/oss/taxonomy/term/5081/all en /oss/article/critical-thinking/about-those-angry-emails <p>“When an immovable fact meets an unstoppable feeling.” This is the title of <a href="https://buttondown.email/liminalcreations/archive/solicited-advice-on-feelings/">a newsletter article</a> from Liz Neeley, a science communicator who studied marine biology. In a mere eight words—which play on a 3<sup>rd</sup>-century text about a merchant selling a spear that can pierce any shield <i>and </i>a shield that blocks any spear—Neeley succinctly summarizes the central problem of debunking.</p> Fri, 09 Feb 2024 18:41:09 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9828 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/i-watched-weeks-worth-rfk-jrs-fear-inducing-tv-channel <p>As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. throws his hat in the latest American presidential race, it would be easy to confine his bad ideas to the label “anti-vaccine.” He is, after all, the founder and chairman of the board (now on leave) of the Children’s Health Defense (CHD), one of the leading anti-vaccine organizations. This line of work has been very lucrative to him.</p> Fri, 07 Jul 2023 10:00:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9564 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/outfoxed <p>Tucker Carlson, the FOX Network’s brightest star shines no more. He and the network have “agreed to part ways” which is an obfuscating way of saying he was fired. Why should I care? Because Carlson was a five-star general in the army of misinformants that has invaded not only the political but the scientific landscape as well. I was always of the opinion that Carlson was an actor playing a role that was created to appeal to the views of FOX’s conservative viewers, since I couldn’t believe that he actually believed the nonsense he was spewing.</p> Wed, 26 Apr 2023 10:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 9491 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking/belief-conspiracy-theories-probably-not-getting-worse-over-time <p>A question I am often asked by journalists is if more people believe in conspiracy theories now than before. Sometimes, the question is not even asked; the answer is simply inferred. Of course they are.</p> <p>Even I often feel like it must be true. The COVID-19 pandemic has a twin, an infodemic, which often relies on grand conspiracy theories to be believable. We have all heard the stories that a shadowy “they” don’t want you to know that ivermectin is miraculous and that the vaccines, funded by Bill Gates, are full of tracking devices.</p> Thu, 28 Jul 2022 13:46:51 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9194 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19/shedding-light-illusionary-connections <p>We may have left 2021 behind, but unfortunately, the misinformation that characterized the past year continues unabated. Betty White, comedienne extraordinaire, passed away on December 31, just eighteen days shy of her one-hundredth birthday. It didn’t take long for zealous members of the anti-vax community to link her death with the booster shot she received three days earlier.  </p> Fri, 07 Jan 2022 21:37:05 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 8972 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/zen-and-art-talking-conspiracy-theorists <p>Imagine if a close family member told you your romantic partner was a bad match for you. Not only is your loving partner being criticized, but you feel personally attacked as well. If your relative is right in their assessment, how likely are you to listen to them? Wouldn’t you rather fight back?</p> Thu, 25 Feb 2021 18:21:39 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8634 at /oss /oss/article/critical-thinking/tips-better-thinking-images-can-be-faked <p>Faked photographs have been with us<a href="https://gizmodo.com/the-first-photo-was-faked-150-years-before-photoshop-ex-1697072182"> since the beginning of photography itself</a>, but the wide availability of software and social media has made the creation and distribution of these visual fabrications so much easier. As we hunger for information during the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to be constantly aware that the shocking photos our friends share with us on the Internet are not always true, even when they seem to come from… CNN.</p> Wed, 13 Jan 2021 11:00:05 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8553 at /oss /oss/article/covid-19-critical-thinking/doctor-carl-sagan-warned-us-about <p>Predictions made by psychics and astrologers tend to quickly fade from memory because of how wrong they often turn out to be, but one prediction made by Carl Sagan, an astrophysicist and famous science communicator, is so unfortunately on the money that it continues to outlive him.</p> Thu, 07 Jan 2021 19:41:00 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 8548 at /oss