Pope Says COVID Misinformation Is A Human Rights Violation

Last week, Pope Francis came out and said that misinformation and fake news about COVID-19 was a "human rights violation." This is the most succinct analysis of what's happening across the globe with regard to the fake information being spread for profit. Because that IS what this is - people are lying about the pandemic and the treatments because they get a lot of money to do it. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains what's happening.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

Late last week, his holiness Pope Francis came out and said that misinformation and fake news surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, he believes is a human rights violation. Let's be honest. I mean, I think the Catholic church knows a thing or two about human rights violation. I would say that covering up sexual abuse for decades and then moving priests from parish to parish after they get busted, I'd say that's a pretty big human rights violation, but that's a different conversation for a different day. I agree with Pope Francis on this. I do believe that this is a human rights violation and here's why. You're taking away somebody's right to make an informed decision when you are feeding them nothing but garbage. Things that are not true, whether you know it's not true or not is irrelevant at this point, the intent is to muddy the waters. The intent is to take people out of their, you know, medically sound community and instead feed them this alternative reality that makes it impossible for them to distinguish between what is real and what is fake.

And then they have to try to make decisions because you've messed with their heads. I would say that is a human rights violation. Here's, here's where I stand on all of this. And I know recently, obviously with Joe Rogan, the whole Spotify thing, the COVID misinformation hosting these quacks on his show to, you know, lie about what's happening because their opinions are nowhere near the rest of the scientific community, the misinformation has become a huge thing. You know, the anti-vaxxers that have been pushing all of this nonsense and making a ton of money on it, by the way, it's the same thing. It's the same thing as the climate deniers, you know, your Exxons, your oil companies out there that have paid millions of dollars to fund phony scientific studies saying that, hey, climate change, isn't real. We're all gonna be fine. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, they know what's really happening. That would be a human rights violation too, in my opinion. And the anti-vaxxers are no different.

They're no different than the climate change deniers. They're no different than those oil company CEOs who lied about a massive public health issue, climate change, because it put more money in their pockets. And yes, folks, the anti-vaxxers are making a ton of money lying to you. The organizations they run, pull in millions of dollars. Some of them pulled in over $6 million last year. The rest of them sell these bogus cures out there or treatments for all kinds of ailments. I mean, pretty much literal snake oil they're selling you and they're making millions. They're selling books. They're getting advances. They are cashing in by telling you lies, lies that you then use to make decisions about your healthcare and of course you're making the wrong ones based on the information they're giving you. So yes, the Pope is right. This is a human rights violation. Yes, something does have to happen. Somebody, some group, some governmental body has to step in and do something about this. People are dying every day because misinformation doesn't just make us dumber, it's also killing us now.