"Language disguises thought"

Abstract

According to some authors, the spread of fake news about the Coronavirus can lead to anincreasing rejection of vaccinations, which can result in the development of new epidemicwaves.Objective: To understand why we tend to believe a misleading news and to give suggestionsfor recognizing and avoiding them. We are examining the fulfillment of our assumption,whether the development of competence in natural sciences helps students' critical thinking.Method: Using a digital questionnaire, we assessed the scientific knowledge of a sample of 96people and its correlation with their opinion about the Covid19 epidemic. The results wereanalyzed using elementary statistical methods. From specialist literature, we got an idea of​​how to recognize fake news, suppress it, and mitigate its effects.Results: Based on our data collection, it was surprising that those who guessed intentionalityin the development of the pandemic were the highest among university students. Anothersurprise: scientific knowledge and opinion about the epidemic proved to be independent.Since spreading knowledge is not enough, we looked for additional methods to avoid theharmful effects of fake news. The effect of the vaccinations was not foreseeable, KatalinKarikó herself said so. Thus, we cannot form knowledge based on facts. So faith remains. Wehave to be more careful about what we believe, what we accept as true. According to our data,we often do not bother to look for credible sources.Conclusion: Better cooperation between subjects is needed in the development of criticalthinking. The representatives of the sciences must take into account the emotional andmotivational reasons behind anti-science. The responsibility of media representatives in thequality of communication, and that of government actors in controlling fake news issignificant. Due to the intertwining of the biological and social aspects of the pandemic, thereare few vaccines to develop to defeat the virus. Don't let the spread of fake news jeopardizethe effectiveness of your defense.