• MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today
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        4 months ago

        Well, ever since they ran that hilariously fake story about gunshot victims not receiving hospital treatment due to Ivermectin overdoses, I’ve gotten in a habit of treating all of their reporting as potentially fraudulent. And this headline certainly isn’t helping to restore their reputation.

        • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          Eh, apparently a lot of reputable news outlets fell for that one. They–and others–were reporting on a story done by KFOR, and didn’t do any independent fact checking.

          • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today
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            4 months ago

            From what I remember, it was Rolling Stone who broke that story, or at least managed to give it national attention. Many of those other outlets probably trusted them to have done their homework and only reported it because they did.

            But that’s exactly how fake news spreads, isn’t it? One outlet runs a sensational story and everyone else simply reports on it, assuming they did their due diligence. When it eventually turns out to be a hoax, they just issue a correction, but of course that doesn’t get nearly the same amount of attention, so most people miss it and continue to spread unsubstantiated rumors.

            I bet if you asked around on the street, you’ll still find people who believe that this is a thing that actually happened during the pandemic.

    • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      It’s really what you get when you don’t RTFA and respond to a quote used in the headline.

          • MacN'Cheezus@lemmy.today
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            4 months ago

            What am I wrong about? Is it not misleading to talk about “speed”, which is commonly understood to be a street name for amphetamines, when the actual reporting is only about Modafinil, which is a completely different substance?

            Amphetamines are Schedule II controlled substances while Modafinil is Schedule IV (i.e. a regular prescription drug). The headline is making it sound like they were throwing raves at the White House when actually they were just using a stimulant that’s slightly more potent than caffeine. There is no “high” from Modafinil in any way that’s even close to what you get from amphetamines. I know this because I’ve tried both for my ADHD.

            High doses of amphetamine can make you aggressive, exuberant, and take wildly miscalculated risks. It can produce delusions of grandeur, paranoia, and various other dangerous behavior. Modafinil does neither of those things. It just keeps you from falling asleep.

            • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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              4 months ago

              Literally the article explains this, they used a quote from someone in the administration. Ya don’t even know if the person quoted us wrong, only that the known drug that the pharmacy was handing out Willy nilly to staff was modafinil. Your complaint is that they used the word speed and it’s just another stimulant not normally referred to as speed.

              It’s nit-picky at best.