Thought of the Day - May 28 2021 - Disinformation

I saw a note in the paper concerning an opinion poll about asking Canadians if the pandemic has permanently eroded their trust in governments. Unsurprisingly more than 60% said it had, at both the Federal and Provincial levels - it should be noted that in the Atlantic Provinces, which had some of the most restrictive yet consistent measures, provincial distrust was a third of the national average.

Authorities around the world are now starting to realize the disinformation provided to support incompetent actions is coming back to haunt them. Thus, as just happened in the UK ( Thought of the Day - May 26 2021 - Crisis, What Crisis? ), "come clean" exercises are now underway across the western world to try to reverse public sentiment.

Biden, for example, just announced he has asked for a report on the SARS-CoV-2 origin on his desk in 90-days. In response, Facebook (and I am sure other social media platforms will follow suit) will no longer be blocking opinions that are not in line with the "zoological official truth", a policy they implemented early last year "in consultation with public health experts".

Doug Ford apologized at the end of last month for the heavy-handed pandemic measures. “We got it wrong, we made a mistake… I’m sorry and I sincerely apologize,” Ford said while speaking outside his home where he is currently quarantining after a member of his staff recently tested positive for COVID-19. “I will always try to do what’s right,” Ford said. “If we get something wrong, we’ll fix it.”

France has blown the whistle on special interest groups that were paying to spread false data concerning the death rate from the Pfizer vaccine, saying fatalities were three times higher than AZ.

I am not suggesting that lions-share of disinformation comes from government sources. But what I am sure of is we will see many more disclosures, as governments seek to rebuild their image by admitting the mistakes of the past or becoming the good guys by actively getting to the root of the vast array of COVID disinformation.

Cheers

Cliff