#but i am not immune to propaganda or misinformation if the conditions are just right to deceive me bc i'm human

[countrysunshine]

The Pandemic Gave Us a Very New Vocabulary

China announced the first case of a Novel Coronavirus in December 2019. (Covid-19). In late 2019, it had spread exponentially and was declared a pandemic in March 2020 by World Health Organization. Modern quarantine measures, such as lockdowns, curfews, banning community gatherings, cancellation of scheduled social and public activities, closure of mass transit networks, and other travel restrictions, have been implemented internationally to halt the spread of the COVID19 virus. These have impacted the majority (if not all) of the world’s population, dramatically altering what was previously considered normal and complicating aspects of everyday life that were previously easy and uncomplicated. Many people’s daily life has been drastically altered, and “normal” ways of life as we know them have been suspended indefinitely as well.

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed catastrophic threat to human civilization in terms of health, environment, and lifestyle. The primary impact of the virus is on human health, including direct respiratory system injury, compromise the immune system, aggravation of underlying medical conditions, and ultimately systemic failure and death. Furthermore, as quarantine or isolation has been imposed that involves separation from friends and family, as well as a change from normal daily routines, it jeopardizes the social, mental, and spiritual health of individuals.

When the virus spreads, so does the risk of misinformation and false evidence, which the WHO refers to as an "infodemic." The internet has become a common resource for learning about health and researching one's own health condition before claiming, "I am healthy!" without testing its legitimacy. So, what does health mean to you? Considering our current normal environment., does your own view of health changes? Are you one of those individuals who share fake news to scare? How and why should you avoid doing it? Do you keep yourself informed? Why do you think it is relevant to be informed and learn our current health status in this time?

As we embark in this new normal, the term “health” has become stereotyped. Health appears to be a straightforward concept, but as we draw closer and attempt to define and explain it, the solidity disappears. In this feature, health will be defined along with health education in a new normal setting.

Health is dynamic and ever-changing. Each person has their subjective definition of health. However, traditionally health has been defined in terms of the presence or absence of disease. As for the World Health Organization (WHO), “Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social, and spiritual well-being and not merely the absence of disease.” The four dimensions of health are physical, mental, social, and spiritual.

Physical- characterized in terms of functional status and the capacity to perform a wide range of activities, including self-care, household work, and leisure activities.

Mental- focused on anxiety disorders, positive well-being, and self-control

Social- developing relationships with others, both with people in immediate surroundings and with the larger community through cultural, spiritual, and political activities.

These dimensions are all interconnected, which means they affect one another. If one dimension is affected, the other will follow as well. For example, if an individual tested positive for the virus, some of his/her daily activities will be restricted. Must also avoid social environments so that he/she does not infect others, which may lead to feelings such as depression.

In this new normal setting, stereotyping health would be, not being infected by the virus. Being negative with the virus could mean that an individual has strong innate immunity with a good diet and healthy lifestyle thus enable them to perform daily living activities. We can then conclude that an individual is healthy. Nonetheless, health is more than just biological elements or social role performance and absence of the virus; it is a complex balance with the world setting and the “ability to live physically, emotionally, and socially.”

Health in the new normal setting is linked to governmental regulations. COVID-19 is a public health crisis that has imposed steep obstacles. The pandemic response poses significant challenges for the physical and mental health and social wellbeing, which are essential cornerstones of overall health. These measures have disproportionately impacted the marginalized and disadvantaged populations-especially those living in poverty, working in the informal economy, or lacking stable housing-threatening sustained access to the essential determinant of health.

Orders to “stay at home” impoverish societies by limiting public life keeping individuals out of it. The general populations freedom to move freely has been limited. The social isolation associated with the new normal setting has been shown to have a negative impact on a variety of mental health indicators. Loneliness, for instance, causes mood swings, depression, and an increase in overall mortality. Health necessitates more than disease eradication; it must be described and interpreted holistically since health is a human right that must be rendered clear.

However, although the negative outcome of this new normal setting is immense, we can also say that health is much like the yin and yang concept. Whereas yin represents darkness and positivity, and yang presents light and activity like improved hygiene. These concepts are necessary to maintain life’s balance and harmony. Health is greatly influenced by personal feelings—energy, comfort, and the ability to perform. Also, health is personal but an elastic concept and must not be compared to a species-wide baseline, but a personal phenomenological baseline. If an individual has the capacity to adapt well and maintain balance, stress and resultant disease, or limitation of action including social capacity are minimized.

In a new normal environment, health can also be defined as instrumental. The idea of health as an instrument is a different way of describing a contribution to society, both individually and collectively. In short, we are talking about how an individual's behavior and decisions that can affect improvements in health status. My ‘being healthy and keeping my family healthy is an instrument for preventing the spread of this disease in the population. Coronavirus does not only affect the elderly and others who are medically vulnerable. We are aware that it has the potential to impact and us. As a result, it is also our mutual duty to prevent the virus from spreading from person to person.

