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Q: Help!! How do I figure out if a news story is SOLID or SENSATIONAL?
A: We’re all fighting an “infodemic” along with this #COVID19 pandemic--see conspiracies like #Plandemic, #Plandemic2020 and the #PlandemicDocumentary.
Read on for tips on on INFORMATION HYGIENE
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Here are “Lindsey’s Laws” for news diligence:
🔬 Demand extraordinary vetting for extraordinary claims; ⚖️ Proactively seek out competing views;
📣Amplify good information, and cut off the oxygen to the toxic stuff.
Explanations of each of these below
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First: In the words of the late, great astronomer Carl Sagan “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” If a finding is way out of the mainstream and/or sounds too good/bad to be true, make sure that the corroborating evidence is air tight and replicated.
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Indeed, REPLICATION IS THE HEART OF GOOD SCIENCE and we scientists demand lots of it before a finding becomes widely accepted.
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Second: Another key tenet of science is ACTIVELY SEEKING OUT ALTERNATE HYPOTHESES that can refute or “falsify” our research.
Abraham Lincoln was another advocate for this approach, famously assembling a “team of rivals” to ensure he was hearing competing viewpoints.
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Third: The best defense against misinformation is a good offense – specifically, it’s better to FOCUS ON AMPLIFYING THE GOOD info than tearing down the bad.
Pushing out the good stuff improves the information ecosystem...
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Overly focusing on the bad (even in the spirit of rebuttal!) can inadvertently have a “backfire effect:” keeping it in the news cycle.
FULL DISCLOSURE: the “backfire effect” has NOT been universally replicated (see #1) as the article below discusses
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Finally – and this is the real key – always lead with kindness and empathy when engaging with your personal connections around divisive topics.
Social Media’s strength lies in its unique ability to harness the power of personal connection. 💞
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As this article articulates, social media outlets like @Facebook are still trying to figure this all out.
In the meantime, we can each make sure to use The Force for good!!!
Read the full article from @statnews here: statnews.com/2020/05/01/fac…
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