The Shape of Misinformation

The following meme is now being shared on FACEBOOK.  It is a classic example of how misinformation is used to polarize opinions.

The above meme does contain a lot of facts and appeals to many people's emotion regarding both climate change and the media.  The problem is - the meme contains one glaring lie - Dr. Judith Curry NEVER said Climate Change is a hoax.

Dr. Curry is a reputable climate scientist that recognizes the enormous complexity of climate science and urges people not to rush to simplistic solutions or causes based on correlation models, such as those promulgated by the IPCC.  The fact that she isn't one of the alarmists has designated her as a Climate Change Denier, which couldn't be farther from the truth.

Check out Dr. Curry's blog at https://judithcurry.com/

Just the Facts - Climate Hysteria

An interesting article in Just Facts Daily discusses the climate hysteria extolled by activist Greta Thunberg verse reality.  However, before sharing it, we did our usual bias check. 
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/?s=Just+the+facts+daily

It reports (highlight is ours)

These media sources are slightly to moderately conservative in bias. They often publish factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor conservative causes. These sources are generally trustworthy for information, but may require further investigation.

So here is the story.  Ignoring the emotionalism, the facts are revealing. 

https://www.justfactsdaily.com/climate-change-fears-of-teen-activist-are-empirically-baseless/

At a recent United Nations summit, 16-year-old activist Greta Thunberg claimed that the Earth is on the brink of destruction and that older generations are betraying younger ones by not doing enough to stop climate change. The media has amplified these allegations by giving her speech broad, glowing coverage, but the fears she expressed are not grounded in reality.

But the Just Facts Daily article details the reality of the climate situation which is quite to the contrary. Maybe Thunberg is ahead of her time with her hysteria, but today, it looks like she clearly doesn't know what she is yelling about. 

In her speech, Thunberg raged that people “have stolen my dreams and my childhood,” which is arguably true. However, she blames the wrong culprits. Her anxiety and desperation are not the fault of adults who act in accord with the facts of this issue. Instead, Thunberg’s tormenters are the people who have indoctrinated her and many other youth with unfounded fears.

Are YOU a Source of Disinformation?

Disinformation is the deliberate spread of verifiably false or misleading content to gain financially or to deceive the public.

In 2016 and again in 2018, Russian agents posed as people on both sides of hot-button issues to foment distrust and discord. A recent study by Avaaz, a nonprofit that focuses on social media disinformation, found in the past three months fabricated news stories got 86 million views, more than three times as many as during the previous three months.

GOOGLE and FACEBOOK OWN YOU

We never realized how intrusive GOOGLE was until our  GOOGLE TIMELINE popped up per chance.  We knew that the cellphone is constantly sharing one's location.  That's the price one pays to enjoy the features of cell service.  But how about GOOGLE showing where we have been when the phone was off, such as the places in Europe and Asia.

Of course, there is this blogger app.  It is great, easy to use, and we have dozens of blogs for which we do not pay anything.  As frequently told, "If you aren't paying for a service; YOU are the service."  We don't use FACEBOOK for that reason.  Instead we naively and freely give all that information to GOOGLE.

We aren't terrorists or fanatics.  No need to be paranoid, until of course, someone uses all that free information to cause to trouble. We are going to turn off a lot of that give-away.  The details are on our new PRIVACY page.

Another False Hate-mongering Narrative

      The following 2016 narrative is again floating around FACEBOOK (where else!).  According to SNOPES, this story has had two versions, both designed to rile up the less informed and hateful subscribers.

     Did a Teenaged Customer Argue with a Muslim Cashier Over His Cross Necklace? A viral story related a cross-related confrontation involving a 17-year-old boy in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

According to SNOPES the story is totally fictional, but nevertheless is promulgated for the purpose of creating hate.

CONGRATULATIONS: It is successful! Merry Christmas!  Here is the first comment that followed this FACEBOOK post that was shared with us.

Some aliens think this is their country and can make the rules, however, it is OUR country and they should be following our laws.

Naturally, any one wearing a hijab is an alien.