President Joe Biden – Inaugural Address
“We must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated and even manufactured.“
I Believe We Can Heal Our Partisan Divide If You Just Admit Gravity Is Real
“Well, it’s four years later, and here we are, still dug into our stubborn ideological trenches. Me, with a passionate belief in a pervasive force that exerts its pull on all objects, creating relative balance within our solar system and drawing us toward the center of the planet. And you, with your equally firm conviction that the sensation of weight I mention is the result of invisible anti-freedom ropes woven by gay Democratic warlocks and lashed to your limbs so your arms feel heavy when you reach for your guns or try to pray.” … “I believe we can find common ground again if you’ll just acknowledge the possibility that gravity is an actual scientific phenomenon and not a magical deep-state plot.”
Shadowland
This is a series of articles on the history and recent prevalence of conspiracies in the United States.
The Librarian War Against QAnon
“As “Do the research” becomes a rallying cry for conspiracy theorists, classical information literacy is not enough.”
Right-Wing Social Media Finalizes Its Divorce From Reality
“Fox News acknowledged Trump’s loss. Facebook and Twitter cracked down on election lies. But true believers can get their misinformation elsewhere.”
The Misinformation Campaign Was Distinctly One-Sided
“In 2020, false propaganda about voting came almost exclusively from the right, putting tech companies in a bind.”
The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe by Dr. Steven Novella et al.
This is a wonderful overview of skeptical thought and biases that affect the way that every single one of us thinks. A must-read. The team that wrote this book also hosts the wonderful SGU Podcast. The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe “Respect for Knowledge and Truth—Skeptics value reality and what is true. We therefore endeavor to be as reality-based as possible in our beliefs and opinions. This means subjecting all claims to a well-founded process of evaluation. Skeptics believe that the world is knowable because it follows certain rules, or laws of nature. The only legitimate method for knowing anything empirical about the universe follows this naturalistic assumption. In other words, within the realm of the empirical (factual knowledge based on evidence), you don’t get to invoke magic or the supernatural.” The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe “Anyone who engages in social media witnesses the attribution error on a regular basis. Not only is there a tendency to assume other people’s motivations; we hastily infer their arguments and positions, based upon the pigeonhole into which we think they fit. Without listening to what they are actually saying, charitably interpreting that, and giving them an opportunity to clarify their position, we risk …