Virus Scares and False Authority Syndrome

Fifth of Five writes: "Ran across this article on the IS-IT-TRUE.org site regarding False Authority Syndrome and the spread of virus misinformation by the media, users and Folks Who Probably Ought To Know Better. If you've ever watched the TV news and gritted your teeth over what is being presented as 'fact' this may shine some light on just how it got to be like this."

Comments

Google Cache of Pages.

[Chmarr]

Here's links to google's cache of all pages:

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Authority is effective

[Have Blue]

Before anyone posts some rant along the lines of ["They should have been smarter"|"They should have known better"|"Why are people so stupid as to fall for this all the time"], they should read this essay on Milgram's studies of authority. It's frightening.

ultracrepidarian

[rkischuk]

On the same page:

ultracrepidarian: (n., adj.) a person who gives opinions beyond his scope of knowledge.

I'll have to add this to my top ten words to use when talking over somebody's head.

Re:ultracrepidarian

[scoove]

Ditto! I'm so used to reporters getting it wrong (from interviews I've had) that I seriously doubt anything these critters put out.

In case you're ever the recepient of a reporter's questions, here are a few recommendations for your survival:

- if it is "off the record," then don't say it. Off the record is reporter code for "this will be really juicy stuff to print, but I'll have to slightly reword it."

- if it involves a competitor or other antagonist, don't say it (reporters have a field day on creating any emotional tension, e.g. making you out to be a fool)

- if it is not for release now, keep your trap shut and only mention it when it is for release. Reporters survive by getting new stories out and their loyalty to their editor (and interest in keeping their job) is greater than their loyalty to you.

- if it is at all technical, give them a written release and limit the story to that. If you absolutely must be interviewed beyond the release, give them 10 minutes, give them a couple of soundbytes that you've pre-prepared, and refer everything else to the release.

- and if you're the boss, tell your employees that speaking to the press is voluntary resignation (e.g. nobody does it except you).

This will help you survive these critters.

*scoove*

Hmm

[Adam9]

Does the False Authority Syndrome include accepting Slashdot stories as fact too?

You know what they say...

[Nugget]

"The media is always accurate, except when they're talking about things I know."

It's always a source of amazement to me how many people are capable of maintaining this perspective towards the media. I always try to think back to every single teeth-grinding, knee-gripping instance of media inaccuracy in a tech story whenever I'm exposed to a story on a subject on a topic which is unfamiliar to me.

Repeat after me: "Reporters are idiots"

[sjbe]

No, not all reporters are. Just most of them. Most of the reporters I've met are little more than a talking hair-do and are fascinated by anything with blinking lights even though they almost never comprehend anything you tell them. You can just watch anything you tell them go in one ear and out the other.

Why do I say this? I work in a tech center. We do a lot of nifty complicated work usually involving a lot of computers and/or math. It's neat stuff, but not that hard to understand what it is even if you don't understand the details of it. (part prototyping, databases, 3d computer graphics, etc) Because of the kind of work we do, we are something of a showpiece for the company. We get reporters and TV crews coming through all the time. The visits usually go something like this:

Us: Here's this nifty complicated new piece of equipment that is going to help us make widgets faster, better and cheaper.

Then: Uh-huh. Can you turn the lights in the room down and stand over by the blinking lights? We need a picture.

Us: But those lights are the air conditioning system.

Them: Yeah but it looks cool and I didn't understand a word you said anyway.

They also have this peculiar fascination with taking pictures in low light conditions with glowing things. My wife worked in a lab where they used radioactive chemical markers for testing. They wanted to turn the lights down to get a picture of the spectrometer (which wasn't even in use) while showing someone handling radioactive chemicals in the dark. Very safe...

Needless to say, I don't watch the evening news anymore...

Slashdotted - copy here

[Placido]

I love you google cache!

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:ahVwga1Oq1o :www.vmyths.com/fas/fas1.cfm+&hl=en (remove the space that /. so helpfully adds. ;)