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Covid lesson: trust the public with hard truths

nature.com

51–60 of 837 posts

Re: Covid lesson: trust the public with hard truths

#54
post #38

I agree with the sentiment of this article, but I'm noticing that some folks can't determine fact from fiction even when presented with data that supports the facts or makes them irrefutable. No amount of logic, facts, or transparency will be enough for these folks, and while I can appreciate a skeptic, some of these people are beyond basic help and need professional guidance.

It feels like a game of political chicken to me. Like, "if you won't trust the voting public enough to give them the whole truth and instead treat them like blubbering fools, how can you--with a straight face--pretend that their ability to pick leaders or vote on actual issues is a correct way to run a country?" So instead of compliance, they'll bring the whole damn thing down in protest. I don't think the plurality…

the general public are not the one that decide who get a Phd or MD the expert are the one doing it.

It make sense that the expert don't trust the general public with health decision. If you are not convinced just head over to https://www.youtube.com/c/ChubbyemuGames/videos

Re: Covid lesson: trust the public with hard truths

#56
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vaccine hesitancy will impact vaccines for HPV, measles, HEP B, etc. etc. for generations.

it's not just the vaccine most of those people dont believe germs and virus are real. So I bet they will also stop washing hands or taking anti-biotic.

I personally think we should stop labeling a whole diverse group under the most stupid categorization we can think of. Media is also guilty of this, for example when some outlet posted something like “anti-vaxxers are now drinking betadine” despite being an isolated act of stupidity. This type of confrontation will only yield more division and therefore enhance distrust.

Re: Covid lesson: trust the public with hard truths

#57
post #41

From CDC's Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (2018): 1. Be First 2. Be Right. 3. Be Credible. 4. Express Empathy. 5. Promote Action. 6. Show Respect. https://emergency.cdc.gov/cerc/ppt/CERC_Introduction.pdf https://emergency.cdc.gov/cerc/manual/index.asp

I personally find these principles coming from CDC, against the backdrop of their actions lately, very hypocritical.

Re: Covid lesson: trust the public with hard truths

#58

The author is completely right in that the government at least in the US attempting to downplay, mislead or 'avoid panic' absolutely destroyed any credibility and is still suffering from it. Most people are not stupid, if provided with all available information as well as clear statements regarding the reliability of that information and just a clear message saying "hey this is new and we have no idea, we are making…

> Most people are not stupid, if provided with all available information as well as clear statements regarding the reliability of that information and just a clear message saying "hey this is new and we have no idea, we are making our best guess" people will make decent choices Citation needed

People are not stupid when their immediate interest is threatened. Now, we could argue that people as a whole have problems with estimating risk ( they do ) and predicting long term consequences ( they do ), but they can usually notice when a politician is telling them its raining, when said politician is directly pissing at them.

Then again, I am from the old country, where parents ingrain in you distrust for the government. By comparison, US population really does trust its decision-makers. Or maybe trusted, if the article is to be believed.

Re: Covid lesson: trust the public with hard truths

#59
post #13

The article is discussing the media and government being intentionally vague or even misinformative because they don't trust the public, but it backfires and causes more distrust. The flip side that wasn't discussed is the belittling and censoring of voices that were skeptical of the narratives, which engendered even more distrust. Their strategy of information control backfired, and they doubled down. Now we've got…

What’s more interesting is that most of these people will survive this episode (given the known mortality data) and thus will “win” the debate (from their point of view) and will never ever trust the government (or health authorities) again. That’s the biggest downside in reality, and regaining the trust is going to be extremely complicated.

But the upside is that hopefully the govt/health authorities will learn a lesson and be better in the future. Id say in these situations any fallout is always the govt's fault since it is there to serve the people- a case of the customer is always right.

Re: Covid lesson: trust the public with hard truths

#60
post #47
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Broadly after seeing some of the material coming out of the UK "think tanks" in early 2020 this was really "govt, starched collar, upper class" thinking that the proles will start eating themselves if we even mention that there's a chance they could die. I think projected compliance with a lockdown in the UK was initially estimated and serious attempts were made to model it at 40% compliance. When govt got near 95%+…

> there is a statement on record from politicians reacting to the suggestion with "this is not Asia, people would not stand for a lockdown" Fauci said that in Feb 2020. -------- Q. How confident are you that the Chinese are doing what needs to be done? A. They're doing things that have completely broken the paradigm of how you respond. They have been, in a draconian way, shutting down everything. They have locked dow…

Trust me. Not just Faucci and not just the UK. As for dates I think the UK one was in Jan or Feb when we refused to attend an EU meeting on the situation as it was developing in Italy
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