Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19
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The last few years have basically made me tune out almost all media. I don’t read “mainstream” outlets for the most part, don’t watch cable news exception on election days (and even then, count results on my own), and have sort of bunkered down into my own group of folks. I have a very well-curated Twitter feed without a lot of nonsense, mostly academics and other smart people who really understand the issues, not journos that don’t know their multiplication tables, yet decide to become economists and epidemiologists all the sudden. I just want facts and some context, not filters from press folks with an agenda, whether right or left. I know my personal ideology backward and forward and of course judge particular issues through that lens but always start with the facts then evaluate from there. I’m lucky because I’ve worked for and studied with some absolutely stupid smart people so maybe I’m better at sniffing out crap than most, but even having some basic skills about critiquing news and reading with some well-informed skepticism is a really good skill.
My critiques of the President have nothing to do with his party, though I worked my arse off to beat him in 15 and 16. I sometimes fantasize about having Jeb! run this show instead of Trump since he developed such a great reputation for being an effective governor in a purple state. Would I like to see him lose in 2020? Sure. Do I love Biden? No. We probably disagree on 90% of issues. But I think he’s a competent manager and someone with good character.
tl;dr: get the facts, not the filter. Understand the facts. Make decisions accordingly.
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wow. same wavelength. @BShark @approxinfinity @FarmerJayhawk
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@FarmerJayhawk love the competent manager and good character! I feel like he’ll surround himself w/those people of the same qualities! Plus qualified and experienced! Won’t be firing and hiring every month. Earn back respect we lost w/the rest of the world too!
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@FarmerJayhawk interested in some good follows. Twitter can be rough sometimes, had to unfollow a KU guy that was just non-stop conspiracy tweeting since the corona stuff ramped up.
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@BShark said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
@FarmerJayhawk interested in some good follows. Twitter can be rough sometimes, had to unfollow a KU guy that was just non-stop conspiracy tweeting since the corona stuff ramped up.
Off the top of my head: Tyler Cowen, Sue Dynarski, Megan McArdle, Tom Nichols, Wojtek Kopczuck, Chris Arnade, Noah Smith, Luke Thompson, Scott Cunningham, Bad Econ Takes. It skews heavily toward economists (sorry, job hazard) but you’ll get everyone from very liberal to Never Trump Conservative to price gouging is good libertarian.
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@bskeet Natural selection won’t work on this one because the people at greatest risk are post-reproductive. This outbreak won’t change gene frequencies. Stupid behavior, the people who transmit the virus, won’t be selected against.
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@bskeet @tundrahok good point. but if you believe ideas are alive, we may see a natural selection of ideas here.
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@approxinfinity And yet bad ideas can become more common also. Good/bad, of course, is a value judgement. I’m really not sure what currency is used to evaluate the genetic fitness of ideas.
Richard Dawkins introduced the idea of memes in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, to illustrate how ideas can spread similar to genetic variants - way before the term was appropriated by the internet. Internet memes might be a great illustration of how we can’t rely on natural selection to solve our problems! I was never a big fan of grumpy cat. But I remember being fascinated by the idea of memes back in my grad school days, and am a bit chagrined that my own grad students in evolutionary ecology have no idea what the source of that term is.
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I agree with every word https://americanmind.org/features/the-coronacrisis-and-our-future-discontents/how-covid-radicalized-me/
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@FarmerJayhawk good article
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@tundrahok said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
@bskeet Natural selection won’t work on this one because the people at greatest risk are post-reproductive. This outbreak won’t change gene frequencies. Stupid behavior, the people who transmit the virus, won’t be selected against.
Yeah, that was tounge-in-cheek – Anytime I see someone take a stupid risk, I shake my head and say “Darwin”. It’s a sort of inside joke that doesn’t translate well here… Sorry.
COVID-19 has claimed lives at all ages and even people who were considered healthy, but at a much lower rate.
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Looks like someone hacked the best statistics site:
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@approxinfinity said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
@bskeet @tundrahok good point. but if you believe ideas are alive, we may see a natural selection of ideas here.
Feeling a bit Anrwy. Like eliminating all those people that voted for Biden for president? Because we all know he’s not actually going to be the president. The guy doesn’t know who he is taking too, or where he is half the time. Hey this is let’s blame trump for everything website. Can you imagine Biden if elected telling a world leader to step outside? Lol you guys are unbelievable.
We will go from Obama trying to kiss every world leaders arse to his Vice President Biden trying to challenge them to a fight. Well done guys. Yep let’s bring on the natural selection.
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@DoubleDD did you watch the Democratic Debate last night? If you did not, it calmed all my fears about Biden’s mental state. He was very strong.
As for your other accusations about people blaming Trump unfairly, please give it two weeks and then reassess how you should feel about Trump. Then rinse repeat, reevaluate 2 weeks after that, and so on.
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@DoubleDD Also, nobody said anything about eliminating Biden voters and I’m trying to understand what you meant by that. If you’re suggesting that you’re feeling awnry and want to eliminate Biden voters, let me be
clear. If you threaten other members of the board you will be banned. There is no place for that here.If you are considering violence as a viable solution because other people don’t love Trump as much as you then you should seek professional help.
