WAPO Latest Outlet Telling Americans ‘Doing Own Research’ Is Bad

Mainstream outlet says doing research ‘a good way to end up being wrong’

Continuing a popular trend among mainstream media outlets since the Covid pandemic hit the world, The Washington Post on Wednesday warned people against doing their own research.

Any person or group advising you to blindly take the word of the established “professionals” and “experts” instead of looking into matters for yourself is not your friend.

The WAPO headline reads, “Doing your own research is a good way to end up being wrong.”

The article looked into a research paper published by affiliates of the University of Central Florida, New York University and Stanford.

The study concluded that when individuals look further into “false news articles,” they are actually more likely to end up believing them.

Of course, the paper doesn’t entertain the potential that people who did the extra work found good reasons to believe in the alleged “false news” stories.

It also turns out some of the news items labeled “false or misleading” by the researchers were in fact accurate.

One article used in the study as an alleged example of a fake news story was a 2020 Infowars report about Australian bushfires.

Listed as the ninth headline used in the study, the Infowars article titled, “Nearly 200 People Arrested Across Australia For Deliberately Starting Bushfires,” was labeled “False/Misleading” by the researchers.

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However, even a Snopes article “fact-checking” the four-year-old Infowars report basically admitted it was true while using semantics to call the claims “false.”

Snopes claimed, “Alex Jones’ conspiracy site InfoWars falsely reported that ‘nearly 200 people’ were arrested in Australia for ‘deliberately’ starting bushfires.”

Then, the “fact-check” piece admitted, “Police in New South Wales released a statement disclosing that since Nov. 8, 2019, 183 people, including 40 juveniles, have been charged with 205 bushfire-related offenses.”

However, the article argued, “Of the 183, 24 people have been charged with deliberately setting fires. According to police, of the 183, another ’53 people have had legal actions for allegedly failing to comply with a total fire ban,’ and an additional ’47 people have had legal actions for allegedly discarding a lighted cigarette or match on land.’”

Snopes was very hung up on the word “deliberately,” yet failed to mention the source cited by the Infowars article, the Brisbane Times, wrote, “Figures obtained by AAP (Australian Associated Press) revealed police had dealt with 98 people – 31 adults and 67 juveniles – for deliberately setting fires,” a number that grew over time.

Another article the study claimed was “false or misleading” was a Gateway Pundit report about trans activists targeting Olympic cyclist Inga Thompson.

Listed as #13 in the study is the headline, “Trans Activists Target Olympic Cyclist Inga Thompson For Saying Women Shouldn’t Have To Compete With Biological Men.”

While the collegiate authors claimed the article was “misleading,” the receipts are all still right there in the Gateway Pundit‘s publication.

Transgender activists and their allies flooded Thompson’s Twitter with criticism and even created a petition to get her removed from the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association (OBRA).

In fact, American women’s cycling team Cynisca Cycling ended up removing Thompson from its board over the ordeal.

The Washington Post article isn’t the first time a major mainstream media outlet told Americans to stop doing their own research.

In 2020, Forbes ran a headline, reading, “You Must Not ‘Do Your Own Research’ When It Comes To Science.”

In 2021, CNN’s Brian Stelter told his audience that American’s doing their “own research” was “hurting America’s pandemic response.”

Stelter also aired a video clip from “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah” where the ex-host also complained about citizens looking into news stories for themselves.

In an article with the above video embedded in it, CNN wrote, “How ‘do your own research’ hurts America’s Covid response.”

The New York Times in 2021 published a similar article telling readers “critical thinking” “isn’t helping in the fight against misinformation.”

That same year, USA Today claimed, “browsing books can lead to” an “extremist rabbit hole.”

A 2022 New York Times piece titled, “Skeptics Say, ‘Do Your Own Research.’ It’s Not That Simple,” claimed telling people do their own research was “A new slogan” that had “emerged in the culture.”

Of course, people have been told to look into events for themselves since the beginning of written language.

In 2023, another Forbes headline stated, “Why ‘Doing Your Own Research’ May Make You Believe Fake News.”

Vice News also echoed the narrative in 2023, writing, “Scientists Explain Why ‘Doing Your Own Research’ Leads To Believing Conspiracies.”

In 2016 former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, brother of the former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, claimed it was “illegal” for citizens to “possess” the Wikileaks emails and to instead trust the media’s interpretation of the documents.

It is a massive red flag that the establishment is telling citizens to shut up and obey them without questioning any official narratives.

Truth peddlers will always empower the individuals seeking honesty, as Alex Jones did on the viral RT interview below.

“Don’t believe a word I say, go read Klaus Schwab saying we’re gonna make everybody take brain chips soon – he said it on French TV five years ago – go research everything I said,” he told the audience.

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