2021 TOPIC DISCUSSIONS

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus. A major issue during the COVID-19 pandemic was the rampant misinformation on social media and even mainstream television networks. Inaccurate news about COVID-19 led to either over-exaggerated panic or a dangerous level of apathy towards the pandemic. For others, misinformation led to unsafe pandemic practices. For example, several social media circles have spread untrue information that vaccines cause autism and present stories of people dying or becoming seriously ill after the COVID-19 vaccine. They believe that the vaccine came out too quickly and was not properly tested for safety in the rush to end the pandemic quickly. However, the reality is that the COVID-19 vaccine was thoroughly tested and went through multiple trials. COVID-19 misinformation is just as serious as the pandemic's health impacts. It is necessary to recognize when false information is being spread so the public understands safe practices for the pandemic without unncessary fear or anger.

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White Nationalism has increasingly become an issue in the 21^st Century where it is driving America’s population to create an ideological war between the country’s own citizens, based on conspiracy theories (QAnon), misinformation, and the mindset that other ethnicities, nationalities, and ideologies are inferior. Due to the nature of extremist views and violence committed against the Capitol and against other individuals, White Nationalism is a form of domestic terrorism.

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The efforts to combat climate change have been evident since the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Environment, which produced the Stockholm Declaration. Following this Conference, efforts have been produced to reduce climate change, including the Paris Climate Agreement that set a threshold of limiting average global temperatures from increasing above 1.5 degrees Celsius. Nonetheless, climate change denial still exists today. From oil companies lobbying to hide information regarding climate change, to politicians explicitly stating that climate change is a hoax, combatting this information is more important than ever as natural disasters become more prominent and more deadly.

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