Where did you hear that?

As discussed last week once you hear a lie three times you start to believe that it is true...

http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2020/08/if-you-tell-lie-three-times-people-will.html

So that means who or what you listen to matters a great deal.  Choose your sources properly or you could be believing all sorts of outlandish things.

A new study from Pew Research found that Americans who get their news from social media are less knowledgeable about a wide range of events and issues in the news such as the Covid-19 outbreak.  But at the same time they are more aware of the conspiracy theory that powerful people intentionally planned the Covid-19 pandemic.  (Mitchell, Jurowitz, Oliphant & Shearer, 2020)

It's not surprising that the disengaged are more likely to believe fake news.  Fake news spreads faster and wider than news based on actual facts.  And people getting their news from social media are more disengaged and therefore more likely to only skim the headlines.  (Lohr, 2020)

But they do need to be careful, least they end up drinking bleach.

Lohr, S. (2018, March 8) It’s True: False News Spreads Faster and Wider. And Humans Are to Blame. nytimes.com.  Retrieved September 1, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/technology/twitter-fake-news-research.html

Mitchell, A., Jurowitz, M., Oliphant, J. & Shearer, E. (2020, July 30)  Americans Who Mainly Get Their News on Social Media Are Less Engaged, Less Knowledgeable.  Pew Research Center.  Retrieved September 1, 2020, from  https://www.journalism.org/2020/07/30/americans-who-mainly-get-their-news-on-social-media-are-less-engaged-less-knowledgeable/