"As QAnon influencers and their followers are pushed off mainstream platforms.... There, they may be exposed to more extremist content, like that of white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups."

So what is the right approach? No right answers.

npr.org/2021/01/31/962…
..soooo.. usually seek facts & ideas ...rather than go down rabbit holes of others’ 🤯

..but wow, some remaining QAnon-posting accounts are within 1-2 degrees of separation..

To FB’s credit, misinformation/disinformation posts get covered with a grey filter & this warning:
Since I am a Muslim woman on the highly armed alt right’s radar myself now

am curious to understand what kind of 👹 they perceive me to be - tho prefer to only a quick peek, not a deep dive

(Obviously @IlhanMN was not actually at any such training camp)

usatoday.com/story/news/fac…
Following people down their unhinged rabbit holes - the job of people who make the call when to put up the filter & message - takes a #mentalhealth toll.

This almost seems like saying water is wet, though. How wouldn’t one also become unhinged?

politico.eu/article/corona…
There is a lawsuit over this occupational hazard: “moderators would have panic attacks while still in training, traumatized by daily exposure to gore and other disturbing posts” #disinformation #misinformation #SoMe #communication #mentalhealth

theverge.com/interface/2020…
I saw these kinds of trends happening on #MedTwitter as well among a sizable fraction of people who were scouring #socialmedia for people saying/doing "wrong" things. This advice given but who is advising #STEM ppl how to manage any #mentalheath spin out?

nature.com/articles/d4158…
What do we do about ppl like this who work alongside us in hospitals, clinics? They have valid credentials & trusted. Whereas a lie about a hijab-wearing Congresswoman was shared on FB by a healthcare worker, this pharmacist's odd beliefs not a red flag:

"Brandenburg told authorities the sky is a 'shield put up by the government to prevent individuals from seeing God.'

Officials from the hospital initially said they believed a human error led to more than 50 vials of the Moderna vaccine being removed from a freezer"

Assumed: 😇
We really should always start with an assumption of innocence...for EVERYONE. But the actual threats to our society & systems today look "mainstream" - half of America & some of our own #MedTwitter #healthcare colleagues have abandoned logic & #science.

I have to interrupt your doomscrolling this thread w/ a cute "flash mob" proposal tho. It's your #mentalhealth break from me. (It's a bit of a disappointing "mob" in size to tbh but sooooo cute/sweet). Sorry I'm a total sap & *love* these videos. 😍🥰❤️

One more: I just adore this one & it has real dancers at their own wedding. After this we can go back to doom & gloom conspiracies again & colleagues who may want to kill me.

A quick #mentalhealth break helps to stay grounded. It's a #pediatrician thing.

So why couldn't we spot people like that pharmacist? Look at what non-clinical #MedTwitter tends to police. Agree with all @GIMaPreceptor put in this thread. Was this communication over who gets to use "moral injury" worth blocking over? Why fragile egos?

This is not isolated. Inside hospitals & clinics, being a rational, factual pro-science person who verifies & validates, can put one at odds with some colleagues. I've personally experienced that. Some pro-science folks are leaving the U.S. entirely.

cnbc.com/2020/10/12/cor…
Sorry - bit of a jump between tweets

The point is:

the seemingly intellectual & rational get fixated on petty details like "no you can't use moral injury"

others are entirely anti-science & flat earth while working in #healthcare

This is not just about social media then
There are multiple social connection mechanisms apart from social media. My community's faith gatherings have been scrutinized & spied upon for decades. While 1st amendment is an essential right, there should be separation of church & state not this: rollingstone.com/culture/cultur…
This is level of spying that has occurred w/ tax dollars - to the point of sending undercover police on college white water rafting trips. What was safety & value delivered to the taxpayer while white domestic terrorism growing?

observer.com/2012/02/the-n-…

gothamist.com/news/nypd-spie…
UK takes it further to ask preschoolers to spy on toddlers at risk of becoming terrorists. But is this really the way we teach critical thinking? Isn't critical thinking that we need more of? What you see in the QAnon is not any single coherent ideology.

