Another Trump tweet breaks the rules

Yet again we see Trump tweeting false and dangerous information. I applaud Twitter for taking appropriate steps.


I’d link the Tweet, but Twitter smartly tries to limit the ways in which people share misinformation. Another smart move on their part.

What do you all think? Another example of Trump proving to be a danger to the health and well-being of the American people?

 

What’s false?

 

We can start with his 100,000 number.

In the past decade the worst flu season, 2017-2018, saw 61,000 estimated deaths. A full 39,000 fewer deaths.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uni...ics_by_flu_season#Hospitalizations_and_deaths

Trump is falsely and dangerously comparing the current pandemic to the seasonal flu by lying about the numbers.

 

That's within the United States. He wasn't specific if he was referencing within the US, North America, Worldwide, etc.

Do you have those numbers?

 

Parse all you want.

This is far more serious than the flu

The flu has only ever killed more than 80,000 in a full year during the Spanish Flu over 100 years ago

How many now...in 7 months?

210,000?

 

At a Boston Hospital, they had more covid deaths in 2 months than flu deaths the last 5 flu seasons combined:

https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/s...th-toll-than-5-flu-seasons-at-boston-hospital

And that's with social distancing, lockdowns and mask wearing.

When will people give up the "it's no worse than the flu" spiel? How many deaths do we need for reality to sink in? 500,000? A million? 5 million?

 

When has Donald Trump ever not been solely focused on America? You think he’s suddenly globally minded? I don’t think so.

We can look to his use of “our country” to know he’s referring to the US.

 

That must be the weakest deflection attempt ever.

 

What deflection? Reread the Tweet and tell me I am wrong.

I don't like Trump anymore than you, but the politics are as slimey from the left as they are from the right and people like me get sick of it.

 

I am not defending him and I'm not part of his fan club. Nevertheless, I don't understand what is wrong with that tweet.

 

Before we get into the details, I’d like you both to answer this question.

Does ignorance on the part of the censuring agent give a person or organization license to censor or declare information misleading?

 

Same.

 

Twitter’s ownership of their platform gives them license to censor content on their platform as they see fit.
Demonstrate that their actions have been dictated by ignorance.

 

I agree they can do whatever they want. Are you admitting they do so because they want to, not because the information in question is incorrect?

 

Censorship would be if the government would have pulled his tweet. A private company does not have an obligation to provide anyone with a platform. I cannot force anyone to publish my scientific manuscripts. If a private publisher doesn't want to publish them, because they find the content inadequate, that is their right.

 

Thanks for sharing that. He may have meant to write 10,000 but who knows? He has to do something to make COVID-19 numbers seem acceptable. Not surprising.

I have said it before but it bears repeating. I really wish someone would stop him from tweeting. It almost never turns out well.

 

I agree Twitter has the right to do what they want.

How would you feel if your work wasn’t published because the editors were too ignorant of the subject to realize the importance of your work? Then the publisher stated publicly your work was misinformation?

 

He didn't say it was like the flue. He said we would learn to live with it like we do the flu.

 

At no point did the word “want” appear in my post. The fact that you seized on a word I didn’t say is puzzling.
Are you going to explain how their actions were dictated by ignorance?

 

I think we can all agree he should stop tweeting.

 

There’s that word ignorance again. You going to explain how Twitter was being ignorant or not?

 

Technically, that is incorrect.

The Network TV stations as well radio can not do or say anything they wish, and thus are subject to fines because they use public "airways".

Platforms such as Twitter are no different, however section 230 exempts them from similar actions. It allows Twitter to censor or tag Tweets as inaccurate, even if they are.

 

Hes making a direct comparison between a worldwide pandemic and the seasonal flu, and he’s using false numbers to downplay the severity of the pandemic. If he was a lone butter with thirty followers it likely wouldn’t matter. Given that he is the president of the US, I’d say his misrepresentation is dangerous. Thankfully Twitter agrees.

 

You applaud someone doing your thinking for you?