Jim Pond | Apr 07, 2021


We live in a world of misinformation and disinformation. As thoughtful and thinking citizens of a free society, it is our responsibility to carefully distill any information provided to us and to make our own independent decisions about what is true and what is not. Because we are free, we do not want to be told what to believe.

It is a mistake to blindly accept any source of information provided to us as being authoritative. This includes both the mainstream media as well as the alternative media. Neither of these two sources in isolation will provide us a true perspective on the world. We should recognize that blindly accepting at face value anything published by the CBC or PBS NewsHour - or any media source for that matter - is akin to thinking that Soviet era citizens actually believed what was published in Pravda.

We must pursue our own truths and not accept other's version of the truth. In today's society, a technique used to advance one's agenda is to attempt to classify those of a different opinion to yours as being "misinformation". There are other similar methods we can observe in our culture that have a similar intent - to classify one as being "racist" or "sexist" or promoting "hate speech", all to advance an argument. Another common technique employed that we encounter is for officials to fall back on the rhetoric of "relying upon science" or to use an example, when presenting information related to the climate, that "the science is settled". The essence of science is to present a hypothesis and to back it up with empirical evidence, and to allow an open debate to take place. This is in contrast to using a scientific basis to tell people how to think, which is what happens when we are told "the science is settled".

As casual observers of schoolyard play, one can recognize that when one cannot convince another of their point of view, name calling is the go-to tool of choice, and if that does not work, little boys sometimes turn to fisticuffs. This is the same human behavior applied on a grander scale.

It is ironic that the CBC article referenced in the April 1st "Letters", which describes how misinformation is being propagated about the Covid-19 pandemic, actually contains misinformation. As thoughtful readers, we must recognize that a single point of view is being promoted in this article, and also as thoughtful readers, we must identify red flags that would indicate an attempt to influence our beliefs. For example, dismissing the alternative media outlet InfoWars outright as being "far-right conspiracy" exposes the CBC's inherent bias. As another example, presenting the idea that there are people who believe the acronym Covid-19 stands for "certificate of vaccination identification" is a way to portray the alternative point of view as being irrational. Again, as thoughtful readers, we should recognize such nonsense and not give it credence.

You and I must decide what is the truth based on facts. With respect to Covid-19, there are some basic facts that are intuitively obvious. People who are old or who have pre-existing health conditions are at most risk to die from the virus. That is a fact. The Covid-19 therapies currently being administered to our citizens are experimental treatments with unknown long-term side effects. This too is a fact. 

In many matters in life, tolerance and respect for alternative points of view are basic components of being free and of living in a democracy.

Jim Pond

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