Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
Mar 1, 2023 12 tweets 15 min read Read on X
NEW EXCLUSIVE from me:

#Denounce, #deny, #deceive - 6 common tactics of media manipulators and why they work to sabotage public discourse

Read:
protagonistfuture.substack.com/p/denounce-den…
It is time to stop being naive about online discourse.

“The discourse holds so many traps for the unwary. It’s a bit like financial scams and gambling that are a tax on the financially naïve. A similar tax is being levied on the intellectually naïve.” —  @ArthurCDent

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@ArthurCDent In the article, I lay out 6 common #manipulation tactics and why they work to sabotage discourse on scientific topics.

First up is "just asking questions" or "#sealioning", which uses social expectations and #framing effects to distort conversations.

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@ArthurCDent Second, we look at the power of sensationalist stories and baseless rumors.

Why does a compelling #fiction win over nuanced #truth every time?

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@ArthurCDent Third, we move on to "#anomaly hunting", a practise that gained incredible popularity on social media.

What is it? Why do people do it? Why is it not legitimate?

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@ArthurCDent Fourth, we take a look at fake experts and media #biases.

Why do #contrarian opinions get preferential treatment? Where do the media and even established #journalists predictably go wrong?

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@ArthurCDent Fifth, we look at emotional manipulations through #moralizing discourse.

Why are we so susceptible to moral #outrage and moral #panics? What is moral #grandstanding?

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@ArthurCDent Sixth, it get's visceral.
We look at #toxic behaviors that try to #repress, bully or #threaten experts out of fact-based conversations.

From #poisoning the well to #character assassinations, this is nothing for the feeble minded.

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@ArthurCDent If you do not want to be easily #manipulated, or if you are wondering if discourse is #inauthentic or not, please read this article:

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protagonistfuture.substack.com/p/denounce-den…
@ArthurCDent If you do not have the time to read through everything, I compiled some high-resolution infographics to summarize the tactics against #vaccine, #climate and #origin science.

Feel free to consult, use and share them.
PDFs can also be found for free in the article.
@ArthurCDent If you do not like substack, my article can also be found on medium, here is a friend's free access link:

protagonist-science.medium.com/denounce-deny-…
@ArthurCDent And because I often get insulted and harassed for my science communication work (see tactic 6, 'mudslinding'), here is a disclaimer of why I am doing it:

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More from @PhilippMarkolin

Aug 14, 2024
Listen to @PeterHotez; he points out 3 strategies of the anti-science movement to shift blame now that their actions killed so many people:

1) blame the vaccines for the deaths
2) blame the scientists for creating COVID
3) blame public health for bad communication

All false
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The anti-vaccine movement became a juggernaut during COVID-19 by exploiting people's anxieties & profiting from their fears

Because emotional manipulation is politically valuable, republicans soon merged with the ideology

Unfortunately, that caused over 200k Americans to die
2/
... just during the delta wave alone.

Given estimates of 1,4 million excess deaths since 2020, half of it after vaccines became available, the odds are that vaccine-preventable death toll was even higher.

A huge political liability for Republicans if voters woke up to that.
3/
Read 10 tweets
Jun 9, 2024
I don't know, but I feel like the cool kids don't get sucked into magical worldviews and waste their time live-action roleplaying as "investigators" in trite conspiracy myths.

Which makes all of those in the media who fall for them, over and over again, kinda embarassing? Image
There is no version of the lab leak idea that does not assume conspiratorial elements, given the evidence we have today.

There is no lab leak "theory" in the first place, just innuendo and magical thinking with mutual contradictory ideas that can not explain available evidence
Given the overwhelming evidence for a zoonotic origin, the scientific case is long clear.

What remains of the lab leak is a zombie idea, a myth kept alive by, sorry to say, mostly science deniers, activists, media manipulators and too many suckers that keep amplifying it.
Read 6 tweets
Jun 1, 2024
🚨 Public service announcment 🚨

During the election season, discourse manipulators and influence campaigns work overtime to mislead citizens about scientific topics.

Here are 18 common tactics explained, why it works, and why you should guard yourself against it.

A 🧵

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First up are the merchants of doubt

They use an array of manipulation techniques to denounce experts with various smear tactics, deny a scientific consensus exists, and deceive the public with irrelevant stories.

Full story with case examples here:


2/protagonist-science.com/p/denounce-den…
Next are the merchants of ambiguity

They distort scientific arguments by turning them into partisan fights, discredit proponents of an evidence-based worldview & dismiss the scientific method with appeals to intuition

Full story & case examples here:


3/protagonist-science.com/p/distort-disc…
Read 5 tweets
May 27, 2024
Conspiracy theorists are shocked to learn that a science blogger writing about the bat origins of SARS-CoV-2 visits field sampling expeditions to interview bat researchers 😅

Good journalistic practice must be a nefarious plot 🤣

A niche 🧵 about conspiratorial ideation

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Yesterday, I posted the above fotos to explain that my writing is based on expert interviews, personal research experience, scientific analysis and of course legwork.

Conspiracy theorists have claimed since 2022 that I must be a "paid" shill; from China, Biden, Fauci or EHA

2/

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For them, the idea that somebody could keep speaking up for science and scientists because he believes it is the right thing (& despite their hardest efforts to bully me out of the conversation with harassments), is unthinkable.

"He must be paid to do so." became their credo

3/
Read 22 tweets
May 22, 2024
🚨Important facts 🚨

SARS-CoV-2 is a natural virus that has nothing to do with gain-of-function research.

While a complex topic, there is zero scientific doubt behind this today.

--> Full story:

Here are 5 key highlights why we know this:
A short🧵

1/protagonist-science.com/p/treacherous-…
I) SARS-CoV-2 has a mosaic genome that could only have come about through viral #recombination with other bat viruses in the wild.

No laboratory procedure or experiment can create, fake, or simulate this natural process.

Design is out of the question
It was once a bat virus

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II) #Recombination does not have the granularity to exclude all genetic tinkering approaches, such as single AA mutations in the RBD to make it better bind human cells

Turns out, hACE2 affinity in SARS-CoV-2 was not designed either, but 100% natural

Bats have it exactly

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Read 10 tweets
May 15, 2024
Decent article from @benjmueller at NYT about the administration's political decision to defund EHA.

He ends on a curious note 🔽

"Why now, 3 years after all the banalities the HHS cites to justify the farce were already known?"

I have some thoughts

1/
nytimes.com/2024/05/15/hea…
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It is a critically important election year, so the Biden WH can not afford to have this emotional issue with large visibility be a differentiator between the parties.

They have to act as the ones driving accountability so the Republicans can not weaponize it against them

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No party or politician gives a hoot about Ecohealth Alliance, it is a small non-profit with no political weight or power

Cutting off its funding makes politicians look good; they can pretend to hold "bad people" accountable in a bi-partisan fashion & not ruffle many feathers

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Read 8 tweets

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