Items

• 
  2022-05-10

  Pandemic Skeptics

  The attached screenshot is from the pandemic skeptic website https://evidencenotfear.com/. In this image, the site states a fact that adults are more likely to be killed in a car accident than from contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This fact is true, unless you are an adult over the age of 49. Sites like this twist and spin facts to produce a narrative that sounds convincing enough to make you not have to look the information up. Oh and if you click the hyperlink "car accident" in that fact, it just takes you to more articles on their site that talk about automotive accidents on their site. This site is trying to use "science" and "medical" facts to push the narrative that COVID fears are unreasonable and scare tactics. My reaction when I see any article full of hyperlinks is to check them out as well as to fact check the main ideas separately. Sites like this assume that people will not take the time to look information up and take it at face value.
• 
  2022-05-10

  Evidence Not Fear Key Facts Chart

  The item is a chart from evidencenotfear.org. It can be found on the homepage. This chart can be found under the “key facts” section and explains the information that is claimed to be from experts in epidemiology, microbiology, and virology. The key facts section contains information that is immediately concerning to me. Some of the statements that are the most concerning to me are that children cannot transmit the virus, face masks can create negative health effects for the person wearing them, and more people have died from the panic of COVID-19 than the virus itself. The chart contains links, which I assumed would provide evidence and research to back up the claims. However, each link leads to an archive of news articles that are related to that topic. The message of this item is that the fear of COVID-19 has been worse than what the virus can actually do. This is seen through the explanations of face masks causing complications, lockdowns preventing herd immunity, and children cannot being affected by it. It tries to persuade the reader by providing links to several different news articles supporting the claim. However, the news article that they are using as support does not provide sources either.
• 
  2021-08-24

  The proof is(n't) obvious.

  Memes denoting the deep irony of our current moment in time seem to have become very popular since the start of the pandemic. Early on, someone used this meme to draw a comparison between the developing movement of people who claimed that COVID-19 was/is a hoax, and that refuted data by mere denial.
• 
  2020-11-06

  Protesters in DC Cautiously Celebrate Victory

  As Biden inched closer to 270 projected electoral college votes, protesters in DC cautiously celebrated a victory and demanded every vote should be counted. With a potential defeat in sight, yesterday President Trump doubled-down on false claims of massive election fraud without providing any evidence.
• 2021-01-11T12:13

  The Cause of COVID

  In the beginning, there were many theories of where the coronavirus came from, all of them having to originate in China. I was told that it was from eating bats, which sounded absurd. I think this is one of the many reasons why I thought the virus wasn't real or wasn't as serious as it is because it all sounded ridiculous. And then I was told that it was Chinese scientists' fault and that they had created and manipulated the virus in a lab. I started to believe this theory, and it clouded my judgement when I was told the truth: the coronavirus was from the wilderness. As I said before, I did not believe in the eating bats theory which is why I was skeptical that the new theory involved bats once again. But, once I got concrete evidence, like the fact that in the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak, it originated in bats, I started to believe this new theory, or the truth. Over the last 10 months, scientists have uncovered so much more about the coronavirus than thought possible. Because of the many false theories and accusations made throughout the COVID history, China has become the scapegoat for many people to blame this whole situation on, stating that is all their fault, even though we don't have concrete evidence if this is true or not. Whatever the cause of the COVID breakout, we should not blame it on other people, but help each other get through these tough times.
• 
  2020-10-15

  Scientific consensus on the COVID-19 pandemic: we need to act now

  The main point of the news article is to inform the audience on the news and history of this world. The article explained how SARS and COVID are actually very similar. I chose this article since it was extremely informative and learning is very interesting. This article reveals that life during the pandemic is just reliving the SARS in the modern day. The news article also reveals how severe these illnesses cause amongst people. This news article is important since many Trump supports and others downplay the severity of the virus even though it has killed many people. There is no bias in this article. Everything is state facts and reporting on the news and opinion. The media is responsible for dragging people who don’t listen to social distancing rules. Many ignorant celebrities like Bryce Hall and other Tik Tok stars are throwing parties during the pandemic. The role of the media is to rain hell on these degenerates to alert them since they are obviously not woke. The media also lets America know that they shouldn’t have voted for Trump since he took no action until months after knowing about COVID-19.