Drew Pinsky blames media for "panic".

[SleeplessinSoCal]

My conservative brother shared a post by Moonie publication the Washington Times and it is shared elsewhere. There is soooooo much media and little, if any, is trusted by all. Serious problem at a time like this with the DJIA in free fall.

Seems to me Pinsky is ignoring the elephant in the Oval Office. He lies. He only cares about keeping power. He surrounds himself with sycophants.

DR. DREW: “There are, I would look out where there flus out breaking bad to. I ended up getting the bird flu, I got H1N1 and it was horrible. It was no fun. … There’s certain things having been a physician for almost forty years, there are certain things I just know … and there’s certain things I just know by virtue of all the experience I’ve had and so when I saw this one coming, the corona, I thought I know how this is gonna go, I see kind of what it is and then I saw the excessive reaction the press, so I have to respond and then people, the weird part on social media towards me as people are angry with me, angry with me for trying to get them to see reality and calm down.”

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/03/10/dr_drew_pinsky_coronavirus_panic_must_stop_press_needs_to_be_held_accountable_for_hurting_people.html

I've not responded to my brother's post. No matter what I say it will likely hurt our relationship. He is struggling to keep his small business and is so susceptible to right wing propaganda. This is such a good opportunity to clarify so many misconseptions. But how?

[Newest Reality]

1. Keep in mind

Keep in mind that there are literally hundreds of Right-Wing foundations, fronts and proxies at work everyday here and are just as effective as Putin's well-funded propaganda machine is.

Both rely on gullibility and beliefs as well as knee-jerk, emotive responses to issues. For instance, Putin's mechanisms focus on people who tend to buy fully into various conspiracy theories and, while they believe they have "special" truth and forbidden knowledge, they become victims of a real "conspiracy" that they don't suspect as supplying them with information that is intended to confuse, obscure and most importantly, get them to distrust all other information from institutions, governments, academia, the sciences, etc. It works well, because those people, (like Right-Wing Evangelicals) go by, "it sounds right to me" and they do not fact check the sources of information. They also rest on false premises to avoid refutation, like: "THEY want you to think that!" and, "Anything official is not true." etc.

Instead of being skeptical and parsing the information that comes from traditional sources, they tend to reject it flat out, despite any evidence to the contrary. It is like using and computer and a cell phone and not believing in science. What? The magic squirrels in there do the work and fairies and elves transfer your messages? Maybe if they understood that their beliefs are not the point. Science is not a "belief" system it is to be known about and understood as a method, etc. Chemical reaction happens if you don't believe in it. There are psychological reasons why people become easy marks and true believers, requiring no evidence to support them. I suggest you look into that.

Maybe that general outline might help you to understand your brother since he may have a lot in common with those who are simply believers. And there's the rub. When you realize that it is a belief system, (sometimes I see this phenomena as replacement for religion and devotion, actually, or even a support for those who are religious) then you may see that arguing or trying to change it would be like doing an intervention for a cult member or challenging a person's faith.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

2. Thanks for your very thoughtful comments and advice.

Oddly and dangerously much of Trump's MO comes from Norman Vincent Peele's "power of positive thinking". He has used that in the extreme so that in the sick mind it is actually lethal. Given our bifurcated "news" outlets, there is no way we will agree on science or truth.

My brother admitted he would vote for Trump on the issue of regulations alone. His insecent lying wasn't a concern because he was the Republican and not the Democrat. My brother also wants the electoral college kept as it is because he believes we are not a democracy. He also voted for Bush in 2004 because of "late term abortion" and not because he approved of Rumsfeld's Iraq war.. There was no logic there at all.

He is intelligent, but a devoted conservative who attacks people like AOC. And a con like the Peele disciple may be appealing still, but for how long?