Pandemic is a word that if misused can cause unreasonable fear or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over leading to unnecessary suffering and death. As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps across the world, it has been accompanied by an enormous misinformation which the WHO described as an ‘infodemic’. At a time when reliable information is vital for public health, fake news and propaganda about COVID-19 is spreading even faster than the facts and is just as dangerous. It is important to protect the public false information.

At the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, health officials provided alerts and recommendations via various channels such as television and infographics on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This was often accompanied by the implementation of safety parameters on people's movement, which led in some degree of success in combating the virus. Some preventive measures, such as social isolation, regular hand washing, wearing face masks, and avoiding close contact with sick people or suspected Covid-19 cases, reduce the risk of infection with COVID-19. However, putting these steps into effect regularly is a major challenge.

Hence, health education may serve as a catalyst for the public to be informed to avoid risking their lives from the spreading  ‘appears to be true news’ ,  to promote behavioral change and empower communities which will assist them in adapting beneficial habits in this long battle against COVID-19 while we are in the new normal setting. Health education is not just for individual’s benefit but also that of others and to provide resources and opportunities to make such changes.

Some people may claimed they were at low to no risk because they underestimated the severity of the issue.

Therefore, improving people's habits necessitates motivating people to incorporate preventive behaviors in their everyday lives by supplying them with a clear rationale. The health education and information should be structured in a way that is understandable to the public and can connect with their own experience, but it should also be timely, factual, and acceptable to the relevant subgroups in the population.

At this time of the global pandemic, all of us can be a health educator. It is critical to remain an advocate for those in the society that are especially vulnerable—those who are facing this pandemic with all the anxiety and uncertainty that comes with it—in the context of existing mental health and related social challenges in this new normal setting. However, let us all be responsible and fight misinformation. Let us help and guide each other to pave a new path forward to the return of day amidst differences of behaviors, habits, and perspective.

[gaylebon]

Critical Thinking in Social Media News

What we believe shapes the way we live, think, act, feel, emote, share, relate and exist! When it comes to media that we consume, the facts are important and when we don’t have the ability (or perhaps do not realize the need) to filter fact from fiction we become victims and participants with propagandists and liars. We have a responsibility to ourselves to consume news with understanding, knowledge, and wisdom if we seek to be credible individuals. Also, our responsibility to others extends much farther than we think; a single shared story on a social media platform can reach thousands in a short time, thereby informing or misleading.

Differences Among Misinformation, Propaganda, and "Fake News" on Social Media.

Misinformation spreads faster than true information in some social media contexts. For instance, after the Toronto attack in 2019, Natasha Fatah published two accounts of the attacker, saying in one report that the attacker was “middle eastern and angry” and in another report that he was “white” (Meserole, 2018).. The fake version (middle eastern and angry) went viral, this is apparently due to confirmation bias, and the author of the article says that Twitter is like a confirmation bias machine (Meserole, 2018). Our closely held views drive our responses on social media, which then triggers the algorithms to promote tweets or posts with the higher number of responses (Meserole, 2018). In this case, and in most cases, following the crowd is no guarantee of being right.

Fake news is defined by Trend Micro Inc. as, “the promotion and propagation of news articles via social media. These articles are promoted in such a way that they appear to be spread by other users, as opposed to being paid-for advertising. The news stories distributed are designed to influence or manipulate users’ opinions on a certain topic towards certain objectives” (Trend Micro, Incorporated, 2017). So, not only are lies being promoted, they are being promoted in a sneaky and deceitful way. Their site says that three things create a triangle to promote fake news, here is the diagram:

Furthermore, the tools and services to promote various kinds of fake news are listed in this article, with prices attached, and include “Create a celebrity”, “Institute a Street Protest”, and “Discredit a Journalist” (Trend Micro, Incorporated, 2017). An example of a fake news story found on the Business Insider website is "Democrats Vote To Enhance Med Care for Illegals Now, Vote Down Vets Waiting 10 Years for Same Service" (Gilbert, 2019), this is one that I can see many of my friends falling for, it was fake news

Propaganda is used to spread the views of those who use it; whether this is done with a good or bad motive, it seeks to influence audiences toward a certain view. One article online lists seven different kinds of propaganda (Masud, 2019):

Bandwagon-relies on people’s desire to be like everyone else.

Card Stacking-relies on withholding some facts while promoting others.

Plain Folks-relies on using ordinary folks to promote products/services instead of celebrities.

Testimonial-relies on well-known celebrities or highly respected figures (such as doctors).

Glittering Generalities-relies on emotional appeal and/or vague statements.

Name Calling-relies on ridicule or bad-mouthing the competition (such as Burger King ad that ridicules MacDonalds-see below).

Transfer-relies on benefitting from negative or positive qualities of others (product, person, ideology) (Masud, 2019).

