Reflections Resources on Misinformation
Someone I used to know has been caught up in hearsay and conspiratorial thinking for almost as long as I can remember, and as you might imagine, today s information landscape hasn t helped their condition. They write publicly under a pseudonym, and I thought their latest post deserved a closer look. Whataboutism is the theme of ... Read more
The Danish government funded the largest, most comprehensive study on the safety of aluminum in vaccines. It was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on July 15, 2025. A full version of the paper can currently be found here: https://autismsciencefoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/andersson-et-al-2025-aluminum-adsorbed-vaccines-and-chronic-diseases-in-childhood.pdf The study had over…
RFK Jr. announced this week that parents should “do their own research” regarding vaccinations for their children. Everyone should be encouraged to do their own research. It’s the only reasonable way to make informed decisions. But we all have limits—of time, knowledge, education, access to information, and cognitive capacity. If you’ve taken a Logic course ... Read more
Language limits our thoughts. When our language is more precise or broader, our thoughts can be, too. Partisans’ ability to understand the world around them is significantly limited by a handful of terms surrounding one concept: cause and the types of causal effects. The terms that I’ve become interested in—and have repeatedly seen limit people’s ... Read more
One of my favorite books of 2023. This book combines the author s story of being personally targeted by a brutal disinformation campaign with the most empathetic approach to understanding people who fall prey to disinformation. It s a must-read. From the publisher: The renowned social scientist, professor, and bestselling author of Predictably Irrational delivers his most urgent and ... Read more
The concept of Moral Outrage Porn has been very useful in my analysis of online discourse, and this paper does a really good job of summarizing the concept and the surrounding issues. Thi Nguyen is brilliant, and all of his content is worth the time, though Games Agency as Art is a bit niche, ... Read more
From the publisher: Conspiracy theories are not fringe ideas, tucked away in society’s dark corners. Conspiracy theories are everywhere, and like other ideas they have consequences. When people believe conspiracy theories they may act on them. In democracies, conspiracy theories can drive majorities to make horrible decisions. Conspiracy beliefs can conversely encourage political abstention: if…
From the publisher: Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Joseph Cappella-two of the nation s foremost experts on politics and media-offers a searching analysis of the conservative media establishment, from talk radio to Fox News to the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal. Echo Chamber is the first serious account of how the conservative media arose, what it consists ... Read more
From the publisher: The definitive report on the disruption of the news media over the last decade. With the expert guidance of former Executive Editor of The New York Times Jill Abramson, we follow two legacy (The New York Times and The Washington Post) and two upstart (BuzzFeed and VICE) companies as they plow through a revolution in technology, economics, standards, commitment, and ... Read…
From the publisher: Well-heeled American corporations have long had a financial stake in undermining scientific consensus and manufacturing uncertainty. In The Triumph of Doubt, former Obama and Clinton official David Michaels details how corrupt science becomes public policy and where it s happening today. Opioids. Concussions. Obesity. Climate Change. America is a country of everyday crises ...…