Thread by @Leftylockdowns1

Covid authoritarians are decrying Twitter (mostly) abandoning censorship policies, on the grounds the platform will be flooded with misinformation, leading to all sorts of bad things. To assuage their concerns, here's a guide to functioning in these uncertain and difficult times:

1) RECOGNIZE that "misinformation" is nothing new. Humans have told lies from time immemorial. That's why not lying is one of the 10 Commandments. "Misinformation" is just a scary word used by politicians and bureaucrats to convince you that we are dealing with a new phenomenon.

2) USE common sense. Just because someone says something on the internet doesn't mean it's true. Believe it or not, you can exercise your own judgment instead of relying on the geniuses who work at the CDC & Twitter! Here are a few tips to help you assess claims on the internet:

a) ASK whether it comports with observable reality. Do you know people who got the fourth booster and still got covid? If the answer is yes, then when Kama Harris says you won't contract covid if you get a booster, that's probably misinformation.

b) READ studies themselves instead of accepting the conclusions reported by the authors, who may be interested parties, & CNN or the NY Times. If the "study" is actually anecdotal evidence from 2 hairdressers wearing masks in St. Louis in March 2020, it's probably misinformation

c) ASK yourself what ulterior motives the person making the claim might have. For example, if someone is director of NIAD & clearly loves being in the spotlight, consider the possibility he is prolonging covid restrictions out of self-interest, rather than your well-being.

3) RECOGNIZE that when you cede authority to government and large corporations to determine who's heard and who's silenced, when power changes hands, you might not be able to tweet those cute photos of yourself getting a booster with the caption, "#savinglives."

4) I know this is all a lot of work as it can be difficult to read studies and think critically, and emotionally taxing to encounter views with which you dissagree. Unfortunately, it can take effort to live in a free society. I hope I've convinced you it's worth it.
~JY

sorry for the misspelling. I do know how to spell disagree.