People who ignorantly believe that governments are overreacting to the covid-19pandemic.
It's 3/20/20 and I'm in Colorado, surrounded by contagion deniers. When the Tsunami of sick hits by the first week of April, contagion deniers won't exist, just sorry people who didn't practiçe social distancing when it mattered.
A bias derived from the Scientific Slippery Slope that treats non‑scientific ideas as infectious diseases that spread from mind to mind, with the first exposure acting as a “carrier” that infects the host and makes them susceptible to further infection. Contagion Bias often appears in discussions about media literacy or education, where any curriculum that includes non‑scientific content is framed as a “vector” spreading irrationality. It ignores that ideas are not diseases; people evaluate, filter, and selectively adopt beliefs based on context, community, and personal values.
Example: “She argued that even mentioning astrology in class would contaminate students’ minds—Contagion Bias treating a cultural concept as a pathogen that requires quarantine.”
Brought to public attention by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in the book on the fall of Richard Nixon, All The President’s Men, ratfucker was Nixon’s term for a political operative who sows chaos among opponents; an agent provocateur. It is thought to have originated among campus political rivalries at USC, and seems to have some usage in the US military.
Along with Nixon’s other ratfuckers, Roger Stone caused fights at otherwise peaceful Democratic Party protests to generate a false narrative that the Democrats were violent and dangerous.
Term used to describe someone who is a mix of both rural (country) and urban (metropolitan) lifestyles/upbringings. He/she is typically equally comfortable in both settings and is able to seamlessly slip back and forth between the two, appreciating the characteristics of each.
That ol' gal of mine drives the 12lane freeway during the week and a John Deere on the weekends. She likes opra and the Grand Ol' Opry. I love them countrypolitan women.