[phtrivier]

The page dedicated to COVID-19 [1] is probably the most depressing thing I read today (and I read twitter.)

Also, among the generaly sane page, there is this bit:

> Conspiracy theories regarding the COVID-19 pandemic are plentiful and varied. One of them suggests that the authorities declared a health emergency in order to force the population to accept a vaccine that they do not need, in order to promote the economic domination of the pharmaceutical industry. Several types of information can be presented in support of this theory, such as proposals for alternative treatments to COVID-19, some data taken out of context from vaccine approval protocols, or annual death rates from seasonal influenza.

> While this information may hold some veracity, it is not sufficient to support the conspiracy theory put forward when compared to scientific studies carried out by both the pharmaceutical industry and public health authorities.

Hardly playing the Devil's advocate, this is the crux of the problem : once you're sincerely convinced that scientists are wrong (which is bound to happen faced with novelly) and governement are lying to you (which is bound to happen because governements are full of politicians), isn't it _rational_ not to believe scientists, and not to trust governements ?

So the rules of the game for scientists are to never ever be wrong, and governments to never ever lie.

But of course, it's not the case, and the "right" thing is to believe scientists because they're right "in general", and to trust politicians "to a degree". But how is advocating that not falling in "appeal to authority" ?

Etc, etc, etc...

At least I'm having those brain farts in a quiet office with a cat on my nap and two jabs in my arms, instead of in a ICU :/ ...

[1] https://en.shortcogs.com/biais-covid

[glial]

> once you're sincerely convinced that scientists are wrong ... and governement are lying to you

This is the crux. How did those beliefs form? I would argue that in many cases, it wasn't a dispassionate weighing of evidence and calculation of probabilities. If not that, then what? We might also ask - in whose interest is it that citizens don't believe scientists or the government?

[phtrivier]

> scientists are wrong

Every medical scandal (For example, in the French Antilles, the scandal around "chlordecone", a pesticide, is supposed to be fueling anti-vaccine fear today.) Earlier uncertainties about masks, vaccinne efficiency, vaccines from different countries, possible early treatments, etc...

Even though the "consensus" settles quickly, the dust of the discussion remains in the air for very long. Media is playing a part here, ironicaly because "not blindly trusting the authority" and "presenting a balanced view of facts" is good for ratings.

> ... and governement are lying to you

Do we really need to test this hypothesis :) ? Of course it is a generalization that "all governments are lying all the time". But it is such an easy one to make...

[glial]

> Media is playing a part here, ironicaly because "not blindly trusting the authority" and "presenting a balanced view of facts" is good for ratings

Yes, this is part of it. Of course scientists are wrong sometimes, but it's in someone's interest to stoke general distrust.

[phtrivier]

Sure.

I would love to have a way to quantify how much of the distrust is knowingly fueled by "chaotic" actors (snake-oil salesmen, foreign powers, cynical policitians, etc..) vs how much is "baked into" the history, political and mediatic structure and, as the original content explains... in our brains.

History and brains being unfixable, I hope there is something we can improve in the structures.

[dane-pgp]

Suppose you are the ruler of a country which views geopolitics as a zero-sum game, because your goals are incompatible with those of other nations. It is therefore in your interest to cause other governments to be distracted with internal mistrust and divisions and health crises, so that there isn't a strong unified position to take action on the world stage.

As a test of this theory, look at which countries have this sudden mistrust of authority, and which country(s) they would refuse to buy a vaccine from; then look at countries which don't have this problem and consider whose vaccine they buy.

[ohhhhhh]

There's more than enough evidence that the government is lying to you. Past and present.