Microchips. Bill Gates. The mark of the beast. 5G cell towers. False positive rates. Big pharma. DNA alteration. It’s been hard to avoid the swirling morass of misinformation and conspiracy theories around the pandemic. And this confusion and fear have surged in recent weeks as the first covid vaccines have begun to be rolled out. But why have so many people, including many in the church, fallen for untruths about coronavirus? Where has all our trust – in government, in science, even in doctors – gone? How can we steer a clear path through the toxic brew of lies and misinformation swamping the internet and social media?
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you may also want to read my article exploring some of the ethics and science involved in covid vaccines, and listen to our three-part podcast series on the same topic:
I have also pulled together an FAQ tackling some of the biggest conspiracy theories and misleading claims out there about the covid vaccines, which you can read here.
And lastly, the World Health Organisation have an excellent resource on how to assess and verify information you come across online to tackle what they call the ‘infodemic’ – Tim mentions this briefly at the end of the episode.