           One example of advertising propaganda used the transfer propaganda method; when major soft drink companies were under scrutiny for reported pesticide content in their drinks, juice companies and other drink companies benefitted as a healthy alternative (Masud, 2019).

           Another example, this time of political propaganda, is fake Russian social media accounts used to influence North American’s in the presidential election (PBS News Hour, 2017, October 31). 

Which Of These Three Categories Is Most Difficult To Detect And Why?

           Most of us are savvy enough to recognize certain kinds of advertisements that use propaganda (such as Burger King’s ridiculing McDonald’s ad).

However, it is a little more difficult to spot misinformation, which is basically just a lie dressed as the truth. Therefore, it is most beneficial to have a high amount of curiosity combined with a healthy dose of skepticism that will motivate you to look for more corroborating evidence.

Furthermore, propaganda can be difficult to spot, especially if we are not using critical thinking, asking lots of questions, and looking at sources and other views.

How Can Users Of Social Media Detect And Avoid Repeating Misinformation Or "Fake News"?

Standards of critical thinking are important steps or markers of intelligent consumption of social media, they are clarity, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, logic, significance, and fairness (Meegan, n.d.). By understanding and implementing these standards we are less likely to fall for fake news and more likely to spot genuine, factual content. Take breadth for example; breadth expresses all sides of the story, giving us enough information for at least a start in understanding motivation and facts that would be hidden if only one side was represented (Meegan, n.d.). I personally make it a habit to only post stories that are factual (as far as I can determine); I search for opposing views and if I inadvertently post fake news or misinformation, I post a retraction and remove the original post. In this way I feel that I am being as responsible as possible.

Additionally, check out any sources that are provided and look for opposing views, or even just different perspectives. You may still not be able to determine all the facts, but you will be better armed to resist fake news, propaganda, and misinformation. Revealing the source of propaganda goes a long way toward providing the information needed to determine the credibility of stories on mass media or social media (Farkas, 2018).

Credibility: a Critical Aspect of Social Media.

           Social media as a source of news, opinion, entertainment, and advertisement is a fact; most people use SoMe (social media) this way. Credibility still follows known name brands and news sources; this is important in knowing who we are allowing to shape our views. Everyone is on SoMe and this is something we must keep in mind; anyone, and everyone, can have a presence there and not everyone is credible. Furthermore, purposely choosing known, credible sources may eliminate the chances of falling for fake news (Storehaug, 2019). Though we may be more likely to receive factual information from credible sources, be aware that our personal views and biases determine which sources we believe are credible.

Distinguishing Credibility in Social Media Versus Mass Media.

           Revealing sources is key in discovering the credibility of information intended to influence the public politically or otherwise. It seems that social media is uniquely positioned and equipped to influence the public, whether for good or evil. Because of this ability, the public should always question every source about any important subject. While mass media is not immune from this issue, it is less far-reaching (Farkas, 2018).

Moreover, propaganda is not new, nor is it only used for lying and misinformation. Propaganda theory looks at propaganda as being “grey”, “black”, or “white”; white propaganda displays “clear and overt sources” (Farkas, 2018) while black and grey propaganda do not (Farkas, 2018). Farkas (2018) says this about understanding “black” or “white” forms of propaganda “we have to investigate their underlying technological and political conditions and causes: Why are they there? What purposes do they serve? And what are their modes of operation?” (Farkas, 2018).

Gayle

                                                 References

Farkas, J. (2018). Disguised propaganda on social media: Addressing democratic dangers and solutions. Brown Journal of World Affairs, 25(1), 1–16.

Masud, M. (2019). 7 Types & examples of propaganda techniques to blow your mind.

Retrieved from https://advergize.com/advertising/examples-of-propaganda/

Meegan, G. (n.d.). The intellectual standards [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://theelementsofthought.org/the-intellectual-standards/

Meserole, C. (2018). How misinformation spreads on social media—And what to do about it. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/05/09/how-misinformation-spreads-on-social-media-and-what-to-do-about-it/

PBS News Hour. (2017, October 31). Social media giants are vulnerable to foreign propaganda. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/MKfThgvFAG8

Storehaug, P. (2019). Social media marketing influence versus mass media. Retrieved from https://cloudnames.com/en/blog/social-media-marketing-influence/

Trend Micro, Incorporated (2017). The fake news machine; How propagandists abuse the internet and manipulate the public. Retrieved from https://documents.trendmicro.com/assets/white_papers/wp-fake-news-machine-how-propagandists-abuse-the-internet.pdf

Gilbert, B. (2019). The 10 most-viewed fake-news stories on Facebook in 2019 were just revealed in a new report. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/most-viewed-fake-news-stories-shared-on-facebook-2019-2019-11#8-tim-allen-quote-trumps-wall-costs-less-than-the-obamacare-website-3