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Hey @approxinfinity you have been so fair to trump voters. Not. No hard feelings. Do what you must. I’m watching the Dem debates right now. I’ll let you know if I’m still around. Had to work through them
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Oh and what did Everybody mean by natural selection? Ummm
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I will say Biden so far doing good for himself
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Sanders not doing well with his socialist speech, but I’m bias
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Oh one more thing @approxinfinity the violence seems to be coming from the left, not the right. I mean a person can’t even wear a maga hat these days. Good news though Biden doing better than I thought.
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But will it last
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You know here today gone tomorrow
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This post is deleted!
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This should make all you happy?
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@DoubleDD actually, I thought Bernie got clobbered in this debate and that remark didn’t answer the question, which is what he would do.
That said, I agree that the Presidents response has been amateur hour narcissism and he needs to shut up and stop getting in the way of competent health professionals like Dr Fauci.
I’m glad you watched the debate. I think it’s important for Trump supporters to see with their own eyes what the other guy looks like, and not rely on someone else’s description of him.
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@DoubleDD said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
This should make all you happy?
It’s an upgrade over the guy that decided not to enhance our testing capability a month ago because low numbers are good politics. https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-trump-high-infection-rate-dent-reelection-report-2020-3
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@FarmerJayhawk don’t worry. He said it’s under terrific control. That must mean it is, right?
Edit: tremendous control. Got my Trumpisms mixed up. (See how when I mess up I acknowledge the mistake and try to correct it?)
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Here is an idea , can we please stop with trying the political blame game ? - -can we be mature enough for that. - this is not a time to blame - -this is a time when w need to Unite as a Nation not play the Dem & Rep he did it - - she did it - - he didn’t do it – she didn’t do it, Bottom line is - - IT"S here we need to deal with this as one, it’s the type of blame game that is going to turn what’s been said about our Country come to real time if we don’t stop
Been said that the demise of our Country , our country will be taken over WITHOUT A SINGLE SHOT BEING FIRED - get’s kind of old. - -At this point there is NOT ONE person that is good for the Presidency - -they all are idiots, radicals just you take the lesser of the evils. If you think Sanders could do better - then dam I feel sorry for you - - Biden ? - - Psssssst please/ Yet this is not the time to argue over that. you best cinch up your britches -let’s worry about winning this battle before we tackle the war.
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@jayballer73 you just stated your opinion about candidates while telling others not to state theirs. Lol.
This is the thread to discern fact from opinion, and it was my expectation that it would be the more political of the threads, given that the president has been deceptive about the truth from the outset. This guy is a train wreck who has spread misinformation and it’s important to recognize that for everyone’s safety.
We absolutely need elected officials who have a concern for the common man so that this doesn’t happen again.
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The impetus towards bipartisan action has to come with a swell towards the center. Consider Biden an olive branch from the Democrats. A centrist. Now it’s time for the rational Republicans to unite behind Biden and restore unity to the land.
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@approxinfinity said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
@jayballer73 you just stated your opinion about candidates while telling others not to state theirs. Lol.
This is the thread to discern fact from opinion, and it was my expectation that it would be the more political of the threads, given that the president has been deceptive about the truth from the outset. This guy is a train wreck who has spread misinformation and it’s important to recognize that for everyone’s safety.
We absolutely need elected officials who have a concern for the common man so that this doesn’t happen again.
we all know that there are people hee trying to place blame on Trump I’m not for Trump- BUT I’mnot for Sanders or Biden either. yet I’m not going to sit here and place blame on anyone at this time and as you say ( LOL ) I’m glad you can see humor in this situation - time to laugh giggle when out Nation at risk - -this is not a place to be talking politics - -let’s talk about the problem - - CORONA VIRUS -that’s the problem. - -I’m not going to get into a long drawn out back and forth banner on this shit just seemspretty petty to be trying to place blame on an individual right now - Hell there is plenty of blame that can be paced all over the place concerning the Govt. - but thanks anyways - come on let’s focus on the REAL PROBLEM - -the president is not the real problem we are dealing with here
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@jayballer73 what about seeing Coronavirus as a force of nature? SARS and MERS were strains of coronavirus and they were contained. Are sharks a problem? Are glaciers that melt the problem? Or is it the humans that cause it? I think it’s important to not let someone blow shit up and then walk away like he did nothing wrong.
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I do get where you are coming from and we can refrain from being political on some thread. I just don’t think it’s appropriate to say we shouldn’t talk about Trump’s botch at all.
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@approxinfinity said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
@jayballer73 you just stated your opinion about candidates while telling others not to state theirs. Lol.
This is the thread to discern fact from opinion, and it was my expectation that it would be the more political of the threads, given that the president has been deceptive about the truth from the outset. This guy is a train wreck who has spread misinformation and it’s important to recognize that for everyone’s safety.
