№ 636. Tall Tales, Broad Allegations, Generalizations and Conspiracies

The Guardian

 

"Further, broad allegations amounting to a generalization that certain corporations allow themselves to serve as dummies for cartels or foreigners cannot hold ground in this Court. These constitute criminal acts. The Constitution requires that judicial action proceed carefully and always from a presumption of innocence. Tall tales of conspiratorial actions — though they may be salacious, make for interesting fiction, and are fodder for social media — do not deserve any judicial action. Broad generalizations of facts without corresponding evidence border on the contemptuous." --- National Federation of Hog Farmers, Inc. v. Board of Investments, G.R. No. 205835, June 23, 2020, Supreme Court En Banc

№ 531. V for Vaccine

 

NYTimes.

 

"I think the vaccines are the way to go. But people seem to have a view of it will give me 100% protection -- no vaccine does that," Collignon. And even if someone is vaccinated, scientists don't yet know whether it's possible that they could get the virus and spread it, even if they don't get sick themselves.

 

It's likely that even once there is widespread vaccination, we might still have to live with the virus. After all, only one virus in human history has been declared eradicated by a vaccine -- small pox."

 

№ 472. Cynicism is Sanity 2

Virus misinformation has human costs. It's very real. Lives are at stake.

"In one case we verified, a 5-year-old boy went blind after his parents plied him with illegal booze in an attempt to fight the disease."

How do we navigate across the lies, falsehoods and other misuses of information? Cynicism.

Here's the ABC of cynicism.

A - Ask for proof.
B - Be doubtful.
C- Confirm the information from reliable, independent sources.

Critical Thinking versus Fake News

№ 461. "Cynicism is Sanity"*

The news greets me in the morning with this:

"As the coronavirus has spread around the world, so has misinformation about the disease. Technology giants have touted the steps they are taking to combat coronavirus misinformation, but these efforts have failed to help the Benassis. The family's suffering highlights the potential for blatant falsehoods to be rewarded and amplified by social media platforms. It also serves as a powerful reminder that misinformation online, however wild or obviously untrue it may seem, can have real and lasting consequences offline."

The pandemic has surely become an open door of opportunities. Regimes, business interests, churches, pundits and many groups of various persuasions have begun to wager on these opportunities. The discourse on television and particularly on cyberspace, no doubt, has become a Pandora's asylum for both the tamed and the malevolent, and even for the fence-sitters in between.

Meme Crunch

№ 327. Lies, Lies and More Lies

If fiction is the lie that tells us the truth, what truth can we get from fake news, false memes and other propaganda feeds?

№ 297. In the Era of Post-Truth, Fake News, and Lies

"Error is continually repeated in action, and that is why we must not tire of repeating in words what is true." --- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe