"Language disguises thought"

Abstract

According to some authors, the spread of fake news about the Coronavirus can lead to an
increasing rejection of vaccinations, which can result in the development of new epidemic
waves.
Objective: To understand why we tend to believe a misleading news and to give suggestions
for 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 96
people and its correlation with their opinion about the Covid19 epidemic. The results were
analyzed 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 intentionality
in the development of the pandemic were the highest among university students. Another
surprise: scientific knowledge and opinion about the epidemic proved to be independent.
Since spreading knowledge is not enough, we looked for additional methods to avoid the
harmful effects of fake news. The effect of the vaccinations was not foreseeable, Katalin
Karikó herself said so. Thus, we cannot form knowledge based on facts. So faith remains. We
have 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 critical
thinking. The representatives of the sciences must take into account the emotional and
motivational reasons behind anti-science. The responsibility of media representatives in the
quality of communication, and that of government actors in controlling fake news is
significant. Due to the intertwining of the biological and social aspects of the pandemic, there
are few vaccines to develop to defeat the virus. Don't let the spread of fake news jeopardize
the effectiveness of your defense.