Lies that became Truths

[jross]

This topic is meant to focus on narratives or claims that were initially dismissed or labeled as misinformation but later gained acceptance or were validated.

This is more direct than what's been discussed below:

• https://intermatwrestle.com/forums/topic/5091-how-to-think-critically-about-what-the-media-is-telling-you
• https://intermatwrestle.com/forums/topic/5418-you-don’t-hate-the-media-enough…
• https://intermatwrestle.com/forums/topic/6400-you-dont-hate-media-enough-part-ii
• https://intermatwrestle.com/forums/topic/5629-left-wing-media-bias
• https://intermatwrestle.com/forums/topic/7196-never-argue-with-an-idiotidiots
• https://intermatwrestle.com/forums/topic/5265-fact-check-the-moderator-fact-checkers

[Caveira]

The China virus!

[red viking]

Not everybody initially assumed some claims were true but then they were. We can therefore extrapolate that all truths are covered up by the "mainstream media" and ALL of our whack job conspiracy theories should now be accepted as fact. 

FIFY

[Scouts Honor]

 

[Caveira]

4 hours ago, red viking said:

Not everybody initially assumed some claims were true but then they were. We can therefore extrapolate that all truths are covered up by the "mainstream media" and ALL of our whack job conspiracy theories should now be accepted as fact. 

FIFY

That laptop no one could talk about.   Did that turn out to be true?

[Lipdrag]

6 minutes ago, Scouts Honor said:

 

 

So, we must have a real constitutional crisis on our hands now that foreign chief executives refuse to be bound by Amercan Federal Judges issuing fiats!  "You must send your maniac criminal back to the USA."  "Uh, no.  This citizen criminal of our country will stay here and face our judicial system."  Injunct this!

[jross]

Border Security Concerns (2019–2022)
Claims of uncontrolled borders were labeled xenophobic, but 2022 data showed record crossings, prompting policy shifts.

Urban Crime Surge (2020–2021)
Rising crime reports were dismissed as anecdotal, but 2022 FBI stats showed spikes in violent crime in major cities.

Antifa Violence Concerns (2020)
Trump’s claims about Antifa’s role in riots were downplayed as fearmongering, but 2021 DOJ charges linked Antifa members to coordinated violence.

Social Media Censorship Scope (2020–2022)
Claims of widespread censorship on platforms like X were downplayed as exaggeration, but 2022 leaks (e.g., internal documents) revealed extensive content moderation targeting specific views.

Twitter Shadowbanning (2019–2020)
Trump’s complaints about Twitter censorship were called paranoid, but 2022 internal leaks confirmed selective content suppression of conservative voices.

Deepfake Proliferation (2019–2020)
Warnings about deepfakes were seen as niche, but by 2022, their use in scams and propaganda proved critics right.

AI Bias Exaggeration (2019–2020)
Early warnings about AI bias were downplayed, but by 2023, real-world cases (e.g., hiring algorithms) confirmed systemic issues.

Inflation as Transitory (2021)
U.S. officials claimed inflation was temporary, but by 2022, persistent price hikes and economic data showed it was a sustained issue, impacting global markets.

COVID-19 Severity Downplay (2020)
Critics’ accusation that Trump misled the public by downplaying COVID-19’s severity was later verified by Bob Woodward’s 2020 recordings, confirming Trump privately knew the virus was deadly while publicly saying it would disappear.

Ivermectin for COVID-19 (2020–2021)
Labeled ineffective or dangerous by health authorities, some 2021 studies suggested ivermectin had potential benefits in specific contexts, though not a cure.

Vaccine Side Effects Downplayed (2021)
Rare side effects like myocarditis were initially minimized, but by 2022, health agencies acknowledged risks, especially in young males.

Nursing Home COVID Risks (2020)
Early warnings about nursing home deaths were underreported, but 2021 data showed they accounted for a huge share of fatalities.

Natural Immunity Downplayed (2021)
Early COVID vaccine campaigns sidelined natural immunity, but 2022 studies showed it offered comparable protection in many cases.

