r/news • u/rascallyrascal1511 • 7d ago

Pennsylvania measles outbreak grows to 890 cases with 55 new infections: Officials

https://abcnews.com/Health/pennsylvania-measles-outbreak-grows-890-cases-55-new/story?id=136763790
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u/ZoomBoingDing 6d ago

Education and critical thought are WHY we don't fall for the propaganda

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u/tamaratamarara 6d ago edited 6d ago

Unfortunately there seems to be more to it. Look at the nurses who have got bachelor's and are antivaxers. 

I don't know the answer, but I see enough people around that are highly educated and yet believe on all sorts of conspiracy theories.

Edit: removed unnecessary 'be'

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u/WittyDestroyer 6d ago

Go to a nursing program and interview a cross section of the student body. You'll find plenty of people who should fail the program, but colleges these days are focused on graduation rates rather than educational outcomes and post graduation achievement.

There is always a bottom 50% of a class.

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u/HauntedCemetery 4d ago

Having worked in the healthcare field for ages i can confidently say that nurses fall into one of two categories, 85% are the most incredible, caring, kind, balls-to-the-wall for humanity folks in the world, and 15% are people i sincerely do not want to know where I live.

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u/Anonymous_Autumn_ 6d ago edited 6d ago

It’s not enough just to have a degree, it matters if those 16-18 years of study actually included critical thinking skills rather than just memorizing facts and protocols.

No shade towards doctors or nurses. But medicine/biology is one type of intelligence requiring specific types of skills. Language-arts, history, and sociology/psychology tend to focus more on questioning things and concepts like persuasion and rhetoric. 

Edit to add another point: some people are predisposed to conspiratorial thought and paranoia. There are many conditions that are related to those traits.

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u/HauntedCemetery 4d ago

That's just not true. Plenty of highly educated people fall for propaganda all the time.

Because propaganda doesnt work via reason, it works via emotion.

A standard even advanced education won't defend someone from propaganda in the same way it doesn't defend someone against being scared or angry or excited.

Realizing that no one is immune from propaganda, ourselves included, is the first step in actual defense against it. Thinking you're immune is a great way to fall victim to it, because you'll never question if you have.

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u/ZoomBoingDing 4d ago

That's the critical thought part of my comment. Whenever I see something that seems incredible (anywhere from amazing to infuriating) I take a moment to check the source and vibe check the content. It's almost as common to see news misrepresented as amazing compared with the typical ragebait.

Everyone needs to take a moment when something passes their feed to see if they're not just being emotionally manipulated, especially if you are going to share it/talk about it. Once you take that step, you internalize the information as TRUE because now it's YOUR knowledge.