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this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2023
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Technology
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You're kind of arguing against the foundation of human society. If we're all required to "do our own research" about things, where does that requirement end? How can I buy food if I have to do my own research on what's healthy or what's dangerous? What about my tap water? How can I put gas in my car? Use electricity? A computer? A phone?
Somewhere along the way you have to trust the systems that have been built by the people before us to function, and for people who work in those fields who are experts to use their expertise.
Obviously oversight & verification is also important. It's important that people earn trust and work to maintain that trust and get booted if they violate that trust.
But it's foolish to just stop trusting experts out of nowhere. It's extra foolish to stop trusting experts specifically because they say things you don't like to hear. As far as I can tell, that's been the accelerating project of the Republican Party since at least the talk radio explosion following the demise of the Fairness Doctrine. Maybe longer if you go back to Moon landing deniers and their ilk.
Yes, you should do your own research. How much research you need to do depends on the subject matter, how critical it is, and the potential for motivation to mislead you. I can't tell you where that ends, but for politics and news I am of the opinion that it should end a lot later than trusting a random stranger to censor your access to content.
You probably should research this.
Yeah, you probably should also research this before drinking it because of how critical it is. Maybe get it tested or read your city's water test results. Do they have motivation to mislead you?
I'm not sure what the struggle is here.
Yes and no. Should you see inconsistencies, you should probably verify that what you're trusting is accurate. Inconsistencies like blocking wikileaks on a qanon blocklist. However, what you're talking about isn't even the case here. We're talking about a blocklist maintained by strangers on the internet.