Do your own research can lead to stronger belief in false information.

in dyor •  10 months ago 

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/17/do-your-own-research-study/

https://www.niemanlab.org/2024/01/asking-people-to-do-the-research-on-fake-news-stories-makes-them-seem-more-believable-not-less/

I think my favorite example of this was Jeffrey Tucker touting a paper on masks from a fringe journal that was all about publishing wacky hypotheses. The authors didn't have to prove their hypotheses. So the journal was infamous for publishing AIDS denialism. One piece said facial hair prevented cancer. One said schizophrenia was caused by high heels.

Dude just searched PubMed, saw something he agreed with and ran with it. The piece in question was riddled with typos to boot lol. So I doubt he even read it carefully. Typos were even in the abstract.

Just because something is on the internet or even published in a journal doesn't mean it actually comes from a legitimate source. There are a lot of predatory journals out there. Or in this case it can be a really weird journal.

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I get your point, but appeal to authority - ESPECIALLY when sponsored by the state - isn't much better