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this is the official steak-umm thread of threads to organize our top tweetstorm rants from over the years. topics include scientific literacy, critical thinking, memes, cognitive biases, woke brands, polarization, conspiracy theories, and more
steak-umm bless
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friendly reminder in times of uncertainty and misinformation: anecdotes are not data. (good) data is carefully measured and collected information based on a range of subject-dependent factors, including, but not limited to, controlled variables, meta-analysis, and randomization
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just gonna come out and say it: vulnerable people are always the most susceptible to propaganda, misinformation, and conspiracy, especially in times of cultural anxiety, and if there is a way to help them out of these traps, targeted self-righteous vilification isn’t it
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why are so many young people flocking to brands on social media for love, guidance, and attention? I'll tell you why. they're isolated from real communities, working service jobs they hate while barely making ends meat, and are living w/ unchecked personal/mental health problems
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ok it's time to talk about societal distrust in experts and institutions, the rise of misinformation, cultural polarization, and how to work toward some semblance of mutually agreed upon information before we splinter into irreconcilable realities
(beefy thread incoming)
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people think it's bizarre, ironic, and funny when a frozen meat company points out the importance of critical thinking, but chances are the same message would never "go viral" if it was from a person. our society values entertainment over truth and that's a huge problem
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we're a frozen meat brand posting ads inevitably made to misdirect people and generate sales, so this is peak irony, but hey we live in a society so please make informed decisions to the best of your ability and don't let anecdotes dictate your worldview ok
steak-umm bless
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the irony of neil’s tweet is that by framing science itself as “true” he’s influencing people to be more skeptical of it in a time of unprecedented misinformation. science is an ever refining process to find truth, not a dogma. no matter his intent, this message isn’t helpful
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you can maintain healthy levels of skepticism while also extending trust where it's earned by empirical evidence and expertise. use critical thinking. work toward solutions with one another. and remember, this whole thread was an ad so please buy our frozen meat
steak-umm bless
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outliers attempting to counter global consensus around this pandemic with amateur reporting or unverified sourcing are not collecting data. breaking news stories that only relay initial findings of an event are not collecting data. we have to be careful in our media consumption
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you can find experts, studies, or any other forms of content to affirm any belief. you can find phd's who believe earth is flat or scientists who believe the moon landings were faked. just because you found a fringe outlier doesn't mean it's weighted the same as expert consensus
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nope. science itself isn't "true" it's a constantly refining process used to uncover truths based in material reality and that process is still full of misteaks. neil just posts ridiculous sound bites like this for clout and he has no respect for epistemology
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it can be difficult to know what to believe in a time when institutional trust is diminished and the gatekeepers of information have been dismantled, but it's more crucial now than ever before to follow a range of credentialed sources for both breaking news and data collection
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"you're just posting about science communication, media literacy, and critical thinking to sell more frozen meat"
... yes
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young people today have it the best and the worst. there's so much to process and very few trusted, accessible outlets to process it all through. so they go to memes. they go to obscure or absurdist humor. they go to frozen meat companies on twitter. end rant
Steak-umm bless
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they're crushed by student loan debt, disenfranchised by past generations, and are dreading the future of our world every day from mass media addiction and the struggle to not just be happy, but to survive this chaotic time with every problem happening at once under a microscope
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you can maintain independent, critical thinking toward institutions without dipping into fringe conspiracies that get jumpstarted by individual anecdotes being virally spread as data. it's not easy, but it's necessary to keep any semblance of responsible online information flow
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“you advertise obvious cultural commentary to avoid telling people about your nasty food”
sir, we literally refer to our main products as “frozen beef sheets”
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when we hear people’s concerns over the current economic devastation, skepticism toward politicized media narratives, or any other signs of vulnerability, we need to listen and form solidarity with them before some charismatic propagandist or fringe group does
steak-umm bless
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why do people believe in conspiracies? why do they follow cult personalities or seek contrarian opinions? because they’re vulnerable. they feel bullied or left behind or isolated or exploited or abused or inadequate and they're looking answers, community, security, and identity
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breaking news and storytelling will always be spun with interpretive bias from different media perspectives, but data is a science that can't be replaced by one-off anecdotes. try to remember this to avoid fear-based sensationalism or conspiracy theories taking over your mind
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all we currently have are limited and evolving metrics that experts are deciphering and acting upon immediately to the best of their ability. this terrain leaves many openings for opportunists and charismatic manipulators to lead people astray by exploiting what they want to hear
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the shortcomings within experts and institutions don't make fringe sources equally credible or trustworthy. if a doctor gets something wrong, you try another doctor, not a plumber. if a study gets something wrong, you don’t rely on anecdotes for truth, you rely on better studies
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they grew up through the dawn of internet culture and have had mass advertising drilled into their media consumption, now they're being resold their childhoods by remakes, sequels, spinoffs, and other cheap nostalgia, making them more cynical to growth or authenticity
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ATTN Steak-Umm cult followers
here are the guidelines to our new world order:
- bless everyone even our idiot college intern steve
- no hot pockets
- saying "is it steak? umm.." may land you in the dungeon
- beef memes are currency
- RT everything so I can keep my job
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the role of science communicators has arguably never been more important than it is today. people need more relatable, nuanced explanations that encourage critical thinking and less pompous, clout-chasing sound bites that sow polarization
steak-umm bless
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we couldn’t afford a sup3r b0wl ad so now we’re tweeting to get attention please engage
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they often don't have parents to talk to because they say stuff like "you don't know how good you have it," and they don't have mentors to talk to because most of them have no concept for growing up in this strange time, which perpetuates the feeling of helplessness/loneliness
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uncertainty doesn't sell. nuance doesn't sell. long, complex lectures don't sell. a video clip of someone saying "it's complicated" will never perform the way one would of someone using confident, flippant, polarizing rhetoric, and that's a huge problem
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no soundcloud to add here. at the end of the day it’s easy to tweet about problems and complain about “the other,” it’s a lot harder to improve the self and work toward solutions
be encouraged and have hope my beeflings, the world needs it
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they have full access to social media and the information highway, but they feel more alone and insecure than ever. being behind a screen 24/7 has made them numb to everything, anxious and depressed about everything, and vitriolic or closed off toward anyone different from them
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distrust in institutions is complex. it's accelerated by people's access to infinite information, credible sources being paywalled, corruption, honest misteaks, or propaganda, but underneath it all is a cultural polarization dating back decades that won't be solved overnight
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when someone posts misinformation and you hesitate to engage because “it’s pointless to debate,” remember that although you likely won’t change their mind, you still have a chance to inform all the people who see that post. your voice matters
steak-umm bless
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obligatory thread to remind people that we’re a brand selling products (steakumm.com check it out) so everything we do is based in self interest to grow our business
steak-umm bless
a thread about how all brands that make social/political comments/stances do so to meat a self-interested bottom line, including us
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the best way to reach vulnerable people who wholeheartedly believe they know the "truth" is by consistently sharing evidence-based information with the intent of helping, not disparaging. they already have a compelling story; they need to be told one that is better and more true
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getting people credible, thoughtful, and impartial information is an uphill battle because most have evolved (and been programmed) to not care unless it's entertaining and tells them what they want to hear, but we have to try in these times of cultural crisis and polarization
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when you hold a fringe belief or become part of a tightly-knit outcast group, you feel like you have some secret, valuable information that the world needs. you feel important for knowing it. and anyone on the outside becomes a vague, intangible enemy, often referred to as “they”
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if you thought this thread was useful, we posted another one recently touching on small, simple ways that the average person can take on the daily cultural challenges of this pandemic without demonizing or otherizing our neighbors
here are some thoughts on how we can come together amidst this pandemic and economic crisis, despite the challenges of misinformation, media inundation, partisanship, and cultural polarization. THREAD
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experts need to earn trust back by acknowledging misteaks and being transparent about their processes, what's known, and what's still being learned. they need to address valid concerns. they need to meat people where they are and deliver tangible benefits to improve their lives
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as a company, our end goal will always be selling product, but rather than promoting ads overtly crafted to sell during this crisis, we are committed to:
1.) providing factual, helpful information
2.) bridging our cultural polarization
3.) helping people who are helping people
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science the *term* has been politicized—not the *process* of it. as that process has evolved on issues, both public and private institutions have taken inspiration from it, but those decisions are still driven by economic and political interests which muddy how the term is used
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leading propagandists and conspiracy theorists need to be directly challenged, but many of their followers are just victims of circumstance who were exploited. they still have a chance to leave their group *if* they feel welcomed into a new group of those reaching out
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a communications course that covers media literacy, critical thinking, and a history of american institutions, polarization, conspiracies, and internet culture should be required in all high school curriculums
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if you don’t have the time or ability to fact check unsourced information then don't share it
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how do you determine if a source is “credible?” well, it's an incredibly complex question. you need to understand the outlet and author's track record, their editorial process, associations, funding, audiences (market), critiques, and the influence of their work, for starters
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1.) this dog is named Steak-umm
2.) the adoption fee is paid in full
2.) he's at the @MDSPCA in baltimore, maryland
4.) let's make this go viral to get him adopted
5.) RETWEET AND TAG YOUR FRIENDS
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the path to restore trust in institutions must be shared between experts and laypeople alike. it’s an uphill battle. people naturally distrust power. experts have knowledge laypeople don't. polarization, fear, and otherizing sell. there's a bottomless market for misinformation
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one universal goal everyone should prioritize is getting people from across the ideological spectrum closer to the same reality of baseline facts and evidence. it won't be perfect, but that needs to be the trajectory, rather than the current divergent trend into split realities
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here are some thoughts on how we can come together amidst this pandemic and economic crisis, despite the challenges of misinformation, media inundation, partisanship, and cultural polarization. THREAD
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dear internet
we have officially changed our name to Cake-umm because Steak-umm just wasn't doing it for us anymore or something
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in the past year various experts and public figures have changed positions with new findings, made good faith errors, politicized the virus, spread misinformation, and had disagreements across institutions. every possible narrative on these occurrences has been amplified by media
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i just see a lot of nonsense on the timeline every day and know it can be hard for individuals to voice this type of stuff and for some reason people are more inclined to listen when it’s coming from a brand rather than a person which is pretty unfortunate
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laypeople need to hold both their skepticism and trust of experts in an open hand. they need to acknowledge their limitations in accessing or interpreting fields or resources outside their expertise. they need to keep learning media literacy and grappling with empirical evidence
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critical thinking beef tips, A THREAD
critical thinking is not a singular skill. it’s a constant state of metacognition, measuring evidence, and recognizing when to defer to experts. it's analyzing this tweet's substance, motivations, credibility, and source, not just reading it
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note: all companies have a bottom line, so anything we publish is a form of propaganda to encourage positive association and memory with our brand, despite whatever our intentions. remember to consume advertising and PR with skepticism, even if the message is "helpful"
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media literacy in the internet age is incredibly difficult to develop. you have to navigate special interest groups, trolls, ads, conspiracies, fake accounts, satire, sensationalism, and beyond, in order to find credible source material and relevant experts buried under the mess
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the usefulness of skepticism in experts and institutions is strongest within competing experts and institutions, not outsiders. an outsider may have certain insights worth engaging, but they can't be weighed as equally credentialed as a relevant expert or institutional consensus
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“one day you’re gonna run out of meat jokes”
we ran out of meat jokes 3 years ago why do you think we post meta rants about philosophy 101 topics now
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during this pandemic it’s vital to stay wary of charlatans peddling “miracle cures” that are “all natural,” such as colloidal silver or herbal remedies. many people are afraid and extra susceptible to scams. please counter falsities if you see them with both data and compassion
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this virus has negatively impacted millions of people, personally, socially, and economically. many are desperate for a miracle cure or quick fix, but reliable, safe science takes time to produce. hope is a beautiful thing, it just needs to be tethered with realistic expectations
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how to understand the validity and biases of a source:
- research its reputation and credibility
- research its record for accuracy and controversy
- research its funding and associations
- research its editorial and vetting processes
- research its audience and critics
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an institution may have structural biases that need to be acknowledged, but alternative sources in media are littered with their own biases and have little to no accountability, so no matter where you get information from you're still extending a degree of trust in something
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me: it’s the calm beef or the storm
guy: it's “the calm before the storm” you dummy
me, growing larger and angrier: storm it is
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ideological divides will never go away in society, but they need to be fought over by using mutually understood language and comparable information or else conversations can't get off the ground—people will just continue talking past one another and escalating tension
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conspiracy theories are baked into human nature, they don’t only affect the fringes. all people naturally seek patterns to make sense of the world’s randomness and develop in-group, out-group prejudices that make them vulnerable to all kinds of propaganda, paranoia, and extremism
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when “these strange and uncertain times” are over and i go back to posting awful meat puns and tiktok videos every day you all have permission to unfollow me ok
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in science there are “rules” and “exceptions.” rules provide consensus and patterns, while exceptions provide outliers that challenge (prove) the rules. in hard sciences like physics, a virtual 100% consensus is possible, but in soft sciences like economics, it's never that clean
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no because we're not a restaurant lmao catch me in that frozen food aisle
steakumm.com/locator
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we are just a frozen meat brand tweeting into the void hoping to provoke thought, inspire unity, and relay useful information. we are not an expert in anything or some beef god. we are a company with a bottom line being run by people. stay safe and be good to each other out there
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i would hope any potentially existing aliens are just as curious if not more curious about life than humans are
steak-umm bless
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solutions to societal distrust, media literacy, and polarized realities have to come on both institutional and cultural levels. people need to be inspired. ideas need to be proposed. awareness is easy. everyone sees the problem. mass participation and solutions are the hard part
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if people can’t agree on the same material reality of facts and information, then having a reasonable discussion is incredibly difficult. if someone believes in something unfalsifiable, changing their mind is incredibly difficult. pick your battles and know when to log off
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do you hold the same beliefs today that you held 10 years ago? 5 years ago? 1 year ago? wisd-umm is having tempered confidence in what you know in this moment, while staying open to new evidence and experiences that may change in the future
steak-umm bless
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realizing that tweeting about critical thinking might be useless since the people who don’t think critically still think they do so they don’t listen and the people who do think critically probably don’t need or want a reminder from a frozen meat brand
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gonna keep preaching from the frozen meat pulpit until this account runs into the ground because that’s marketing baby
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one major roadblock in getting credible information to the masses is the divide between experts and communicators. most experts aren't communicators and most communicators aren't experts. this often results in research being spun with a narrative by the time it reaches the public
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we’ve paused all our marketing the past couple months because it's been a difficult period for both our workers and business due to coronavirus, and we’re really sorry for going silent. here’s what’s been going on behind the beef (THREAD)
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I thought about pitching a new line of Lady Steak-Umms just for women but then I remembered I'm not an idiot
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when people trust corporate food brands on twitter more than long-standing institutions, society is probably not in the best shape
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this app was more interesting when it wasn’t just about who the owner is beefing with
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troll: your personified twitter ads are manipulative and damaging to society
steak-umm: ok so what should we do
troll: just post what the product is
steak-umm: ok “hey everybody buy our frozen beef sheets”
troll: NO THAT’S TOO SELF AWARE AND META IT’S JUST AS BAD
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if you’re a scientist, doctor, researcher, or journalist with timely information you wish was shared on a larger platform, DM us and we’ll see if we can retweet or integrate it into our tweets
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PSA FOR EVERYONE:
- no, we were not hacked
- no, this is not patrick
- no, retweets will not get you free beef
- yes, you are loved
- yes, this is weird
- yes, a frozen meat company just blessed you
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