Political loyalties are shaping the way the public respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. A President who downplays the significance of the virus leads to a population vulnerable to Coronavirus myths and pseudoscience.
Eating garlic, taking a bath, and drinking hot water. These are three alleged “cures” that will not protect you from the coronavirus, but they have become so widely believed that the World Health Organization has launched a myth busters page to debunk them.
The likelihood that you believe any of these myths can be predicted by certain key characteristics. In the UK, the older and more educated you are the less likely you are to believe coronavirus myths. But in the US, a key characteristic is political identity.
New US polling conducted by one of us (de Bruin) in late March finds that, even when controlling for education and other variables, there is a statistically significant correlation between political identity and the number of COVID-19 myths people believe: Republicans tend to believe more coronavirus myths than Democrats.
More than 1000 US citizens were given a list of statements about the coronavirus and asked to indicate which statements they believed, if any. They were also asked to provide information about themselves, including their political identity and educational attainment.
Believing that the threat is marginal may correlate with holding that there are simple measures for avoiding infection and an easy cure for those who fall ill.
And in some cases, the contrast in the results was stark; 50% of participants who identified as Republican believed that garlic prevented coronavirus, as opposed to one in three Democrats... (continues)
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Robert Talisse | Chair of the Philosophy Department at Vanderbilt University and author of Overdoing Democracy: Why We Must Put Politics in its Place, Oxford University Press (2019)
Boudewijn de Bruin | Professor in the departments of economics and philosophy of the University of Groningen
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Postscript. Just got this note from Professor Talisse:
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Overcoming partisan politics would be nice, but it's not gonna be easy...
Turns out the idea of bleach and disinfectant as some kind of cure-all has been kicking around in fantasyland for some time:
False “bleach cures” have been touted for autism, cancer — and now Covid-19
At a news conference on Thursday, President Trump surprised nearly everyone when he suggested using powerful cleaning agents, through an injection, as a possible Covid-19 cure.
As advocates against pseudoscience, we weren’t surprised at all. While Mr. Trump now claims his comment about injecting disinfectants was “very satirical,” there has been speculation that he was influenced by the leader of a group peddling such cures, even as the Food and Drug Administration moved to block the group from distributing its product.
In the social media groups we monitor, President Trump’s words were taken as a beacon of hope. As one promoter wrote: “Mr. President Donald Trump I totally agree with you. Chlorine Dioxide is a very noble product that has been used for many years throughout the world to cure people.”
For the past five years, as concerned parents of autistic kids, we’ve been documenting, following and reporting the “bleach cures” movement. The Genesis II Church and Kerri Rivera, among others, have been selling products like chlorine dioxide, marketed as “Miracle Mineral Solution,” or M.M.S., stating that the substances will cure autism, acne, cancer, diabetes, Covid-19 and so much more. This is a crucial red flag for pseudoscience: When a product claims it can cure anything, it’s a fake... (continues)
Boudewijn de Bruin | Professor in the departments of economics and philosophy of the University of Groningen
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Postscript. Just got this note from Professor Talisse:
A lot has happened since I first let those of you who are in Nashville know about the gallery talk I was to give at the Frist Art Museum in connection with their Flag Exchange exhibit. The talk is still on, but the date has changed, and it has been moved to a virtual format (so now you don’t have to be in Nashville to attend!).
Here are the new details. I’m doing a Frist Online Gallery Talk about “Overcoming Partisan Politics” over Zoom on Friday, May 8th at 3:00pm.
I hope you can join us. More information, including details about registering and joining the Zoom session, is at the link below. The event is free and open to all, so feel free to share:
Cheers, and stay safe, —RBT
____________________________
Dr. Robert Talisse
W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy
W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy
Philosophy Department
Vanderbilt University
PMB 406319
2301 Vanderbilt Place
Nashville, TN 37240-6319
Overcoming partisan politics would be nice, but it's not gonna be easy...
==Moronic beyond mockery, almost. https://t.co/0ItaFQQzMw— Phil Oliver (@OSOPHER) April 24, 2020
Turns out the idea of bleach and disinfectant as some kind of cure-all has been kicking around in fantasyland for some time:
False “bleach cures” have been touted for autism, cancer — and now Covid-19
At a news conference on Thursday, President Trump surprised nearly everyone when he suggested using powerful cleaning agents, through an injection, as a possible Covid-19 cure.