We absolutely need elected officials who have a concern for the common man so that this doesn’t happen again.
HOLY SHIT MAN – truth ? - - - truth ? - -you want the truth ? - -the truth is this govt ha been so corrupt and full of lies for so dam long and you want to thump your chest about how this president has been dishonest and not told the truth ? - -NOW THAT’S FUNNY holy crap man where have you been the last 30 years or so? Come on man give me a fricken break that’s just sad You one of the people that’s not willing to give Credit for what this train wreck has done for this country? - -bet you are - that’s just disappointing don’t try and say there is a canidate that in this upcoming election that is more honest - -even you have to laugh at that - -This country was in sorry shape LONG BEFORE Trump was elected -LONG BEFORE he sure the hell isn’t the one who put this country in the shape it is in now. - It’s going to take years to get us out of this mess , and Sanders SURE THE HELL is not the one that is going to pull us out - believe that
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@approxinfinity said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
I do get where you are coming from and we can refrain from being political on some thread. I just don’t think it’s appropriate to say we shouldn’t talk about Trump’s botch at all.
OK done now lets agree to disagree
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@jayballer73 I will tell you where I haven’t been the last 30 years… Sitting in my house like it’s a bomb shelter trying to stay away from my common man because they don’t take life threatening viruses seriously.
Please permit me to figure out how we are here now and haven’t been for my entire life before this.
Biden is ABSOLUTELY more honest than Trump. Trump is the biggest liar I have ever seen. No exaggeration. Anyone who lies as much as Trump I have had the good fortune of being able to get the hell away from.
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@jayballer73 look, we can disagree. That’s fine. And we can talk about it. It’s all good. That’s what this place is for. If you don’t want Politics on your thread I can respect that. But this is the one I started
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@DoubleDD said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
Oh and what did Everybody mean by natural selection? Ummm
I’m the one who brought it up. What I meant was that this virus will indiscriminately kill some fraction of the population. I implied that those who are not wise enough to heed the advice of the medical community may not survive… although I tried to clarify that infected idiots may survive, only to infect others who are innocent and die (that’s the collateral damage I referred to.)
I think it is irresponsible that it’s been politicized. The virus isn’t red or blue…
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@bskeet viruses don’t fly.
This doesn’t have to do with red and blue. It has to do with Trump being an idiot. If this happened under any president who did what Trump did, I’d call him or her an idiot.
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Yeah, my comment is anachronistic… I was responding to something from 12 or more hours ago… A lot has been said since then…
Trump absolutely has exacerbated a problem that might have been a crisis before… but his dishonesty and bombast made it so much worse. Never thought I’d see such a fool in any federal office.
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Hope we don’t see a lot of this.
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@approxinfinity said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
@jayballer73 I will tell you where I haven’t been the last 30 years… Sitting it my house like it’s a bomb shelter trying to stay away from my common man because they don’t take life threatening viruses seriously.
Please permit me to figure out how we are here now and haven’t been for my entire life before this.
Biden is ABSOLUTELY more honest than Trump. Trump is the biggest liar I have ever seen. No exaggeration. Anyone who lies as much as Trump I have had the good fortune of being able to get the hell away from.
Thank you and have a good night
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Oh Biden is a corrupt and lying politician. It just doesn’t get brought to the day of light with all left leaning media. I mean nothing like having a son with no experience on a Ukraine gas and oil company’s Board of directors. Ever wonder why Obama hasn’t given Biden his approval?
All Biden is? A familiar face to a fractured Dem party trying to salvage an election. The same party that has overplayed their cards the last 4 years trying sabotage a incoming president. The Dem party will be lucky to even retain the house let alone beat Trump.
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@FarmerJayhawk said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
@DoubleDD said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
This should make all you happy?
It’s an upgrade over the guy that decided not to enhance our testing capability a month ago because low numbers are good politics. https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-trump-high-infection-rate-dent-reelection-report-2020-3
Huh? Nah it couldn’t be that there was a realization that test kits were not cutting the grade, and a update was needed? I’m mean let’s forget the rest of the world was having the same problem. Let’s pay no attention to that evidence.
Hate Trump much?
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No idea if true, but I’ve read that Italy has high fatality rates because they refuse to treat elders and are letting in take it coarse… sad if true, but unsure.
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@DoubleDD said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
@FarmerJayhawk said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
@DoubleDD said in Differentiating fact from opinion on COVID-19:
This should make all you happy?
It’s an upgrade over the guy that decided not to enhance our testing capability a month ago because low numbers are good politics. https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-trump-high-infection-rate-dent-reelection-report-2020-3
Huh? Nah it couldn’t be that there was a realization that test kits were not cutting the grade, and a update was needed? I’m mean let’s forget the rest of the world was having the same problem. Let’s pay no attention to that evidence.
Hate Trump much?
No, I don’t hate politicians. I just expect basic competence. If the tests were garbage (not clear) he should order the CDC and local labs develop their own. Instead, it took a lab in Seattle developing and publishing results in defiance of the CDC to put this thing out there.