huffingtonpost.co.uk/dilly-hussain/…
*preschool teachers

Is religion really the issue?
Or is this inherent to human #brain for survival?
"..we are largely the descendants of humans who made false-positive errors; natural selection ensured this perpetuation"

@sciam #neuroscience

blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wa…
@nature suggest it is not about battle of facts vs #misinformation/#disinformation at all but #wellbeing & #mentalhealth

"Ideological convictions are a product of top-down cues from politicians and the media, and bottom-up psychological mechanisms."

nature.com/articles/d4158…
"..defensive about themselves..more likely..to embrace conspiracy theories, perhaps to deflect blame for their shortcomings..feelings of powerlessness, anxiety, isolation.. alienation.. feel..are insignificant cogs in the political machinery assume.. nefarious influences"
If this is correct #MedTwitter then most approaches to #SciComm are dead wrong, ineffective, a waste of time & effort.

Don't lead with "I am a scientist/expert" & pelt with facts from superior knowledge. Be a fellow "seeker" & ask questions.

news.tulane.edu/news/expert-be…
This aligns w/ FBI hostage negotiation assess motives to persuade via tactical empathy

That makes sense: if the drivers are alienation & powerlessness if groups offer belonging & meaning, then facts are not going to break that bond

Question, don't tell

blog.blackswanltd.com/the-edge/how-t…
This self identified counterterrorism expert commented (does she follow me or stalk me? LOL 🤷🏻‍♀️)
= an example of how NOT to do this

Look how quickly she lost her cool
+ ad hominem
over my disagreeing with & questioning her

Don’t try tactical empathy this way (transparently fake)
Compare that exchange to articles I just shared - do you see a “seeker”? No curiosity used in the exchange

Instead, felt like a know-it-all trying to tell me about my own religion, identity, community

That is also exactly how #SciComm fails as well

blog.blackswanltd.com/the-edge/are-y…
Tbh, I’ve faced off against enough lawyers in public hearing when I was a public official & their tactics
once I sense somebody is not engaging in good faith
is ego-driven
I sometimes get perverse pleasure from watching them squirm😈

In MBTI terms, tho am an NF, can switch to NT
In reality, though, this is me.
I know, I know, MBTI is hooey
But it aligns with Big 5 which is validated. So there😆

In actual performance, I make people feel good when negotiating with me while still getting a good deal

= tactical empathy
Persuasion
Effective #SciComm too
Example: multiple issues into one post. I gain respect by doing the activity (darn well), within my own safety standards. I then point out how the @AmerAcadPeds took on the NRA gag on #pediatrician. So I stay fully authentic & factual.
2.3K views

linkedin.com/posts/usnehal_…
Or this with 16.3K views, 32 comments, various reshares. I say pretty direct things about sexism on #LinkedIn. But like the flash mob tweets above, intersperse with fun, happy, inspiring posts that allow anyone to see their daughter, niece, grandchild

linkedin.com/posts/usnehal_…
That’s another missed opportunity in #SciComm to combat conspiracies: humor. If wellbeing helps reduce appeal of conspiracies then endorphin release has got to be worth trying. Obviously, one must use good judgment when employing humor or fun.

scicomm.plos.org/2017/11/15/hum…
Lighthearted humor can be 👍

Being snarky, condescending, dismissive, sarcastic, or ridiculing only reinforces the drivers discussed above. It is not tactical empathy and alienates those already feeling alienated.

Don’t do it in #scicomm wired.com/story/please-p…
There is a dearth of scientists on #LinkedIn and we need more #SciComm #science #communication there to #business decision makers.

These are my tips on the different cultures between #MedTwitter and @LinkedIn in a #podcast with @ETSshow

explorethespaceshow.com/podcasting/umb…
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More from @usnehal

3 Feb
Not only experience, which is important, but clinical #research does not parse out the Japanese man or woman from the South Asian man or woman on heart disease risk, epidemiology, treatment.

