• arymandias@feddit.de
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    6 months ago

    What is the thesis of this meme, that people are just stupid and there is no underlying problem or system that can be improved?

    Science is often communicated to the public via either companies, politics, or the media. Which al have their own interests and issues in representing “scientific facts”. To give some examples of the “science” people have been exposed to: These new pain killers are perfectly save and absolutely not addictive. Making health care accessible is actually bad for the economy and will be more expensive in the end. Or the numerous articles on outlier papers published in the media that conclude that it’s actually healthy to [insert obviously unhealthy habit here (sponsored by some industry group)].

    Science has a communication problem, and the communication conduits have a huge credibility problem. The results of which made an already bad pandemic even worse.

    • balderdash@lemmy.zip
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      6 months ago

      Holy shit, a reasonable comment that doesn’t just assume the other half of the country are idiots.

      People don’t know what to believe and are skeptical for good reason (some historical, some present). Time and time again we’ve seen our institutions fails us. We see blatant corruption that the elites don’t even bother to hide (e.g. corporate capture). And we see freedoms eroded in times of crisis (e.g. Patriot Act). I’m not saying we should be conspiratorial about doctors or science. But reasonable people on both sides of the aisle see what’s happening to our institutions and this has knock on effects.