Two Pandemics, Algorithm Rules, And Colin Kaepernick

Have we hit rock bottom? It has certainly been another trying week for America. In our last newsletter, we talked about COVID-19 ravaging the world and laying bare the hatred and racial tensions amongst us. This week, we have seen global anger erupt over George Floyd’s death inciting protests, cities in flames, curfews, and a breakdown of law and order.

Anyone who believes this is simply the result of Floyd’s death is naive. His death was merely the spark that set the country ablaze. One thing that is clear through all of the smoke is that America needs a leader now more than ever.

America needs a leader who brings the country together, guides us in a direction to fight racism, and begins the process of healing. That leader is missing.

Two simultaneous pandemics

The urgent and enormous effort being put into finding a vaccine for COVID-19 is commendable. But the disease is not the only pandemic we are facing. Racism has been fracturing American society for centuries and hasn’t received anywhere near the same level of attention. We haven’t and aren’t doing enough to eradicate systemic racism. Most efforts go toward muting any change in the status quo. The American Psychology Association summed it up best when they said we are living in a racism pandemic.

We need to understand the root causes of individual and institutional racism. In our book, we discussed racism using the Trayvon Martin tragedy as an example alongside academic research on prejudice, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s what you can be doing right now:

• Dispel the notion that racism is a relic of the past. Sadly, it is alive and well.
• Don’t be neutral, that is collusion. Use your voice to challenge the status quo.
• Kneel in solidarity with the protestors just as some police officers are doing.
• Don’t shy away from uncomfortable conversations about race.
• Teach children about racism before they grow numb to the issue.
• Learn from George Bush and Barrack Obama who have both taken a strong stand.

Bottom Line: Racism is everyone’s problem and will take all of us to fix it.

Algorithms have become the arbiters of truth in society

Last week, Twitter pointed out the misinformation in President Trump’s tweets about mail-in ballots. The action caused a clash between Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook (who sided with Trump in saying it wasn’t Twitter’s job to editorialize) and Jack Dorsey of Twitter (who took a brave stand by fact-checking Trump). Facebook faced further backlash when it refused to pull down Trump’s posts sanctioning violence against protestors. On the other hand, Snapchat sided with Twitter.

The reality is that social media platforms have always been editorially-driven. The algorithms are the editors who determine which messages receive the most attention. The more you activate a rage machine with sensationalist messages that provoke greater engagement, the louder your voice will be. The algorithms’ logic corrodes democracy. For more read Maureen Dowd in The New York Times.

Bottom Line: Algorithms determine which facts matter using engagement versus truth as the most important criteria.

Bill Gates: Filling our leadership void

Bill Gates has been funding COVID-19 related research, donating over $300 million in a matter of weeks. He’s become a spokesperson for science, appearing on both Fox News and MSNBC. He was also the soothsayer who warned in 2015 that a pandemic was a greater risk to humankind than a nuclear war. Gates, unlike many other billionaires who are waiting this out on their private yachts, has chosen to put society above all else.

The actions of Gates are not without controversy. Russian agents, conspiracy theorists, Roger Stone and Laura Ingraham have all attacked him. In fact, a whopping 40% of Republicans think that Bill Gates will use vaccines to implant microchips in them.

Bottom Line: Bill Gates is America’s unlikely hero. We need more leaders like him.

Colin Kaepernick and the NFL

In an opinion piece for CNN, a former NFL executive shared the inside story behind the reluctance of teams to sign Colin Kaepernick despite prodding from the NFL. The worry was that Kaepernick would continue to protest racial injustice, offend some fans, and lead to a drop in revenue. The NFL teams chose to put business first.

The teams were wrong. This was a chance for them to put what’s right for an individual and society above business. While some like Drew Brees may think kneeling is disrespecting the national flag, it is worth pointing out that it was a former Green Beret who convinced Colin Kaepernick to kneel. Here’s an idea: What if the NFL invited Kaepernick to be a spokesperson for all teams?

Bottom Line: The NFL shouldn’t squander another opportunity to do the right thing.

How real is the coronavirus misinformation crisis?

We started this newsletter to decipher facts from fiction, truth from lies. Are you wondering how much coronavirus misinformation is out there? Is it really as bad as it seems?

Fivethirtyeight.com highlighted research from the Pew Center & Cornell University showing that there is more misinformation percolating across the internet around COVID-19 than there was about the Presidential election in 2016. Sixty percent of those surveyed couldn’t differentiate between real and fake news. Think about that for a moment. After 2016, we all vowed to never again let fake news dupe us.

Bottom Line: We have more fake news now than ever and sadly haven’t learned our lessons from the past.

Updates from last week’s newsletter

• Sweden chose not to practice shelter-in-place even though infection rates warranted it. The Swedish lighter-touch strategy was criticized by many global health authorities when it was announced. Yesterday, Sweden’s top epidemiologist admitted that the strategy was a huge mistake.
• The plandemic video, which masqueraded as a legitimate documentary but peddled misinformation, has gone on a world tour. After getting more than 8 million views in the US before being shut down, it was translated to 13 languages and is now causing damage elsewhere.
• The authors spoke at Social Media Week, a worldwide digital conference, sharing insights from the last newsletter on how companies can build trust at this time.