Joe Rogan is upset at CNN’s Jim Acosta for claiming he took “horse dewormer.” The implication is that Rogan heard some conspiracy theory, went down to Tractor Supply and self medicated.
Rogan says he got the medicine from a doctor.
Ivermectin is not approved by the FDA as a treatment for Covid, but it is approved for human use for other things, and it’s my understanding that doctors often prescribe a medicine that’s used for one thing to treat something else. (I’m not promoting Ivermectin or anything else. If you have a medical issue, talk to your doctor.)
Now someone might say “what Acosta said is true. Ivermectin is also used as a horse dewormer.” Sure. It’s true in some aspergery / asshole sort of way. And warfarin is also rat poison, so would it be fair for a news guy to say that somebody was taking rat poison? As if he just went to the hardware store and bought rat poison because he read some stupid article on the Internet?
Acosta — like so many other people in the media — is a partisan liar. His goal is not to inform, but to infect and inflame.
It’s come to the point (actually we’re well past the point) that you should never believe anything you hear in the media until it’s confirmed by multiple sources on opposite sides of the partisan divide.
Somewhat along these lines, a professional friend posted a link to this article: Facebook posts from misinformation sources get 6 times more engagement than reputable news sites, new study says
I commented as follows.
This article highlights three things that seem incredibly obvious to me.
- People are more engaged by fake news. It tickles the ears and scratches where people itch. Truth isn’t so accommodating.
- Any system / structure that crowdsources news is going to promote more and more fake news.
- Systems that crowdsource news are not in the public interest.
If Rogan went to a doctor, then, no, he didn’t take horse dewormer because he would have taken a dose formulated and appropriate for humans. They’re still doing studies. I’ll wait to see what they say.
But, many are taking horse dewormer. Deacon at my parish got Covid and then went to the feed store and got ivermectin–green apple flavored. That is taking horse dewormer if you ask me. He didn’t need a script at the feed store.
Is believing nothing prudent? Or, is being discerning and confirming what’s true better?
For instance, it’s indeed been inaccurately reported by that:
• Biden nor his administration came to honor the return of service members remains
• #Walkaway was likely to diminish the Democratic party
• Covid would dissipate with warm weather and there wouldn’t be a second Covid wave
• A “Kranken” would be released to prove there was verifiable wide-spread voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election
• Victims of the Sandy Hook massacre were child actors and no one was actually killed there
• The US didn’t have any successful radical Islamic terrorist attacks until Obama was elected
Yet, some stories that were initially thought to be inaccurate actually turned out to be valid. To name a few:
• Trump resorts hung fake Time magazine covers featuring Donald Trump
• A 2020 agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban called for the release of up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners who were held by the Afghan government
• Georgia HB 531 would make it a misdemeanor to give voters in line food or water
• Protesters outside the White House were met with tear gas, rubber bullets, a full militarized response while January 6 rioters were able to breach the Capitol
• The acting director of Homeland Security testified that white supremacist extremists in 2018-19 were the most persistent and lethal threat when referring to domestic violent extremists
• Under a controversial 2015 agreement, Iran limited its enriched uranium to 202.8 kilograms and maintained that until the Trump administration withdrew from the agreement. International inspectors reported in September 2020 that Iran had increased its enriched uranium supply to 2,105 kilograms
So, we can see it’s a mixed bag. Given that, I’d suggest being open to all sources of information and then fact-check and confirm what is accurate and debunk and expose what isn’t.