There’s a new study out that provides us with a much-needed tool to fight the rising tide of alternative facts that are swamping the very-much-not-drained-swamp.
It turns out that vaccines aren’t just a conspiracy to give our children autism, but also (metaphorically) can be used as a strategy to indoctrinate the public into the cult of evidence-based, objective reality.
According to the study, covered nicely by Dana Nuccitelli, informing people about the consensus on climate change is an effective way to help them understand the issue. But misinformation that gives them reason to question that consensus undoes the original message’s persuasive effect.
However, when people are presented with the consensus and a quick debunking of the misinformation, the doubt doesn’t take hold. So by giving people a version of a myth (the Petition Project was found to be the most effective) while explaining its faults (Darwin and Spice Girls were early signatories) you can “inoculate” them against accepting the misinformation.
Which means somehow we need to find a way to get these informational vaccines to DC, stat. Because the deniers that are staffing the swamp are still in denial. Yesterday Rep. Mick Mulvaney, tapped by Trump to lead the Office of Management and Budget, said “I am not yet convinced that it is a direct correlation between man-made activity and the change in the climate, which I do believe is real.” Given that (as Senator Kaine informed him) OMB oversees the social cost of carbon’s implementation across the federal agencies, this is worrying.
Oh, and Rex Tillerson’s written answer to Senator Ben Cardin’s question as to whether or not he accepts the consensus that burning fossil fuels is a key factor in rising temperatures also mischaracterized the consensus. He accepts that extracting and burning fossil fuels raises greenhouse gas levels, and that those gases are a factor in warming, he does “not believe the scientific consensus supports” the idea that greenhouse gases are the “key” factor.
The IPCC, AAAS, NAS, AGU, AMS, a bunch of studies and literally every national academy of science on the planet all say that warming is real, happening and caused mostly/primarily/mainly due to the burning of fossil fuels.
So now we know that to prevent the public from doubting these various scientific bodies, as well as others that, for example, confirm that vaccines don’t cause autism, we must always inoculate by explaining why misinformation is wrong.
If we are successful in this attempt to provide vaccines, it won’t be long until even those politically sympathetic to denial will respond to statements like Tillerson’s with immediate cries of: Flu’ve got to be kidding me! And poli-o no he didn’t!
Top Climate and Clean Energy Stories:
Trump administration tells EPA to cut climate page from website: sources
Thanks to Trump, Scientists Are Going To Run For Office
Massachusetts lawmakers float aggressive bill mandating 100% renewables by 2035
'Halve food waste by 2030': EU lawmakers urge member states