By CAITLIN GIBSON | The Washington Post | Published: April 30, 2021
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See more staff and wire stories here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription. Days before the plane touched down in Arlington, Va., on a clear April evening, 5-year-old Akiko Kotcher was already preparing for her grandmother s arrival. She excitedly announced the upcoming visit to her virtual kindergarten class and made colorful welcome signs to decorate the house. She built a fortress of pillows and blankets in the guest bedroom, so she could be as close as possible to her grandmother, even as they slept.
A Right-Wing Think Tank Is Behind the Controversial Great Barrington Declaration Calling for COVID-19 Herd Immunity
An open letter that emerged earlier this month opposing COVID-19 shutdowns and calling for a “herd immunity” approach to addressing the coronavirus which already has claimed over 220,000 American lives is one of the latest examples of how right-wing ideology and think tanks that have long cultivated climate science denial are now engaging in COVID disinformation and promoting messaging dangerous to public health.
Known as the Great Barrington Declaration, this statement advocating for herd immunity was introduced in early October at an event hosted by the American Institute for Economic Research, a conservative free-market think tank located in the western Massachusetts town of Great Barrington. This think tank, funded in part through a corporate investment firm with holdings in major oil and petrochemical companies, operates a network for the internation
Talks and Presentations
1 April 2021: Skeptical Inquirer - Gaming against Misinformation
John Cook gave a webinar for the Skeptical Inquirer about using gamification and cartoons to overcome some of the psychological hurdles facing scientists and educators as they respond to misinformation. Learn about a number of psychological challenges which hinder the countering of misinformation and science denial and how gamification offers a unique opportunity to convert effortful critical thinking tasks into quicker, easier heuristics. In this presentation, John Cook outlines how he applied psychological and critical thinking research into inoculation and how his Cranky Uncle game can help with the task.
Fluke or Future Texas Digs Out from Extreme Weather Event / Public News Service publicnewsservice.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from publicnewsservice.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.