Lockdown Harms Overstated (2020–2021)
Critics of lockdowns were accused of exaggeration, but 2022 reports highlighted mental health crises and economic devastation, validating earlier warnings.

School Closures’ Impact (2020–2021)
Claims that prolonged school closures harmed kids were downplayed, but 2022 data showed significant learning loss and psychological effects.

Gain-of-Function Research Funding (2020–2021)
Denials of U.S. funding for gain-of-function research in Wuhan were contradicted by 2021 FOIA documents, confirming NIH grants to labs studying coronaviruses.

Economic Recovery Speed (2020)
Trump’s optimism about a swift post-COVID economic rebound was scoffed at, but 2021 GDP growth rates exceeded expectations, supporting his outlook.

Fentanyl Crisis Scale (2019–2021)
The opioid crisis was underreported as a border-related issue, but by 2022, record fentanyl seizures confirmed its massive scope.

Energy Policy Failures (2021–2022)
Claims that green energy transitions caused shortages were dismissed, but 2022 European energy crises showed overreliance on renewables without backups.

Battery Production Ethics (2019–2021)
EV battery mining concerns were called anti-green, but 2022 reports exposed child labor and environmental damage in supply chains.

TikTok Data Privacy (2020)
Claims TikTok harvested user data were called xenophobic, but 2022 leaks confirmed extensive data collection, leading to bans in some governments.

Wildfire Mismanagement (2019–2020)
Forest management critics were sidelined, but 2021 reports linked poor practices to worse fires, prompting policy shifts.

Hunter Biden’s Laptop (2020)
Initially dismissed by media and tech platforms as Russian disinformation, the laptop’s existence was later verified by FBI records and emails published in 2022, confirming some contents were authentic.

Ashley Biden’s Diary (2020–2024)
Initially dismissed by media and fact-checkers as unproven or a smear, the diary’s existence and authenticity were later confirmed by 2022 guilty pleas from Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander, who stole and sold it to Project Veritas, and a 2024 letter from Ashley Biden acknowledging her journal’s public exposure.

Russiagate Collusion Narrative (2019–2020)
Claims of direct Trump-Russia collusion were heavily pushed but later undermined by the Mueller Report (2019) and declassified documents (2020), showing no conclusive evidence of coordinated election interference.

Election Fraud Claims (2020)
Broad fraud allegations were dismissed outright, but 2021 audits in some states revealed procedural irregularities, though not enough to overturn results.

Spygate Allegations (2019–2020)
Trump’s claim of being spied on by the Obama administration was ridiculed, but 2020 declassified documents showed questionable surveillance of his campaign.

Trump’s Claim of FBI Bias (2019–2020)
Trump’s assertions of FBI bias against him were dismissed as baseless, but 2020 DOJ reports revealed internal FBI texts showing anti-Trump sentiment among some agents, raising questions about impartiality.

Charlottesville Rally Participants (2017–2019)
Trump’s claim of “very fine people on both sides” was later verified that he distinguished statue protesters from neo-Nazis.

Trump University Misrepresentations (2010–2016)
Critics’ accusation that Trump University was a fraudulent scheme was later verified by 2016 court documents and depositions, confirming Trump misrepresented his involvement and the program’s value, leading to a $25 million settlement.

Wharton Class Rank Exaggeration (1970s–2019)
Critics’ accusation that Trump lied about graduating top of his Wharton class was later verified by 2019 University of Pennsylvania records, confirming he graduated without honors, not first in his class.

[Scouts Honor]

come on jross

that's all circumstantial 

[red viking]

I'm not sure what his point is. This is the dumbest thread ever. He's basically just posting a bunch of random crap where initial information was limited and therefore people had varying opinions on it and then more information came out so some of  those opinions/speculations were incorrect. 

Did you just wake up and realize now that this happens in the real world? 

Edited 12 hours ago by red viking

[jross]

How many of these claims were argued in this forum as being true, and the 'factual' side ridiculed?  

[red viking]

Just now, jross said:

How many of these claims were argued in this forum as being true, and the 'factual' side ridiculed?  

Probably a lot. I was probably the first person screaming that the inflation was not transitory but due to Trump's policies. 

