According to an analysis by specialists within the European Commission, Romania registers, of all countries on the continent, the lowest level of confidence in science and technology. The reason? The precarious education offered by the education system. The consequences? Of the most serious! “People choose to leave the ear to misinformation, pseudo, fake news and conspiracy theories. We are in a vicious circle that must be broken ”, He commented for “Adevărul, Prof. Bogdan Bucur, historian and sociologist within SNSPA.
Scientific illiteracy, the land on which conspiracy theories develop. Archive
The specialist, who analyzes the phenomenon in the current Romanian political context, is of the opinion that this slip on the slope of the conspiracy theory occurs for other reasons, which are not only about the lack of education of the individual, but also of his mental and emotional health.
When the lack of education gives birth to monsters
When science becomes a territory “winding” with locks from school, when the information is delivered either by drop or, on the contrary, with the Polish, and the children swallow them, over the years, increases the risk of slipping into everything that means obscurantism. The land, therefore, has been prepared for a long time. It just has to come and sow it. “The theories of conspiracy are based on statements that correlate opinions with facts. This causal relationship, normally, should be identified as fraudulent by anyone in full mental faculties, psychically balanced and scientifically literate ”, Prof. Bogdan Bucur told us.
The specialist said that a person who believes in pseudo-science and fake news, whose actions are governed more or less by various theories of conspiracy, are certainly in one of these three situations. “If you are in a state of emotional imbalance, you are sometimes tempted to believe in unwanted things but which gives you some mental comfort.”
Because we cannot control the world we live in, some will try to take over this control by creating an alternative reality built by conspiracy statements. These will give people the feeling that the truth is in their hands. Such beliefs provide power and a sense of superiority to those who share them, changing the reality in which they consider themselves only the victims of a plot.
Therefore, for many it is nice to believe that sacred springs in Romania can cure any disease, as Călin Georgescu said. Likewise, it is comfortable for us, as a nation, to believe that Romania is the energy center of the planet, and the Carpathians are the source of this energy, as Calin Georgescu said. Who would not want, in the end, that? But from desire to actually believing in these theories is a long way.
“The lack of education and lack of culture give birth to monsters, but we must look at at least the same concern to those who launch such ideas. There are people lustful for power, political fanatics or who want to be in any way to reach power. Obviously, propagating theories of conspiracy, but also other demagogic themes, which take part in the public of each society ”, the teacher continues.
He explained that the lack of education, inculturation and scientific illiteracy are the easiest to manipulate politically. “Making adults education can no longer be. These generations are already lost. These people have already passed through school, as they did. We can not take them from the street now, with force, to literate them. Our only salvation and the only thing that must be done with endear is to be careful that at least from now on the school banks there is no scientific illiterate person ”.
Bogdan Bucur, historian and teacher within SNSPA: Personal Archive
About manipulators and manipulated: “They hang on to each other like the opposite ends of two magnets.”
The teacher explained that the pseudo-science must be fought from the school banks, because a law that sanctions the issuers of such theories of conspiracy does not exist. “We need to fight with this scourge because we do not have legal, legal tools, to protect the scientific illiterate population in the face of conspiracy theories, which are obviously scientifically fraudulent. Basically, we have no legal sanction for the nonsense told by a candidate in the election campaign ”.
This is why people should be trained to detect these skids themselves and penalize them in the voting booths. “The world should naturally detect them based on the education they received in school. Cannot come the Constitutional Court and disqualify it on Calin Georgescu because he said about the water formula that it would not be H2O. People should be the ones to react. Only many do not do it, and this is because of acute lack of education ”, said Prof. Bucur.
We are in front of a multi-end hydre, because we are stuck in a vicious concentric circle. First of all, the lack of education implies a lack of information, and the lack of information is the fertile ground on which all weeds develop: pseudo, obscure ideas, misinformation, manipulation and fake news.
Then, secondly, let us not forget that these conspiracy consumers are looking for those who emit them into the public space. “It’s like in love. Some are looking for others and build an indestructible love relationship. And you can’t get into people’s love. In other words, the scientific adult and illiterate population is looking for political leaders to drip them in the ear exactly what they want to hear. I repeat: it is a love relationship between the issuers of the conspiracy theories and their receptors. And it is impossible for the state institutions to intervene in this relationship of passionate, political, mutual love. And this is because they cling to each other like the opposite ends of two magnets. “
The response of the world crises, at a tweet away
On the other hand, it should be known that misinformation does not mean delivering only aberrant, auristic information, scientific vanities, which have no support and in which they do not even believe children. Misinformation does not mean to say only that the Carpathian Mountains are the antennas that capture the universal energy for the whole of humanity. You can deliver including truncated, incorrect formulas, impossible to implement. “The manipulators usually come with light formulas that solve serious crises. They have simple answers to all the problems of society. But these problems have complex answers because the society itself is a complex body. But people, many of them, want to receive easy solutions. ”
The reason? First of all because they have no patience or time to digest such information. Secondly, many have no intellectual ability to do it. “Populism and new technologies have brought things to the point where the response of major problems of humanity is offered to us through a single tweet. Obviously, we are in front of a manipulative and demagogic issue. ”
Daniel David, Minister of Education. Archive
Daniel David: “Let’s bring the light of knowledge and culture in schools!”
And the Minister of Education, Daniel David, warns that Romanians prefer to inform themselves on their own, avoiding specialized institutions, which expose them to pseudo and misinformation. “The attitude of Romanians towards science and technology is the most unfavorable in the EU. People choose to document themselves, which predisposes us to pseudo, conspiracies and fake news. This phenomenon is closely related to school dropout and Functional illiteracy, amplifying each other until it becomes a risk of national security ”, David warns on his blog. The minister points out that “truth” must be established by experts, not by popular opinions, and that education must be rethought to combat obscurantism. “I ask the people of education and research to reject obscurantism and to bring more efficiently the light of knowledge and culture in schools and society, thus protecting the future of our children!” Daniel David concludes.
About one third (32%) of the population of Romania has a negative attitude towards science and technology, and 3% is not expressed. It is the highest negative attitude in the EU (the EU average is 17%). Also, only 50% of Romanians believe that science has a positive impact (EU average: 67%), and 45% believe that technological benefits should be searched individually, not by institutions, the highest percentage of the EU (average: 28%)
