In these days of navigating icebergs of
misinformation, it is helpful to take the time to learn a little
background on the Trump whisperers at Fox and Friends: Steve Doocy;
Ainsley Earhardt; and Brian Kilmeade; and Dr. Laura Ingraham, and
Sean Hannity. While not everyone who goes through the motions of
post-secondary education actually come out more educated, it is more
likely than not, some exposure to the wider world of ideas will
stick. In our fast paced world of expanding knowledge, it helps to
start somewhere to get a grounding on how to research, where to look,
and who to trust. Not every iceberg is a danger but the capacity to
know which are is vital to the security of a nation such as ours. The
very bedrock of our society is not just free and open debate, but
mutual respect and the foundational bedrock of truth. When the lines
between truth and falsehood are so easily blurred, and millions of
people are slowly led away to falsehood masquerading as truth, then
the waters in which we navigate become much more perilous.
So, not being a fan of Fox, or Fox and
Friends, or the Dr Laura Ingraham show or the Sean Hannity show, I
ran some background checks on their educations. Hannity has the least
being only a high school graduate but dabbling in some higher
education. So, unless he spends late nights, weekends, and consults
with a wide variety of scientists, anything he says about COVID-19,
the pandemic, the scientists, medical practitioners who are on the
front lines of fighting this epidemic, is—let me get the scientific
word for it—hogwash!
Dr Laura Ingraham has a DJ degree which
can be understood as a Juris Doctor degree from the University of
Virginia School of Law. It is one of several law degrees offered in
America but most often, attorneys with such degrees do not call
themselves “Dr.” However, Ingraham has undergraduate education
(Dartmouth).
All of this is to say that journalism
degrees, or no degrees(Hannity) are not enough for me to disbelieve
immunologists, scientists, and doctors about what is best for this
virus. And when you shovel drivel everyday, people can lose track of
how many times you have been wrong, or in error, or just off the
mark.
But that's just me.
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