Bruce Cooper

The Necessity of Fact Checking

Key on a computer keyboard for fact checking statements

I may run into some opposition for this particular post but I’m willing to accept that, because I cannot overstress the absolute necessity of maintaining an acceptable level of credibility when it comes to being an ambassador for Jesus Christ.

I’ve indicated before that the days are long gone when you can take something that you see on the Internet at face value. If we, as Christians, want to be considered as relatively trustworthy or in other words “believable”, then we must first take the necessary logical precautions before we decide to disseminate or republish information to our circle of friends and acquaintances on our various multimedia applications such as FaceBook or Twitter, as a couple of examples.

And, as providence would have it, there is an excellent example that I can use as a demonstration of this necessity.

As some of you may know, a 26 minute documentary was recently released entitled “Plandemic”, the Hidden Agenda Behind COVID-19 and literally millions and millions of people viewed it, including many Christians. Not only did many Christians view it, many Christians also drew attention to it by posting the link to it, along with their concurrence or agreement of its contents, to all of their followers, friends and acquaintances on their various multimedia applications.

I’ve indicated that fact checking today is NOT an optional choice that can be determined as not being necessary. It indeed is necessary. But rather than you taking my word for it, I would ask you to seriously take into consideration the recommendations of J. Warner Wallace and Frank Turek in this recent online video where they discuss this particular documentary:

https://www.facebook.com/drfrankturek/videos/929499307497767/

And just for good measure, I also have a podcast where J. Warner Wallace speaks about principles to keep in mind when investigating questionable claims. The link provides both the audio podcast AND a written transcription of the dialogue:

https://crossexamined.org/principles-to-keep-in-mind-when-evaluating-covid-19-conspiracy-theories/

And I’m also going to include a link to an article that discusses the dangers associated with Christians who buy into conspiracy theories that is enlightening here, should you have the time to check it out.

I initially spent about five hours cross referencing the various claims of the documentary “Plandemic” with knowledgeable and authoritative sources and I’m going to share with you what I found.  I know, there are a lot of links but within 24 hours there where a huge assortment to pick from and I’m only providing some of what I found. Before you check these links out though, I would like to ask you this question:

Had you done your homework and checked into the validity of the claims in this video before you decided to disseminate it to your followers, friends and acquaintances, would you still have reposted it and recommended it?

And a follow-up question:

If your decision changed after verifying the claims of this documentary, what does this show you?

Here’s my list:

PLANDEMIC Documentary

https://www.brighteon.com/91f524b4-656f-4c46-bab5-01dea4ac1cf1

Background on the Pandemic Documentary
https://bigthink.com/coronavirus/the-plandemic

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/fact-checking-judy-mikovits-controversial-virologist-attacking-anthony-fauci-viral

https://www.reddit.com/r/CovIdiots/comments/gezery/plandemic_documentary_debunked/

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/truth-tracker-plandemic-video-full-of-false-conspiracy-theories-about-covid-19-1.4935399

https://www.menshealth.com/health/a32451005/plandemic-documentary-coronavirus-fact-check/

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/fact-checking-judy-mikovits-controversial-virologist-attacking-anthony-fauci-viral?

https://www.republicworld.com/technology-news/gaming/fact-check-is-the-plandemic-documentary-true.html

https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/may/08/fact-checking-plandemic-documentary-full-false-con/

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/08/852451652/seen-plandemic-we-take-a-close-look-at-the-viral-conspiracy-video-s-claims

https://www.newsguardtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/PlandemicMovie.pdf

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janelytvynenko/coronavirus-plandemic-viral-harmful-fauci-mikovits

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/verify/verify-the-plandemic-documentary-is-full-of-misinformation/507-95caed4e-7a95-4452-ba7f-98cd0442c9e9

https://maldita.es/malditaciencia/2020/05/02/video-virologa-judy-mikovits-coronavirus/

https://www.fr24news.com/a/2020/05/judy-mikovits-5-quick-facts-you-should-know.html

https://respectfulinsolence.com/2020/05/06/judy-mikovits-pandemic/

https://www.upworthy.com/that-plandemic-conspiracy-video-has-been-thoroughly-debunked-people-stop-sharing-it

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/scientist-vaccine-jailed/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Mikovits?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VtTv51152o

https://respectfulinsolence.com/2020/05/06/judy-mikovits-pandemic/

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158128275671745&set=a.10150548439741745&type=3&theater

https://www.upworthy.com/coronavirus-doctors-in-bakersfield-debunked

Plandemic – Dr Grande  (directly below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaxoIbXAcKM

FEEDBACK ABOUT CLAIMS IN PLANDEMIC DOCUMENTARY FROM PROFESSIONALS

Here’s an explanation from Kat Montgomery, a surgical pathology fellow in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

https://www.facebook.com/kathleen.weber.montgomery/posts/10113287265749743

Here’s an explanation from a social epidemiologist with a PhD from Johns Hopkins:

https://www.facebook.com/allison.ruark/posts/10163353567535332

Here’s an explanation from Angela Motter, Ph.D. an Oncology Scientist/Medical Writer at National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®)Boyertown, Pennsylvania, who outlines some of the most blatantly inaccurate claims in the Plandemic video with links to back her up:

https://www.facebook.com/angela.conde.14/posts/10222537745335393

 

21 comments

    • Hi Beverly, not quite sure how that relates to the subject of the necessity of fact checking but your observation is correct, we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Blessings.

      Liked by 3 people

  2. Thanks Bruce. I’m a sceptic when it comes to conspiracy theories, so I’m glad you’ve done your homework to challenge this one.

    I think the world would be a better place if we as Christians focused on the Great Commission instead of pontificating about conspiracy theories!

    Liked by 2 people

  3. Bruce, thanks for the thorough research. Regrettably, many believers have allowed themselves to get sucked into the COVID-19 conspiracy vortex. I may have mentioned previously that back in the 1980s, materials from Chick Publications were very popular among conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists. Chick blamed EVERY calamity in the world on the Jesuits. There’s no doubt that the Jesuits were involved in some skullduggery back in the day, but Chick’s Jesuit-worldwide-conspiracy theories were preposterous and damaged credible Gospel outreach to Roman Catholics and others.
    p.s. I just checked Chick’s website and I’m surprised to see they’re not blaming the COVID-19 pandemic on the Jesuits, at least not yet. Or maybe they’ve toned things down since founder Jack Chick’s death in 2016.

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  5. It’s become so confusing, people accusing people of conspiring, covering up the evidence, presenting evidence that’s made up, etc. I typically check things with snopes.com, but who fact-checks Snopes?
    Someone has taught me a statement that I have decided to utilize until further notice: “I don’t know enough to have an opinion.”

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hi Ann, I can understand and applaud your cautious discernment, unfortunately, for far too many, that caution is not deemed as necessary and therein lies the problem. To error on the side of caution, is only applicable, if one seriously considers the effect to yourself and others, of adding to or abetting, the dissemination of misleading or disinformation.

      Liked by 2 people

  6. I finally got a chance to watch all of the J. Warner Wallace and Frank Turek video. Excellent! J. Warner Wallace was already one of my favorite authors. Now I’m going to have to check out Frank Turek’s books.

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  8. Thanks for the links and also for doing the labor of fact checking. I’m playing Turek’s interview with Wallace right now as I’m doing sermon prep

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    • My pleasure Jim. Aah yes, multitasking, I remember being able to do that quite well a few years ago, but not so much anymore. Who would have thought that putting on one’s pants AND staying upright at the same time would have been considered a serious accomplishment. You have yourself a blessed Sunday my friend and thank you for all the work that you do.

      Liked by 1 person

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