As advocates against pseudoscience, we weren’t surprised at all. While Mr. Trump now claims his comment about injecting disinfectants was “very satirical,” there has been speculation that he was influenced by the leader of a group peddling such cures, even as the Food and Drug Administration moved to block the group from distributing its product.
In the social media groups we monitor, President Trump’s words were taken as a beacon of hope. As one promoter wrote: “Mr. President Donald Trump I totally agree with you. Chlorine Dioxide is a very noble product that has been used for many years throughout the world to cure people.”
For the past five years, as concerned parents of autistic kids, we’ve been documenting, following and reporting the “bleach cures” movement. The Genesis II Church and Kerri Rivera, among others, have been selling products like chlorine dioxide, marketed as “Miracle Mineral Solution,” or M.M.S., stating that the substances will cure autism, acne, cancer, diabetes, Covid-19 and so much more. This is a crucial red flag for pseudoscience: When a product claims it can cure anything, it’s a fake... (continues)
I"m just really curious on to how eating garlic could cure this, its not a vampire.can you a elaborate more on what you meant by the "President who downplays the significance of the virus"?
ReplyDeleteGarlic obviously cannot, any more than sunlight and heat. You can ask the author, Vandy prof Rob Talisse, but I imagine he's referring to Trump's many public statements in February (and late in February) to the effect that the virus was not going to be a big deal, that it would be gone by Spring, that the media was exaggerating its import, et al. He downplayed the threat. Typical gaslighting, BS'ing, and general fantasylanding from this POTUS.
DeleteFrom April 13: https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/34-times-trump-downplayed-the-coronavirus/2020/03/05/790f5afb-4dda-48bf-abe1-b7d152d5138c_video.html
DeleteGarlic really?people just make up rumors and lies either for clout or for attention which will end up doing more harm than good
DeletePresident Trump has certainly learned a bit about business but has no medical knowledge. Being surrounded by success and "yes" men seems to have given him the impression he can effectively communicate about any subject, which seems to not be the case.
ReplyDeleteThe notion that he was a smart and savvy businessman is another popular myth. https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/as-a-businessman-trump-was-the-biggest-loser-of-all
DeleteThese age-old tricks remind me of old wives tales that you hear about all the time. Not only do they not work most of the time, but they seem entirely too silly to even take seriously. I mean, how would taking a bath cure your virus? If that's the case then most of us should be immune.
ReplyDeletesection 5
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8 Bases totaling 2 runs
At times like these we really need to rely on credentials. There are experts out there with expert opinions. If a supposed cure for the virus is not proven then don’t do it. It may be harmful for you. #11
ReplyDeleteI think a huge problem that we have today is people believing what ever they see on their social media without actually researching it, which in turn spreads more misinformation to others. This can end up harming others whether it's physically (for example people doing unsafe at home remedies they see on Facebook) or mentally (spreading misinformation which scares people and gets them worked up over nothing). People really need to stop and research what they see that is alarming or look at the source it was published or posted from.
ReplyDeleteSection 5
As we know from Fantasyland, there's a persistent and pervasive anti-intellectual tradition in America that mistrusts experts and expertise. Stephen Colbert's old alter-ego personified that tradition perfectly when he insisted on his right as an American to believe whatever he wanted. http://www.cc.com/video-clips/63ite2/the-colbert-report-the-word---truthiness
ReplyDelete“One could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood.....” – Hannah Arendt, “The Origins of Totalitarianism”
ReplyDeletenow the citizen they protesting to go back in to normal life despise the experts word!
I think the reason being a Republican might make you more likely to believe in these "myths" is that there is a group of republican that are extremely conservative, tend to home school their kids for fear of "public indoctrination" and, you guessed it, are against vaccinations. These people disbelieve everything the government tells us, they think everything is a conspiracy, and it follows that they don't believe everything they hear about the corona virus. Many of them think the government is blowing it out of proportion on purpose.
ReplyDeleteTo be clear, I do not think all Republicans are like this. Just a particular sub group.
DeleteThis really can loop back to the old parental saying, "if someone told you to jump off a bridge would you do it." Don't get me wrong, do I think someone with no medical training should be giving advice on a nation scale? No. Do I think that people should be able to judge the information that the non medical professional invalid? Yes. Absolutely. 100%.
ReplyDelete#5