Letter: Local leaders should question their biases before spreading misinformation

What should you do when you see someone spread medical misinformation on Twitter, and how do we stop ourselves from doing the same?

It happens. We all participate in it, to some degree, even those who claim to support censorship of misinformation.

In late January 2022, a tweet was posted by Shannon Watts, who is not a medical professional, which claimed: "New study: Virus spread was 62 percent higher in school districts without mask rules."

It was quickly retweeted by several high-profile individuals, including Mayor Kim Norton, who represents the Med City.

Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding sarcastically claimed the "new study" was "shocking,” while explaining in second tweet that "it's obviously not shocking. We have long known mask mandates reduce infections.”

Add to that list a National NBC News Correspondent, as well.

It is easy and tempting to quickly retweet a headline. But what is needed is for all of us to take a little more time to validate the details and check our biases.

If you do, you might find, in this case, that it this information was not new (it was published 6 months ago) and it was not even a “study” (which would be subject to scientific rigor and review). Rather, it was from a single slide from a preliminary briefing. Most importantly, it used only 2 months of data and did not compensate for external factors such as community infection rate or community vaccination rate. Along with those shortcomings, as an NPR correspondent pointed out, later data showed that the effect completely disappeared by December.

The NBC correspondent was the lone person in our list to issue a correction, but the damage was already done. Her initial retweet garnered almost 5,000 retweets and over 7,000 likes, whereas her follow-up correction tweet got less than 50 retweets and only 155 likes.

As Jonathon Swift wrote, "Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect.”

Why does this happen? What makes us so susceptible to spreading misinformation, even when we know the danger of it?

Because it's human nature to attach ourselves to evidence that aligns with our viewpoints, and we easily forget to question that evidence.

In 1974, the late, great scientist Richard Feynman gave a Commencement Speech, in which he warned of "Cargo Cult Science.” He cautioned of science which "follow[s] all the apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but [misses] something essential". That essential element? That you must "try to give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another.

The grave difficulty with that is, if you are open and honest, people may look at the data and come to different conclusions than you. Conclusions that you might find dangerous to your health or well-being.

On top of that, if you share all of the facts, some of those facts may be cherry-picked and used against you. This is the price of honesty.

But if you don't question your biases, if you don't seek to prove yourself wrong every time you find something that confirms your biases, you'll find yourself sharing information that's proven incorrect time and time again, and eventually you'll have to admit that you've lost your scientific integrity.

Science is the pursuit of truth, a way of revealing facts only by eliminating every other factor. The truth is hidden under layers of assumptions. And the only way you find that truth, the real truth, is by being honest with yourself and endlessly questioning what you believe.

We must hold ourselves and others accountable for when we participate in our own form of Cargo Cult Science. Even if it's a single tweet. Even when the moment has passed.

Question your motives and listen to objections; especially when you're absolutely convinced the other side is wrong. Only then can we get to answers that actually work, or even just realize that our solutions don't.

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.” (Richard Feynman, Cargo-Cult Science)

—Kevin Lamping, Rochester