I’m still playing around with formatting, so feel free to provide feedback, but I’m experimenting with adding a theme to some newsletters. This week, I focused a bit more on disinformation. Many of the things below all kind revolve around that topic. Hope you enjoy~

DISINFORMATION

Read

Article: Why Your Christian Friends and Family Members Are So Easily Fooled by Conspiracy Theories

I stumbled into this article, but it really resonated with me. I left Facebook because of politics and wasting time and, although I occasionally find myself involved in both of those on Twitter, it’s at least more of what I’m looking to engage with for either insightful discussion or to broaden my perspective.

The author here highlights how spreading wrong information is bearing false witness. It was eye-opening to see how prevalent this issue is, and he takes an exceptionally eloquent approach to break the issue down. I’m jealous of his writing (and formatting)!

Watch

Video: Tesla – Pretend to Save the Environment While Looking Rich

This hilarious video by JP Spears will serve as a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek counter to Elon Musk’s worldview shared in the podcast below.

Listen

Podcast: Renée DiResta: Information Warfare | North Star Podcast (Apple Podcasts | Spotify)

Ms. DiResta researches online propaganda and even consulted the Senate on the Russian tampering with the election. One of the most interesting points is that “common knowledge” isn’t argued for regularly. No one wakes up and makes it their daily mission to say the earth is round or that we should get vaccinated. And yet, that’s exactly the approach from flat-earthers and anti-vaxxers. It is their mission, and she details losing out on a California bill specifically because of how organized an anti-vaccination campaign was.

Podcast: Joe Rogan Experience #1470 – Elon Musk | The Joe Rogan Experience (Apple Podcasts | YouTube)

As a self-proclaimed “Musketeer,” I’ll fully admit that I idolize the guy. What he has accomplished is nothing short of astounding. That being said, I don’t always agree with him. I can’t think of a single futurist that isn’t also a contrarian. He recently shared that Tesla is suing the county government for imposing COVID-19 restrictions, and they may leave California entirely.

While I am a proponent of shelter-in-place, he makes an interesting point about data reporting for hospitals. Everything is better with economics, right, so we’ve got to look at incentives. When suburban and rural hospitals across the country are having to furlough staff due to diminished capacity, there is a financial incentive to inflate COVID-19 deaths for government funding. Elon specifically refers to the death of someone with COVID-like symptoms but dies of other conditions. He states that such instances are getting reported as coronavirus deaths, which they would of course not be.

Act

My biggest take with COVID-19 is that even with the economy reopening, we should all be wearing masks. My understanding is that wearing a mask doesn’t stop the wearer from getting sick, but it does prevent others from getting sick if you’re carrying it. Therefore, the most vulnerable population isn’t protected by wearing a mask in public; it’s everyone else that needs to be wearing a mask for them.

And what’s the big deal? It’s a little inconvenient, but it could have a significant impact. Heck, it’d be worth it if it had any reasonable impact, so let’s do it. I’m excited about the culture change in the US related to germs. Handshakes are out, and I will shame you for not washing your hands after using the bathroom.

Ponder

Quote: Kevin Kelly

Extraordinary claims should require extraordinary evidence to be believed.

WEBSITE UPDATES

Updated podcast page—Added North Star

Fixing book notes page—HTML is breaking the builder

As I am slowly refining this newsletter, I’d love feedback on the format and content. Reach out in the comments or via Twitter (@JonnyMHenderson).