_wmhc

>If you learn how to use photoshop then you’re unlikely to relearn GIMP.

We currently see something related to this in the Pharmaceutical industry. There are a lot of statisticians/programmers that learn R or python in university, while most large-pharma companies are using SAS. There is a movement within the industry to pivot or try to pivot to R due to the scarcity of SAS programmers or/and the cost of teaching new employees a new programming language.

If SAS would have more accessible trainings/certifications I am sure R would never even be considered.

As someone who works in pharma currently, I have seen the same. The pharmacovigilance unit does search the internet/social media for AE's, off-label use, etc (depending on region). Secondly every single person in the company also needs to report events when they see/hear/read them. So not having that social-media department wouldn't be doing much, not all thousands of employees can/will/want to avoid social media.

For climate change, if someone links a fake study that comes to the right conclusion, you can still call them out for it. If they bring up some statistics you can still ask where they come from, and see if they are generated in a valid way. If someone asks you shouldn't link them other studies.

There is nothing wrong with asking how we can know some specific source is truthful or not. So far no one has answered my actual questions.

>sent to gulags

The GULAG was a specific USSR agency and their camps. You can't just call any prison system you personally don't like GULAG.

>realize that personal liberties, sovereignty and privacy are important to the "west"

I think that Snowden showed us that this is not actually true. Things like National Security letters and the PATRIOT act make the US to me, as a European, seem very hypocritical right now.