Scoping Review Uncovers New Expertise in COVID-19 Misinformation
Classic Propaganda Tool Finds Its Way Into Academic Medicine
By Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
I met up with Dr. Claudia Chaufan recently in Toronto, Ontario. She shared with me her most recent manuscript which was a scoping review on the topic of misinformation mainly as it relates to the pandemic.
Disturbingly, this classic propaganda technique where the perpetrator claims to hold agency over the truth and then uses the arrow of “misinformation” to injure the victim is now fully entrenched in modern academic medicine. Anytime one wants to gain an advantage over another, they can accuse their opponent. This form of academic oppression can cause great harm and stifflies scholarly interchange particularly on a novel topic such as the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak and genetic vaccines.
The question is where does this go from here? I find it counterproductive for two sides to be accusing one another of “spreading misinformation.” Shields such as “evidence-based” and “consensus driven” have been used by those attempting to grab moral superiority in defining what they are talking about. For both of these terms to apply, we need decades of scholarship and debate. They don’t arrive with the newest pandemic virus in the first few years and are certainly not defined by agencies in the pandemic business.
Please enjoy this scholarly approach to a new problem in academic medicine—propaganda terms including: misinformation, disinformation, malinformation, anti-science, anti-vaxxer, and conspiracy theorist. I will not use them in referring to another person and encourage the same back from them.
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Peter A. McCullough, MD, MPH
President, McCullough Foundation
'I will not use them [propaganda terms in the form of personal labels] in referring to another person and encourage the same back from them.' Well said, everyone should pursue this approach. The list can be extended in a wider political context to include terms such as 'racist', 'sexist', 'fascist' etc., which are throwaway labels used to shut down challenge and debate.
Very troubling times. Chasing the truth is exhausting and frustrating. Thanks Dr. M!