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I am MORTIFIED that I used the wrong "too" in the subject line to this post. I have committed a lot of sins in this life and this is near the top. There are a few Webworm readers that message me whenever I make a spelling mistake - and I assure you I will be hearing from them today! :P

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by David Farrier

This might be a thankless job but please remember - the main success of this type of work is largely silent. It's not likely the people who disagree with you in the comments will change their mind - rather the truly hesitant/considerate/willing to learn, who scroll and read silently without saying anything, and gain new perspective from the things you say & are schooled by the information you present.

You'll never know just how many "watchers" there are or how much of an effect you've had, but please keep on making sense!

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by David Farrier

“It’s a thankless job, but hey, I’m a teacher: I’m used to that.”

Oof. That's an unfortunately common refrain from teachers. And we're seeing the results of undervaluing teaching all around us now, with so many people lacking the critical thinking skills people like Nick teach.

I still remember one of my teachers in primary school giving us homework to find misleading advertising in the newspaper. I distinctly remember looking through the paper with my Mum and finding an ad for exercise equipment with a big "50% OFF!" on it, and a tiny little "Up to" in the top left corner. Hardly the biggest advertising sin in the world, but I remember the light bulb going off in my head, "Hey, they're trying to trick me!"

I definitely didn't recognise it at the time (to be fair, I was ten years old) but that was pretty formative for me, and I'm so glad that teacher made the effort.

Just as I'm glad Nick is making the effort, both as a teacher and as an online educator and antidisinformationalist, which is word I now enjoy.

Thanks again for providing a space for other people to share, David.

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Huge respect for Nick's mahi both on Facebook and his awesome threads of research on twitter. Thank you!

I hope my kids are lucky enough to get an awesome high school teacher like him teaching critical thinking and digital literacy with passion and humour. They are such important skills nowadays. Ka pai e hoa!

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I'm impressed with Nick's fortitude!

I spent about 2 months balls-deep in the NZ Centre for Political Research (i.e. Hobsons Choice, aka Racist, anti-govt, anti-vax, anti-logic) facebook group gently subverting with facts and real data.

I became so tired and anxious being blocked came as an odd relief.

Misinformation is so easy to digest and facts are not the friend of those who do not trust or align with balanced political views.

Well done Nick!

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Thank you Nick! We need people like you to continue to challenge - gently - the narratives that are springing up around the place that are so firmly entrenched in confirmation bias and fear/ego that I fear for the sanity of society at times. At times I drop back from a sense of self preservation and sanity (like since my muso friend sent me the Joe Rogan rant and I sent him one countering JR's rants....) but when my courage returns I will keep pushing back, and challenging, in the way that you are by including actual decent sources of info for review. If even one or two people pick up on this and start to question their beliefs, it will reinforce my (currently shaky) belief in humanity. I feel like I am going through an actual grief process around some of the anti vax threats and furious insults. Kia kaha everyone. <3 :-(

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by David Farrier

A very conservative friend of mine who was reluctant to get the vaccine, ended up getting Covid last month. He got pretty sick but didn’t need to be hospitalized. He told me until he got it, he didn’t really believe Covid was real. Keep in mind, he has a friend who was intubated *twice* the summer of 2020. The guy’s voice is permanently messed up from the tube.

I didn’t get a chance to ask follow up questions but I’m curious if my friend’s family members still don’t believe in Covid either, even though Paul got it. He did say he plans on getting vaccinated when he can. He still doesn’t trust what’s in the vaccine but if he can prevent someone else from getting sick, then he will.

It just amazes me that even when a close friend got sick enough to be intubated, he still didn’t believe Covid was real until he actually got sick with it

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by David Farrier

Good for you Nick! I wonder if giving correct info gets any traction at all when people are as you say so emotionally invested. I think vaccine denial or whatever goes more to values and ideology. Asking 'What do you fear?' or 'What is most important in society?' or 'What makes a person good? might be worth something. It is like those decisions are actually made further back in a person's psychological makeup. A decision that you can't trust anyone, or that people generally like you, or that new things are usually bad, for example. We may not even be aware that we made these decisions as they are a kind of cumulative decision based on a bank of felt experiences. I have a friend who has gone full noise on anti vax. Her baby died of SIDS 30 years ago and none of her subsequent children were vaccinated. Much of her life has been around loss and anger for that baby. Her political stance now is all about grief; it is where the personal is political

