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The argument against mask efficacy by members of the general population was never done in good faith. It was about less-educated people who were in arrested de
by xattt 2y ago
The argument against mask efficacy by members of the general population was never done in good faith.
It was about less-educated people who were in arrested development and never moved past teenager rebellion. Their rebellion was egged on by malicious state actors through social media in order to sow large-scale chaos by unmitigated viral spread.
- FooBarWidget 2y agoAnti-mask sentiment is amplified by state actors? You have to tell me more about that theory.
- ceejayoz 2y agoIt's not a particularly insane claim; at one point China was claiming the virus originated in a US bioweapons facility. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/20/china-revives-conspiracy-theory-of-us-army-link-to-covid https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/20/china-revives-... Here's someone specifically espousing the theory: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid-coronavirus-russia-china-1.5583961 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid-coronavirus-russia-ch... > China is trying to rewrite the narrative, he said, by suggesting that U.S. army officers brought the virus to Wuhan during military games in December — but Kremlin-controlled media outlets appear to be trying to prolong the pandemic outside of Russia. > "We saw articles ... claiming that handwashing has no impact on stemming the spread of the virus, that smokers do not get coronavirus, that ginger can be used to prevent contracting the disease," said Nehring. "Tons of false information that's never been corrected, never been retracted and is still online today, being put out by the Russians." Kneecapping a geopolitical enemy by spreading disinformation would hardly be a first.
- legitster 2y agoI think it is pretty widely accepted at this point that foreign actors regularly jump into online topics to fan flames and domestic distractions. Russia pays for massive botfarms doing... something. China funds massive social media investments into western markets for... something. The topics don't even have to be relevant to anything geopolitical. As an example, the East Palestine train derailment was a weeks old news story that the Chinese media pushed into social media as a response to their balloon being shot down: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-64633990 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-64633990
- TheCleric 2y agohttps://www.cnn.com/2022/03/02/politics/ron-desantis-florida-student-masks/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/02/politics/ron-desantis-florida...
- runako 2y agoConsider that "state actors" also includes US government officials and this becomes obviously true.