Various factors influenced a large number of people to believe that kovid was invented – society

A third of the population of our country does not believe in the existence of kovida 19, that is, they believe that it is a “false” disease. These devastating conclusions were reached by two separate, independent studies, the results of which were published last week.

Photo: Beta / Sasa Djordjevic

One is a comprehensive survey of pandemic attitudes conducted by GLOBSEC in nine countries in Central Europe and the Western Balkans, while the Belgrade Center for Security Policy obtained similar results. According to the results of the BCSP survey, a third of Serbian citizens do not believe or have serious doubts about the existence of the kovida 19 pandemic.

Stefan Janjic, editor-in-chief of the Fake News Tracker portal, estimates for Danas that there are several factors that influenced a large number of people to believe in the theory that kovid 19 is a fictional disease.

– At the same time, we are tormented not only by ignorance of science, but also by fear of science, and even resistance to science. People are thus prepared to believe in various nonsense that will offer them the illusion of knowledge, especially if they have a revolutionary spirit, if they convince you that by resisting masks, distance and the fact that kovid 19 is a real problem, you challenge the ” power centers “. states “,” pharmacomafia “- notes Janjic.

He adds that all of this nonsense encourages an individual to believe that he may be too small to defeat a global conspiracy, but that he is wise enough to “see through” that conspiracy and not give in to it.

– Disinformation, large number of messianic charlatans, low level of media and scientific literacy, anxiety, fatigue, fear, all these are factors that have influenced people to turn a blind eye to what they witness every day, because it is not necessary be a virologist or epidemiologist to see how real and dangerous Kovid 19 is. Unfortunately, many realize that only when the virus reaches their lungs, Janjić concludes.

Asked where they come from and how these attitudes are formed, Dr. Milos Bojovic, member of the Executive Board of UG “United against Kovid”, told Danas that they are the consequence, above all, of “epidemics insufficiently communicated with the citizens.”

– It was one of the most important jobs that had to be done, because the best way to combat this disease is prevention, and the education of citizens is an extremely important and indispensable part. Nobody says that this work is easy, especially at a time when new technologies have made it possible to place diverse information that has no basis in reality. But traditional media, mainly television, had to be used for the purpose of constantly educating the population, every day on all televisions, as well as on all other communication channels, Bojović notes.

According to him, instead, unfortunately, we often received abuse of the crisis by political structures for self-promotion purposes, but also very often contradictory information that reached the citizens from various members of the crisis staff and affected the citizens. Bojović adds that this “noise” of diverse and daily information has largely led to the results of this research being like this, “because sometimes it is easier for people to react to the pressure they feel by denying it.”

– Another equally important motive is a manipulative propaganda, which is mainly forced through social networks, which is carried out by the so-called “anti-vaccination lobby”.

It is an industry that is making money online thanks to this crisis. Various pieces of information are placed, which in most cases are falsehoods and fabrications, which do not even try to convince you of the veracity of what has been said, but rather take away the power of the facts with the amount of falsehoods presented – warns our interlocutor.

He adds that when you are constantly overwhelmed with countless opinions and attitudes on the edge of the dark, it becomes exhausting to constantly refute them.

– Not all those who take those anti-vaccine positions participate in this propaganda, there is a lot of worried and scared world that has succumbed to this misinformation tactic. The media, in search of sensationalism, give space to people who, by distorting scientific facts and deceiving the public, become famous, followers of the Internet and, ultimately, material gain. Unfortunately, among these obscure phenomena in our media, there is also a doctor.

And it must be remembered that all of the above was acquired at the expense of public health. And that is allowed. The most difficult thing is to fight against prejudice. And it is easy to water them so that they grow – concludes Dr. Miloš Bojović.

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