You can't reason someone out of something that they didn't reason themselves into. We've seen time and again that "fact checking" only makes things worse. The only option is to draw a line and remove the bad actors.
The ones who I was unable to convince had something in common - bad experiences with people berating them online for their opinions on the matter. The people who shared their opinions were naturally much nicer, which caused them to double-down. Social media is full of people treating each other with smug contempt, but very few people are driven to change by that kind of behavior.
The problem is: de-programming all the propaganda takes an immense amount of time - months, sometimes years of effort. This is a waste of time that could have been avoided from the start if governments worldwide had done their job and cracked down on conspiracy bullshit and Russian propaganda warfare before thousands of people stormed the Congress and half a million people in the US died from Covid.
Democracy, similar to a human body, will only survive if it fights against threats. Democracy is nothing one should ever taken for granted, just look at Hungary how quick a democracy can fall under the attack of "populists" and "illiberal democrats" (this is actually how Fidesz see themselves).
Just imagine how many people would still be alive today if that large orange man had come out on Day 1 wearing a mask and asking people to be responsible. But once that ideological line was drawn, there became a certain percentage of the US population that would follow it (literally) to death. It's inconceivable how much of this was avoidable in retrospect.
And he would have won re-election in a landslide.
Were the statements that masks didn't help against sars-cov-2 inaccurate in retrospect? Yes. Was the assumption back in the time that a) masks were a rare good, desperately needed in ERs and b) that it was possible that covid19 was transmitted by smear/touch valid? Also yes.
Was it justified to stop issuing AstraZeneca vaccines after reports of blood clots? Yes. Was it justified to resume vaccinating using this vaccine after two weeks of investigations? Also yes.
Justified, maybe. The best policy decision in the face of widespread hostility/skepticism? Probably not.
I just said "I've convinced a half dozen people to get vaccinated". General availability for the vaccine in the US has only been around for about two months - less in some cases. That wouldn't have been possible if what you're saying is true. It really doesn't take that much effort for most people.
And I'm really not a fan of the "de-programming" mindset. To treat someone as though their thoughts and concerns were programmed by someone else is to disregard their reasoning and free will. Maybe they're missing information. Maybe they're misunderstanding something. Maybe they have been fed misinformation. In most of the cases I've been successful with, it's simply that nobody has taken time to address their concerns. Most of these people don't need "re-programming". They're worried and they need someone to listen to their concerns and reassure them with calm reasoning.
Well we are, and thus the exploding case numbers right now in the anti-vax portions of the US. Darwinism is not a great public health policy though.
We shouldn't be so afraid of some mistakes while the entire world burns down around us. Make mistakes, but due it in the pursuit of a better society.
https://usafacts.org/visualizations/coronavirus-covid-19-spr...
What?
I do think the fact that people die as a result of this messaging is worth emphasising though, particularly when weighed against the supposed human right to use Facebook to disseminate their speech.
The references to darwinism here are especially infuriating cause in many cases it's specifically parents (older people) who are anti vaxxers. Bit late for natural selection. And also such a cruel thing to say.
</sarcasm>
The world is changing and we don't know the answers. We should focus on inclusion of all suggestions and then order the world so that we can afford to have some people make mistakes - the alternative is that at some point we are going to have everybody (forced or not) make some terrible mistake from which we, as a society, will not recover.