and they've been obstructing investigations, I suspect we might not ever never know the truth.
  - 4y ago
lazyeye 4y ago
Completely disagree. Having an awareness that is completely wrong due to media disinformation, puts you behind someone who at least knows they are ignorant on the subject.

themedia 4y ago

Sorry, but I'm trying my best.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]