Letter to The Editor
August 11, 2021
Dear Editor,
Thank you so much for your “Thoughts from the Editor” in the July 28, 2021, issue of the Advertiser. I agree 100 percent with every word you wrote. I, too, have heard people say they do not follow the news because it is “all bad news.” I know it can be depressing at times. Still, the alternative is to be uninformed about almost everything.
Facebook has become the primary source of much information, and it is not always reliable. It is much like the game of “Gossip” we played as children, where we whispered in someone’s ear. By the time the last child heard the message, it was so distorted it had no similarity to the original message.
I think the distrust from the COVID-19 vaccines comes in part from people depending on social media for their information and distrusting reliable sources, such as good journalism, science, and history. Learning which sources are reliable takes effort, but it might mean the difference in life or death.
Someone said, “I don’t want anyone scaring people about the coronavirus.” But if I saw your house on fire in the middle of the night, and maybe your smoke alarm wasn’t working, wouldn’t you want me to scare you and tell you your house is on fire so you and your family can escape with your lives? Or would you rather not be bothered with my “bad news” and lose the lives of your family?
People say, “Why does the CDC constantly seem to change their guidance on the coronavirus?” If we bother to learn a little science, we must realize this is a new virus, and science has to know how it spreads and affects people. Another problem is that it reproduces exponentially, which means it can mutate (change) quickly, causing scientists to change their recommendations as the virus changes.
When I was a child, everyone was worried about polio. Medical researchers found a vaccine for polio. They have discovered vaccines for smallpox, measles, and many more dreadful diseases.
Science is a search to understand the rules God used for the fantastic universe He created. He has permitted humanity to learn only some of the rules by which His awesome creation functions. These rules are called science. We have to trust the scientists that God gives us to help us cure diseases. This is where a knowledge of history comes in. We also have to learn from the past (history) and build upon accumulated human knowledge, as well as human success and failures throughout history.
It takes some effort to be informed, but we can use modern technology to help us be better informed than ever, or we can use it as a source of misinformation.
Yvonne Kerr
Monett
Dear Editor,
Thank you so much for your “Thoughts from the Editor” in the July 28, 2021, issue of the Advertiser. I agree 100 percent with every word you wrote. I, too, have heard people say they do not follow the news because it is “all bad news.” I know it can be depressing at times. Still, the alternative is to be uninformed about almost everything.
Facebook has become the primary source of much information, and it is not always reliable. It is much like the game of “Gossip” we played as children, where we whispered in someone’s ear. By the time the last child heard the message, it was so distorted it had no similarity to the original message.
I think the distrust from the COVID-19 vaccines comes in part from people depending on social media for their information and distrusting reliable sources, such as good journalism, science, and history. Learning which sources are reliable takes effort, but it might mean the difference in life or death.
Someone said, “I don’t want anyone scaring people about the coronavirus.” But if I saw your house on fire in the middle of the night, and maybe your smoke alarm wasn’t working, wouldn’t you want me to scare you and tell you your house is on fire so you and your family can escape with your lives? Or would you rather not be bothered with my “bad news” and lose the lives of your family?
People say, “Why does the CDC constantly seem to change their guidance on the coronavirus?” If we bother to learn a little science, we must realize this is a new virus, and science has to know how it spreads and affects people. Another problem is that it reproduces exponentially, which means it can mutate (change) quickly, causing scientists to change their recommendations as the virus changes.
When I was a child, everyone was worried about polio. Medical researchers found a vaccine for polio. They have discovered vaccines for smallpox, measles, and many more dreadful diseases.
Science is a search to understand the rules God used for the fantastic universe He created. He has permitted humanity to learn only some of the rules by which His awesome creation functions. These rules are called science. We have to trust the scientists that God gives us to help us cure diseases. This is where a knowledge of history comes in. We also have to learn from the past (history) and build upon accumulated human knowledge, as well as human success and failures throughout history.
It takes some effort to be informed, but we can use modern technology to help us be better informed than ever, or we can use it as a source of misinformation.
Yvonne Kerr
Monett