It goes both ways though. When we get initial information about ANYTHING, there are still a lot of places that the facts can land because we are still missing information. Some people will speculate one way and others will speculate the other way. 

Or are you trying to say that this ONLY happens to the Republicans, LMAO? Hopefully you aren't THAT stupid. 

[jross]

Just now, red viking said:

Or are you trying to say that this ONLY happens to the Republicans, LMAO? Hopefully you aren't THAT stupid. 

Please accept my apology for listing too many items for you to review, including those that happen to Democrats.

[Bigbrog]

21 minutes ago, red viking said:

Probably a lot. I was probably the first person screaming that the inflation was not transitory but due to Trump's policies. 

It goes both ways though. When we get initial information about ANYTHING, there are still a lot of places that the facts can land because we are still missing information. Some people will speculate one way and others will speculate the other way. 

Or are you trying to say that this ONLY happens to the Republicans, LMAO? Hopefully you aren't THAT stupid. 

We'll wait for your list.....

[red viking]

26 minutes ago, jross said:

Please accept my apology for listing too many items for you to review, including those that happen to Democrats.

I took a quick look and it looks to me that everything you listed are cherry-picked situations where at least some later facts supported the beliefs that some Republicans had. 

The implication, therefore, appears to be that misinformation is always stacked against the Republicans. Like always, it's the victim mentality. 

[red viking]

9 minutes ago, Bigbrog said:

We'll wait for your list.....

You don't think I could go on the internet and find a much longer list of situations where later facts supported the majority beliefs of Democrats? 

[Bigbrog]

Just now, red viking said:

You don't think I could go on the internet and find a much longer list of situations where later facts supported the majority beliefs of Democrats? 

We'll wait...the reason we say this is you are a lazy poster who doesn't do any leg work to prove any of your posts...you just spew emotional accusations with nothing to back it up...so we know you won't be able to produce anything like jross has.

Funny part is I would be just as open to read that list, if you can produce it, as I was to read the list jross posted.  Unlike you some on here are open minded and not blindly against R or D.

[red viking]

List of conspiracy theories promoted by Donald Trump

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

"Trump conspiracy" redirects here. For Trump's charges of conspiracy relating to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, see Federal prosecution of Donald Trump (election obstruction case).

This article contains a list of conspiracy theories, many of them deceptive or disproven, which were either created or promoted by Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th U.S. president.^[1][2][3][4]

Conspiracy theories

Attacks on political opponents

Barack Obama

• Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, aka "Birtherism", later retracted^[5][6][7][8]
• Conspiracy that Bill Ayers wrote Obama's memoir Dreams from My Father^[9]
• False claims of fraud in the 2012 election^[10]
• Pushed conspiracy theory that Obama supported ISIS^[11][12]
• Claim that Obama secretly controlled the Biden administration^[13]

Bill and Hillary Clinton

• False claim that Hillary Clinton started the birther conspiracy theory^[14]
• Clinton body count conspiracy theory^[1][15]
• Jeffrey Epstein's death was a murder conducted by Bill Clinton^[16]
• Pizzagate conspiracy theory and portrayals of the Clintons as pedophiles^[17]
• Suicide of Vince Foster^[1]
• Murder of Seth Rich^[18]
• Uranium One controversy
• Claim that Hillary Clinton "meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty"^[19]

Ted Cruz

• Assassination of John F. Kennedy - alleged Rafael Cruz, the father of Texas Senator and Republican presidential candidate for the 2016 elections Ted Cruz, had ties to Lee Harvey Oswald.^[20][21] Trump later stated that he did not actually believe the story.^[22]

Joe and Hunter Biden

• Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory^[23]
• Osama bin Laden death conspiracy theories, explicitly claiming Biden and Obama staged killing with body double, and may have had SEAL Team 6 killed^[24]
• Hunter Biden laptop controversy and China business dealings conspiracy theory^[25]
• Hunter Biden cocaine conspiracy theory, specifically relating to the cocaine found in the White House in July 2023^[26]
• Asserted that Biden is being controlled by "People that you've never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows."^[27]
• False claim that the Biden administration had been ready to kill him during the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago^[28]
• Conspiracy theories about the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season
• Claim that the Biden administration directed federal agencies to bribe news organizations for positive coverage^[29]

