Yes, there was a problem with misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, this was a part of the reason some people refused the vaccine. No, misinformation is not a valid reason to attack people who have a different viewpoint than yours.
I have brought this up before. We push everybody through a disastrous schooling system that promotes a fear of being wrong. This fear of being wrong has people turning to those they trust to dictate their personal thoughts. In many ways, the pandemic exploited misinformation and the fear of being wrong to further amplify the fear of thought. People don't want to be wrong, so they were quicker to embrace the official narrative behind everything.
There is value in listening to experts. That doesn’t mean that we should let experts dictate our personal beliefs. To further complicate things, most people weren't actually listening to the experts. They were listening to an intentionally skewed portrayal of the experts. There's a big difference between seeking out information directly from experts and turning to news sources with political agendas for their portrayals of the experts. More importantly, as I have already stated, listening to experts is a different concept from personal opinions and decisions.
Technically speaking, personal opinions and decisions are not right or wrong. Personal thoughts are not right or wrong. The fear of falling for misinformation hasn't just kept certain people from turning to questionable sources. It has fueled a fear of having the wrong thoughts.
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