Conspiracy Theories

[Cunt]

Is the anal-swab covid test a conspiracy theory? Or just democracy in action?

[L'Emmerdeur]

Pointing out error = Hate

OK, got it.

Helps me understand a bit better.

No, I called it a hate piece because it was heavy with opinion that looked...not loving.

members of the so-called “intellectual dark web” who in 2017 both resigned from their posts as biology professors at Evergreen State College in protest of a minority-appreciation day, and have since whined about campus speech on a number of libertarian-leaning podcasts.

But feel free to keep avoiding anything they have said, in favour of talking about the people themselves.

Some comment on ideas, some comment on people. Both are informative, in their way.

OK, ideas:

Maher: "Let's talk about that--the fact that there is this lab, I think it’s the only one in the world quite like it, in Wuhan, where it started. It would almost be a conspiracy theory to think it didn’t start in a lab, right? And that theory was demonized at first. Oh, come on, that's conspiracy thinking, that started in a lab. But it's certainly 50-50, would you say that?"

"Oh, it's far more likely than that," replied Weinstein, adding that "it looked to be about 90 percent" probability that it originated in a lab. "We are so politicized and polarized and partisan now as a country that if the wrong guy proposed this to begin with—and for the half the country, it was the wrong guy—then the rest of the country says no way, no how, we're gonna call that a conspiracy theory," added Heying.

The article cited people responding to this idea who've spent their careers studying viruses and epidemiology. Those people in turn cited scientific evidence which shows the idea has been rejected not because of any partisan motive, but because the idea was mistaken.

To me it's telling that Maher and his guests continue to push an idea that has been shown to be mistaken, and that the guests use it as a cudgel to promote their culture war agenda. Their own words bear out what you choose to describe as a 'hateful' description. I think it's refreshing when somebody points out people who are weaponizing misinformation, and don't find it hateful in the least.

Do you really believe that it's hateful to call out bullshit for what it is?

[Cunt]

I believe you think it is bullshit. My guess is that some think what you say is bullshit. I know your position (coincidentally, in alignment with all the corporate entities)

Go ahead and prove the origin if you wish, but I think there is government opposition to investigating it properly. Guess which government. No, guess.

The furious opposition to blaming the CCP and their actions around this are enough reason to consider opposing theories about the origin.

[JimC]

I believe you think it is bullshit. My guess is that some think what you say is bullshit. I know your position (coincidentally, in alignment with all the corporate entities)

Go ahead and prove the origin if you wish, but I think there is government opposition to investigating it properly. Guess which government. No, guess.

The furious opposition to blaming the CCP and their actions around this are enough reason to consider opposing theories about the origin.

What crap. There is plenty to blame the CCP for in terms of their early failures and attempts to cover-up (mostly from their own people) without resorting to conspiracy theories about lab-made coronavirus. Most of the western world has been scathing of the Chinese government for the above reasons (and scathing of their appalling oppression of sections of their own people etc.). You are erecting a very weird straw man that seems to be that somehow the "establishment" is hell-bent on protecting the CCP...

[NineBerry]

We are constantly being lied to by the government, the businesses and the media. That's true. But the difference is:

Conspiracy theorists believe there's a few big lies meant to deceive us from the fact that there is a secret reality that is completely different from what we believe reality is.

However, there are not a few big lies. There's a billion small lies. And they are not there to hide some secret reality but to hide some small details about a reality that is not so different from what we see.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Do you really believe that it's hateful to call out bullshit for what it is?

I believe you think it is bullshit.

My guess is that some think what you say is bullshit. I know your position (coincidentally, in alignment with all the corporate entities)

What I think about it is irrelevant. Facts are available, yet Maher and his guests bravely forge ahead spreading a politically charged narrative that's contradicted by the known facts--bullshit, to use a descriptive term. While you don't deign to give a straight-forward answer to a straight-forward question, your response in general indicates that you think that calling out bullshit is a hateful thing to do. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

Go ahead and prove the origin if you wish, but I think there is government opposition to investigating it properly. Guess which government. No, guess.

The furious opposition to blaming the CCP and their actions around this are enough reason to consider opposing theories about the origin.

The question at the heart of this is not political, despite Maher's guests slathering a political narrative all over it. That question is best answered by scientists who have the ability to assess the scientific evidence. The article I linked to and quoted from pointed out that there was evidence from more than one line of scientific analysis, and that the evidence indicated the same answer.

This is known as consilience. Until new evidence is discovered that unequivocally contradicts an array of consilient evidence, it's reasonable to hold some confidence in the conclusion indicated by that consilience.

The succinct answer here, consilient with evidence mentioned previously in the article: 'There is genetic evidence that SARS-CoV-2 has natural origins. There is no evidence to support a lab leak.'

The credulous may be convinced by somebody who supports their political argument by promoting an idea that is contradicted by the scientific evidence. That doesn't carry any weight in the realm of science though. Rather, it's sufficient reason to discount both the argument and the credibility of the person making the argument.

Then again, it's clear that Maher and his guests aren't moving in the realm of science. They're busy peddling bullshit.

[Cunt]

No evidence to support a lab leak.

Well, hopefully someone will tell them. They would probably put it on their show!

[rainbow]

Is the anal-swab covid test a conspiracy theory? Or just democracy in action?

Nice of you to share your erotic fantasies with us.

[Tero]

Sovereign citizens believe that a law enacted in 1871 secretly turned the U.S. into a corporation and did away with the American government of the founding fathers. The group also believes that President Franklin D. Roosevelt sold U.S. citizens out in 1933 when he ended the gold standard and replaced it by offering citizens as collateral to a group of shadowy foreign investors.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/88akpx/ ... on-march-4

[NineBerry]

CNN documentary on QAnon

[Tero]

SNL documentary on Greene
And now, it's time for "What Still Works?"
https://mobile.twitter.com/nbcsnl/statu ... 4778926081
Or
https://www.youtube.com/snl

[Tero]

(Not satire)
Blog entry on conspiracism.
https://esapolitics.blogspot.com/2021/0 ... l.html?m=1

[Cunt]

The Lex Fridman Podcast has him interviewing Tim Dillon. Dillon thinks a conspiracy theory that still might be true, is the JFK assassination.

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cH ... HQAAAAAQAg

about Fridman:

Conversations about AI, science, technology, history, philosophy and the nature of intelligence, consciousness, love, and power. Formerly called the Artificial Intelligence (AI) podcast. Lex is an AI researcher at MIT and beyond.

[Tero]

A podcast. On ancient conspiracies. Yeah.

[Tero]