Kamala Harris

[edit]

• Harris citizenship conspiracy theories

Joe Scarborough

[edit]

• Joe Scarborough murder conspiracy^[30][31]

Others

[edit]

• Claim that Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau is secretly the son of Cuban leader Fidel Castro^[32]
• Nikki Haley's citizenship^[33]
• Spread false conspiracy theories about the attack on Paul Pelosi, suggesting it could have been staged.^[34]
• Suggested that Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dying wish may have been manufactured by the Democratic political leadership in Congress^[35]
• Alleged that the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack had "deleted and destroyed all the evidence".^[36]

Claims about clandestine opposition

[edit]

Deep State

[edit]

• Accusations against a "deep state" resisting Trump administration objectives and proper prosecution of Trump foes^[37]

QAnon

[edit]

• Expressions of support for QAnon adherents

Antifa

[edit]

• Attribution of Buffalo police shoving incident to antifa
• Claimed that a plane full of "thugs in dark uniforms", implying antifa, had recently flown from one unidentified city to another with the intention of fomenting riots^[38][39]

Anarchists

[edit]

• Retweeted a One America News Network tweet that ongoing George Floyd protests constituted a "coup attempt" that was "led by a well funded network of anarchists".^[40]

Robert Mueller investigation deflections

[edit]

• Allegations of Obama spying on Trump,^[41][42] including Spygate^[3][43] and Trump Tower wiretapping allegations^[1][2]
• Allegations of Hillary Clinton spying on Trump^[44][45][46]
• Ukrainian responsibility for election interference^[47][48][49]

2016, 2020 and 2024 election claims

[edit]

To sow election doubt, Trump escalated the use of "rigged election" and "election interference" statements in advance of the 2024 election compared to the previous two elections—the statements described as part of a "heads I win; tails you cheated" rhetorical strategy.^[50]

• Trump's false claim of a stolen election
• Italygate^[51]
• Stop the Steal^[52]
• Voter impersonation^[1][2]
• Claimed he won the popular vote during the 2016 presidential election, saying "I think there was tremendous cheating in California, there was tremendous cheating in New York and other places".^[53]
• Claimed that Google manipulated votes in the 2016 election^[54]
• Tweeted that Google results were "RIGGED" against him.^[55]
• Tweeted about a conspiracy theory that voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems had deleted millions of Trump votes.^[56]
• Referred to the first release of Twitter Files as proof of "Big Tech companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party" rigging the 2020 United States presidential election against him, declaring that "the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution" was necessary.^[57]
• Cited a study that between three and five million non-citizens voted in the 2016 elections^[58]
• Claimed that videos produced by James O'Keefe proved Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had "hired people" and "paid them $1,500" to "be violent, cause fights, [and] do bad things" at Trump rallies.^[59]

Claims of corrupt science, medicine, and statistics

[edit]

• COVID-19 deaths systematically overcounted
• Allegations of collusion between Anthony Fauci and the pharmaceutical industry^[60]
• Claims that Bill Gates and Anthony Fauci profited from COVID-19 vaccinations^[60]
• Global warming conspiracy theory, claimed that "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."^[61]
• Hurricane Maria death toll controversy^[1][2]
• Mob responsible for movement against asbestos^[62][63]
• Vaccines cause autism, tweeted "Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn't feel good and changes - AUTISM. Many such cases!"[1] Tweeted, "I am being proven right about massive vaccinations—the doctors lied. Save our children & their future" and that parents "know far better than fudged-up reports."^[64] At Republican debate, claimed "Just the other day, two years old, 2½ years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic."^[65]
• Wind turbines cause cancer^[1][2]

Claims about national, ethnic, religious or racial groups

[edit]

• Great replacement conspiracy theory, alleging that non-white immigrants from Latin America are seeking to displace American citizens in areas of employment, housing, and education.^[66]
• Tweeted infographic falsely stating that whites killed by blacks constitute 81% of crime, citing the nonexistent "Crime Statistics Bureau — San Francisco"^[67]
• Alleged actions by Muslims as claimed by Britain First^[1][68]
• Claimed to have witnessed Muslims in Jersey City cheering the 9/11 terrorist attack^[69]
• Endorsement of counter-jihad themes, as well as individuals associated with the movement^[70][71]
• Syrian refugee as ISIS members conspiracy^[1]
• Mexican government forces criminals across border^[72]
• White-nationalist conspiracy theory involving murder of white South African farmers and expropriation of their land^[73]
• Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio eating cats and dogs^[74]
• Claimed that ISIS members were hiding within the Central American migrant caravans^[75][76]

Claims of wealthy funders of protestors

[edit]

• Suggested violent protestors were being funded by "some very stupid rich people"^[53]
• Alleging that antifa activists were being funded by Democrats, George Soros or "other people".^[53]

Claims about George Soros

[edit]

• That Soros was backing the protests against Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination.^[77]
• That Soros funded the Central American migrant caravans heading toward the United States.^[78]
• That district attorney Alvin Bragg was "bought and paid for" by Soros.^[79]

Questioning terrorism

[edit]

• 9/11 conspiracy theories^[80]
• Denialism and whitewashing regarding the January 6 Capitol attack^[81]
• Claim that Hamas terrorists are "pouring into our once beautiful USA, through our TOTALLY OPEN SOUTHERN BORDER"^[82]

Other

[edit]

• Referenced a conspiracy theory about the death of Antonin Scalia, saying that "they say they found a pillow on his face, which is a pretty unusual place to find a pillow."^[83]
• Claimed that the FBI knows the identity of the individual who placed two pipe bombs outside the DNC and RNC on January 6th.^[84]

Conspiracy theorists endorsed by Trump

[edit]

Donald Trump has encouraged individuals who spread conspiracy theories.

• Had dinner with Kanye West after he had promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and had vowed to go "death [sic] con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE" on his Twitter account. His dinner guest was Nick Fuentes, a well-known Holocaust denier.^[85][86][87]
• Alex Jones,^[88] publisher of InfoWars, a climate change denialist who has said that the World Bank invented the "hoax" of climate change,^[89] falsely claims that vaccines cause autism^[90][91] and who encouraged his listeners to harass the victims of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, which he called a "hoax".^[92][93] Trump appeared on InfoWars, where he praised Jones's "amazing reputation", and repeated Jones's claims on the campaign trail.^[10][94]
  • Paul Joseph Watson, who worked for Alex Jones' InfoWars and whose conspiracy theory interests include chemtrails, the New World Order and the Illuminati.^[95]
• Laura Loomer,^[96] who has made false claims about several U.S. mass shootings, including that they were affiliated with ISIS or that the shootings were entirely staged^[97][98][99]
• Jack Posobiec, known for promoting the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.
• Sidney Powell, an attorney who joined the Trump legal team in 2020, although the team distanced itself from her after she publicly claimed that the 2020 election had been rigged by an elaborate international communist plot.^[100] She filed and lost four federal cases, alleging voter fraud of "biblical" proportions and claiming that voting machines had been secretly programmed to switch votes from Trump to Biden.^{[101][102][103]}
• Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York City during the September 11 attacks, best known in more recent years for his role as Donald Trump's attorney in various lawsuits pertaining to and a leading proponent of conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, such as that between 65,000 and 165,000 ballots in Georgia were illegally cast by underage voters, that between 32,000 and "a few hundred thousand" illegal immigrants voted in Arizona, and that from 8,021 to 30,000 votes in Pennsylvania were cast fraudulently by people voting in the names of deceased persons whose names had yet to be purged from voter rolls.^[104]
• L. Lin Wood, an attorney who promoted conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, claiming that Trump had won the election with 70% of the vote, and that a secret cabal of international communists, Chinese intelligence, and Republican officials had contrived to steal the election from Trump.^[105][106] Wood also claims that "no planes" hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, and that planes visible in the footage are "CGI".^[107] He announced that he had "entered the public debate around the 'flat earth' issue", endorsing the belief that it is flat.^[108]
• Kelly Townsend, an Arizona Senator sought out Trump in 2011 pushing the Obama birther conspiracy.^{[109][110][111]} Townsend along with Roger Stone associate Jerome Corsi, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and 2020 Maricopa County Sheriff candidate and then chief Arpaio staffer Jerry Sheridan, worked with informant Dennis Montgomery.^[110][112] In 2020, Townsend worked again with Jerome Corsi claiming the election was stolen from Donald Trump and emailed Corsi a document of Arizona Senators endorsing Trump electors for Vice President Pence, in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election.^[113] In November 2020, Townsend assisted Sidney Powell along with her birther conspiracy associate Dennis Montgomery who back in 2011 alleged Hammer and Scorecard was spying and used to hack into government computers and change Obamas birth certificate, and in 2020 with Townsend and Powell shifted his claims stating the supercomputer was being used to hack and flip votes in favor of Biden in 2020, and Townsend was listed as a key witness in Powell's Arizona election fraud case.^{[114][113][115][116]} In the lead up to January 6, 2021, Townsend sponsored a bill that would designate Trump electors to Arizona and promoted the Arizona audit and stolen election claims.^[117][118] Townsend has also been a leader of the anti-vax movement claiming in 2019 that all vaccines are communist.^[119]
• Rick Wiles, founder of TruNews was granted press credentials by the Trump Administration.^[120][121] Wiles is known for pushing homophobic and anti-semitic conspiracy theories, including that the Jews seek to take control of the United States to "kill millions of Christians" and stated, "9/11 wasn't done by the Muslims. It was done by a wildcard, the Israeli Mossad, that's cunning and ruthless and can carry out attacks on Americans and make it look like Arabs did it."^[120][122] In July 2018, during the Trump Administration, he claimed that Anderson Cooper and Rachel Maddow were going to lead a "homosexual coup on the White House" that would result in the nationally televised decapitation of the Trump family on the White House lawn.^[

[red viking]

Touche

[Bigbrog]

Wow...as expected...you just listed a bunch of BS that doesn't prove or disprove anything...and you searched for things that Trump was connected to in some way.  You listed things so and so said, that were proven to be hyperbole or that person's opinion/claim.

You do realize jross posted a list of actual claims to now known facts right....terrible attempt on your part.

[Bigbrog]

8 minutes ago, red viking said:

Touche

By the way, I am not sure you know how to use this word

[red viking]

2 minutes ago, Bigbrog said:

Wow...as expected...you just listed a bunch of BS that doesn't prove or disprove anything...and you searched for things that Trump was connected to in some way.  You listed things so and so said, that were proven to be hyperbole or that person's opinion/claim.

You do realize jross posted a list of actual claims to now known facts right....terrible attempt on your part.

those have all been proven false. 

[red viking]

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abf1234

How about some actual science? 

Edited 11 hours ago by red viking

[red viking]

Abstract

The idea that U.S. conservatives are uniquely likely to hold misperceptions is widespread but has not been systematically assessed. Research has focused on beliefs about narrow sets of claims never intended to capture the richness of the political information environment. Furthermore, factors contributing to this performance gap remain unclear. We generated an unique longitudinal dataset combining social media engagement data and a 12-wave panel study of Americans’ political knowledge about high-profile news over 6 months. Results confirm that conservatives have lower sensitivity than liberals, performing worse at distinguishing truths and falsehoods. This is partially explained by the fact that the most widely shared falsehoods tend to promote conservative positions, while corresponding truths typically favor liberals. The problem is exacerbated by liberals’ tendency to experience bigger improvements in sensitivity than conservatives as the proportion of partisan news increases. These results underscore the importance of reducing the supply of right-leaning misinformation.

Edited 11 hours ago by red viking

[jross]

Will @red viking please edit/hide/repost his post to be readable?  The format and size is a burden to consume.

[red viking]

3 minutes ago, jross said:

Will @red viking please edit/hide/repost his post to be readable?  The format and size is a burden to consume.

Did it. So, the choices that people have are to a) believe your (coming from a right-wing extremist) cherry-picked examples as the overall, universal trend, or they can read an actual scientific paper from a scientific study.