Adam, I want to clarify. I was/am not concerned with the reality that scientists report different conclusions in their articles. Although this can be a serious problem and frustration for the lay person, because lay people do not understand the (scientific) research process at all. If you work long in any academic field, you will find that it is normal for research disagreements to be hashed out in dialogue over very long periods of time “in the literature.” No single paper or a study absolutely “proves” anything. And ideally, the work in a so-called seminal study will be examined, sliced and diced, and scrutinized by other qualified experts.
That’s normal.
What DOES drive me up the wall:
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Lay people read a secondary or tertiary source (news article, blog post, chain letter, SM post) and share something that is often many steps removed from the original as if the 2ndary or 3rdary product is The Truth without making sure the original paper was faithfully reported by the blogger, poster, chain-letter-writer. THIS IS GOSSIP.
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People with backgrounds in academic research (doctors, for example) abuse their credentials by knowingly propogating material that supports their view, either knowing what they are doing, or knowingly ignorant of what their are doing. That is, they cherry picked in full knowledge that they were cherry picking, or the decided with full knowledged, to cherry pick and deliberately not review the material they cherry picked. (Thanks GBD docs. Love ya) This is false withness.
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People keep sharing garbage 2ndary/3rdary biproducts without ever looking at the original to establish if the 2ndary or 3rdary reportage is remotely accurate.
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People deliberately or ignorantly abuse the dialogic nature of research to pick and choose what “supports their view” and share away!
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People treat every article they do follow up on as if the quality is the same. Please see Joel Duff’s excellent video over in the “Before You Click Send” thread. I even included time stamps!
Again, the primary concern I had stated was NOT what the information is in an article, but HOW the article is handled.
From a Christian perspective, many of the warnings we have in the Bible are to encourage Christians that Jesus is coming; we haven’t been abandoned or forgotten. The encouragement is there to remind us not to give up or dispair. Stick to the tasks we’ve been given, and maintain faith.
Adam, I’m sorry she is going through this and the pain from the related treatments. I’m praying for you and your family. I’m sure others are as well.