ultimately, every individual is responsible for what they choose to take as truth. this is why there has been such an aggressive assault on critical thinking in favor of "parental authority"-- just believe what you're told and stop asking questions.
it's not that hard to separate the plausible from the questionable, from the obvious bullshit.
as an example, dr. fauci is a doctor. he's been a doctor for decades, has risen to high positions in the field, has been producing research, also for decades, which has been cited by other experts in the field frequently. and, prior to bullshit claims by trump and the entire GOP, was never the subject of any controversy.
so the discerning mind has no trouble concluding that it's reasonable to assume that fauci, who knows what he's talking about and has no apparent reason to mislead the entire world, is a credible source of information, while trump, a notorious conman who told 30,000 verifiable lies in his first term alone is absolutely NOT. so the GOP preaches "vaccines are bad," and the "patriotic" american says "vaccines are bad"
yes it's fucking mind-bogglingly stupid, but the problem isn't a lack of availability of information, the problem is information literacy--the skill (yes skill) to separate truth (even if only "likely" truth) from fiction (even if comically obviously fiction). which the GOP is actively, deliberately, visciously undermining, while no one says a thing, because we're preoccupied by nazi gestapo trump cultists rounding up innocent citizens because they're brown
related: you're not going to 100% die (or even get sick. yes really) if you skip a meal (or even 2), fatass.
edit: i have to add another thing
diamond engagement rings are absolute 100% bullshit, which, as a genXer, i only learned later in life. i wouldn't be adding this if there weren't still way too many people who are completely bamboozled by this fake "tradition" invented solely to make obscenely wealthy people even more obscenely wealthy.
if you're going to flood your veins with 500 grams of pure glucose, might as well do both. eat the waffle regularly, and wrap the pancakes around sausages and dunk them in that salad bowl of syrup you're also eating all of
who could have EVER guessed the fat drunk wifebeater-wearing "der terk er jerrrrrbs" americans wouldn't sign up to do back breaking manual labor for minimum wage for 12 hours a day?
why the fuck is this a problem...seriously if more people rubbed one out once in a while, the world would be a much more peaceful and less rapey place to live
ultimately, every individual is responsible for what they choose to take as truth. this is why there has been such an aggressive assault on critical thinking in favor of "parental authority"-- just believe what you're told and stop asking questions.
it's not that hard to separate the plausible from the questionable, from the obvious bullshit.
as an example, dr. fauci is a doctor. he's been a doctor for decades, has risen to high positions in the field, has been producing research, also for decades, which has been cited by other experts in the field frequently. and, prior to bullshit claims by trump and the entire GOP, was never the subject of any controversy.
so the discerning mind has no trouble concluding that it's reasonable to assume that fauci, who knows what he's talking about and has no apparent reason to mislead the entire world, is a credible source of information, while trump, a notorious conman who told 30,000 verifiable lies in his first term alone is absolutely NOT. so the GOP preaches "vaccines are bad," and the "patriotic" american says "vaccines are bad"
yes it's fucking mind-bogglingly stupid, but the problem isn't a lack of availability of information, the problem is information literacy--the skill (yes skill) to separate truth (even if only "likely" truth) from fiction (even if comically obviously fiction). which the GOP is actively, deliberately, visciously undermining, while no one says a thing, because we're preoccupied by nazi gestapo trump cultists rounding up innocent citizens because they're brown