#EBM lacking for us then

#MedTwitter #AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter
And then there is the question of who is white.

Iranian/Persian & Arabs are white on census.
Does the rest of America agree?

Racists & xenophobes tend to use loophole to say being anti-Muslim (whom they consider to all be Arab) is “not racist.”

latimes.com/projects/la-me…
Proving again: race is a social construct

Not until 2020 Persians really started to call selves “POC” (for self protection)

Have lots of Persian friends
Urdu culture has Farsi roots

But let’s be honest: Persians have seen selves as superior race, apart

wbez.org/stories/renewe… ImageImageImageImage
Read 38 tweets
3 Feb
Oooooh.

Yes, riling up Scotsmen & women, expecting them to back down, from a fight seems
SO logical
SO aligned with Scottish history & spirit

*makes popcorn*

Between this & trending #seashantytok what is not to love about our kilt wearing neighbors across the Atlantic?
On the #seashantytok #Seashantytiktok in case you were not up to speed

I would like to point out I was already following him & had watched all his videos, long before he got the 7 million views, record deal, or noticed by Kermit or Andrew Lloyd Webber

Read 4 tweets
2 Feb
Also, if you notice a pattern of certain women who are very concerned about “cancel culture”, these are often women whose income, power, position comes from those men who avoid/fear accountability.
There is no reason to be afraid of women if one already was doing the right thing. Have good ethics yourself and have a good radar for that yourself. I have NEVER had problems with male mentors as we align on values/mission first. We work through trust.

hbr.org/2019/03/advice…
If you are playing a dirty game or don’t have standards to who you hire, do business with, etc (or no standards to own behavior), yeah, I get why you are paranoid.

Drain your own swamp then.
Not all women are pawns in a man’s game like:

apnews.com/article/donald…
Read 4 tweets
2 Feb
Those of us who affirmed our own agency and power by learning from and with our moms. My mom’s stories are her own but she and I together have unpacked many cultural myths to learn better self compassion, willingness to identify racism, less perfectionism.
💪🏽💪🏻💪🏿 @DrvanTilburg
This is a type of trauma many WOC/POC experience. My mom’s hair is extremely thick, textured. I recall her being very fixated on making sure her own hair & our hair was always incredibly neat.

More recently I’ve come to understand this matches an experience of having black hair.
The so-called “model minority “is taught to align with white culture, to suppress oneself in order to layer under & serve white supremacy.

I have worked to remove internalized racism, colorism, self hate & learned from #blackexcellence on:

chalkbeat.org/2020/1/16/2112…
Read 20 tweets
2 Feb
Many feel professionally unsafe, especially those working in academia & hospitals, too. If you look at the stories of @ayshakhoury @uche_blackstock @timnitGebru you see this over and over. This exists on a spectrum and tolerating “mild” hate, racism, & bigotry is a slippery slope Image
It can also kill. Look at how #drsusanmoore was treated in the hospital

then posthumously called “intimidating” by same nurses who should have been caring for (not Karening) her

clinician at your bedside to care may be of #insurrection beliefs

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
Read 9 tweets
1 Feb
If you want to understand a woman, look at her mother - at least true of me

My mom? As a new immigrant to America, when she encountered an unfair Eurocentric rule from her English Lit grad program? She wrote a paper & got the rule changed

Smart
Owned her power
Effective
Ethical
My mom and I are the same in core values but opposite externally. She uses maybe 1/100th of the words that I do and is intensely private. I am out climbing literal mountains while she prefers to stay in and read books and my dad’s #engineering journals.

My mom is an introvert who thinks 10x before speaking w/ surgical precision, educated by German nuns & British educational system
We are Urdu-speaking

She is fearless in face of patriarchy

It runs in the family. Have strong, activist #womeninleadership role models in #Pakistan
Read 25 tweets

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