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by David Farrier

The comment about doctors who have fallen down the rabbit hole reminds me of Dietrich Bonhoeffer "There are human beings who are of remarkably agile intellect yet stupid, and others who are intellectually quite dull yet anything but stupid". The full quote can be found at https://religiousgrounds.wordpress.com/2016/05/11/bonhoeffer-on-stupidity-entire-quote/

Unfortunately, those of us who trust the science are hamstrung by the need to correct minor inaccuracies all the while arguing against those for whom truth and honesty hold no sway or relevance. On that note the comment by Nick Wilson about the vaccinated dying of COVID-19 "especially if they are very young" is probably not accurate. The vaccine is not approved for less than 5 year olds at the moment, and very few around the world in the very young age bracket have been immunised. Also while the very young can get very sick and die from the virus, children, even babies, appear much more likely to react to SARS-COV-2 as they would to well known viruses like influenza and adenovirus. There are very rare late syndromes (PIMS-TS/MIS-C), but at a population level these are very small numbers. The real reason to immunise children is to protect those around them that they need to love, protect, guide and educate them - parents, teachers, grandparents, family friends etc. The number of children who have lost a primary caregiver to this virus is incredibly sad.

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by David Farrier

Incredible to watch this version of the first draft of history write itself. I think before social media, most regular people were happy to read about or watch history unfold in MSM. But Patricia Lockwood pointed out how she and the other “extremely online” folks felt an urge to witness and shape how the story gets told. This is the drive— folks feel they are actually participating in creating history and can’t risk not being part of that responsibility. It puts a new onus on anti-truthers. The battle lines are drawn for what “history” even becomes…

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Dec 15, 2021Liked by David Farrier

I know of someone who created political Facebook pages that had a very Republican (or freedom) sounding names and images but then shared news that was actually pro-Democrats in a subtle way. Using this technique for politics feels way shadier than what Nick is doing, but upsettingly it feels like for the playing field to be level everyone needs to get down in the mud (at least to reach a certain part of the population). Also, fuck Republicans and their covid denying.

Using fake disinformation is a such a weird thing to have to weaponise. Does it only work for the part of the audience that's centrist voting or vax-hesitant, and just needs a little push to be swayed either way? I guess maybe that's OK because I can't work out how you can change someone's mind who refuses to believe facts by sharing facts that you can't cite as facts.....

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by David Farrier

Hehehehehehe my sock account’s profile pic is in his screenshot of the group. She’s in there to make silly antivax comments that actually support the vaccine. Such as “omg i have friends who had the vx when pregnt I begged them not to but they did anyway but lucky the lord answered my prayers and their baby’s are all ok!!!” (Which is truth, I do know a good handful of women who were vaccinated while pregnant with no adverse effects on them and baby.)

But then she got sick of the constant barrage of easily debunkable rubbish that is spread in there and accepted without question and as readily as coins in a tithing bowl and got into arguing. Then had to lay low for a while because she made too much sense and got told on to She Who Must Be Obeyed.

It would be interesting to find out how many of us are in there to monitor (Or for a laugh) compared to how many are genuinely in there. It’s a sad and infuriating place to be.

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Dec 14, 2021Liked by David Farrier

Nick Wilson and all great teachers battling misinformation for New Zealander of the Year! I agree, there’s sure to be quite a few who quietly benefit from this service, though it sucks for Nick and anyone who can stomach battling the disinformation on these groups. I just wish they’d make the actors behind them accountable - the politicians, preachers, Fox News anchors, fraudulent medical professionals and of course, the Zuck. Source of most evil.

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Dec 15, 2021Liked by David Farrier

Well done Nick for your dedication and thankless endeavour! I’m always disheartened to read how unwilling people are to ‘update’ their opinions when given new information and actual facts. I just can’t imagine being so arrogant to believe my own bullshit without a willingness to learn new things, reflect and adjust. Isn’t that what life’s about? Imagine just reaching a point where you decide you know it all! I assume it’s fear based, if they need to adjust these beliefs what else might be wrong in their lives? I don’t know, but I love Nick’s dedication and I love that in all the darkness he helped some people and educated them, that’s a beautiful thing.

Another great read, thank you David, I so look forward to these little glimmers into the shit show of humanity and you and your writers take on it all.

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Dec 15, 2021Liked by David Farrier

Glad to hear you are feeling better David

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