/oss/taxonomy/term/6383/all en /oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/who-likely-believe-conspiracy-theories <p>Pre-pandemic, the question I would most often get was, “How do I know whom to trust when it comes to health and science information?”</p> <p>Over three years after a new virus began sweeping the globe, the question I hear again and again is, “Why is it that my husband/sister/aunt/father believes in all this conspiratorial nonsense?”</p> Fri, 28 Jul 2023 13:49:24 +0000 Jonathan Jarry M.Sc. 9588 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