Twitter removed a tweet by Rudy Giuliani yesterday. In his tweet, Giuliani was spreading misinformation about the coronavirus and attacking the Governor of Michigan. Giuliani quoted Charlie Kirk who claims that the unproven anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine “in at least three international tests was found 100% effective in treating the coronavirus.” This is not true! Donald Trump has also touted this same drug as a potential coronavirus cure, while physicians warn of its serious and inherent dangers. It is misinformation!
For the last four years the truth has been usurped and displaced by a self-serving version of events or facts, “with whatever selectivity, distortion, falsehood, manipulation, exaggeration, evasion, and concoction necessary” to maintain a narcissistic personality. Some say it began with the Inauguration crowd, but I would suggest it began long before. Truth in the sense of eventful and factual matter does not exist in the present quagmire. When truth is no longer “true,” when it is compromised, prefabricated, fabricated, and/or ignored—the whole company of heaven and earth becomes a seedbed of misinformation, disinformation, and lies!
Conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation about the origin, scale, prevention, and treatment of the coronavirus are thriving in the social media world. The World Health Organization has declared the virus a pandemic—but has also declared a “massive infodemic” as the world is peppered with incorrect information about the virus, making “it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it,” thus posing risks to global health.
In February 2020, US Senator Tom Cotton suggested the virus may have been a Chinese bioweapon. Rush Limbaugh said that the virus was probably “a ChiCom laboratory experiment”….an attempt “to bring down Donald Trump.” Russia said the virus is a biological weapon manufactured by the CIA. On and on it goes…bots and trollbots…making an array of false claims all over the Internet. When the denial of truth has been practiced at the highest echelons of government, truth ceases to be — and then anything goes and we’ve got it coming from out of everywhere!
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