> "In short, humans are really bad at evaluating risk, especially in our current media environment which is has a very low Signal to noise ratio."
that needs to be printed and hung on every door in america, as a constant reminder that we're in all the messes we're in because we're individually, and sometimes even collectively, bad at assessing risk.
the near-singular infatuation with covid relative to everything else that can and does kill us is rationally misguided (which is not to say ignore covid, just put it in its relative place). and news outlets like npr and nytimes that used to be considered relatively neutral are simply no longer trustworthy. self-righteous assertions of control with little concrete understanding is a dangerous road to be traveling down.
Not only that, but many Americans seem to misinterpret satire, like the Fox News entertainment network tends to broadcast, as fact or news.
I think it comes down to poor education. Not being familiar with the pedagogy I am certainly not in a position to recommend improvements, but I can say that if the obvious is getting so badly misinterpreted to the point of real harm, someone has not learned the basics very well.
well, to be fair, i think most fox newsers "believe" the commentary because of identity and a desire to will things into fact, rather than a serious, considered conviction. there's no desire to critique, and folks are generally aware of this, though not always omnipresently in their minds and actions.
you see the same phenomenon in church membership too, which legitimizes and reinforces this behavior in secular life. those used to be more compartmentalized, but that seems to have become unbound over the past 40-50 years, with (mostly) republican politicians intentionally blurring church and state for political gain.
our education could improve, especially around rationality and critical thinking, but i don't think that will make (or would have made) a large dent in the behaviors of fox newsers. they're largely responding to both an intentional and mutually-reinforced misperception of risk of "others" all around encroaching on their otherwise pure and wholesome lives. it's a totally unfounded risk, but that's beside the point, because the intention is tribalist, not rationalist (similar to maskers who prioritize compliance over risk appropriateness).
tribalism is the problem, put to very effective use by the will to power to divide and conquer. an effective contravention is to widen the tribe to include everyone, but that's hard to achieve and maintain.
that needs to be printed and hung on every door in america, as a constant reminder that we're in all the messes we're in because we're individually, and sometimes even collectively, bad at assessing risk.
the near-singular infatuation with covid relative to everything else that can and does kill us is rationally misguided (which is not to say ignore covid, just put it in its relative place). and news outlets like npr and nytimes that used to be considered relatively neutral are simply no longer trustworthy. self-righteous assertions of control with little concrete understanding is a dangerous road to be traveling down.