I do not believe it's a hoax, but a lot of disciplines develop unintentional publication biases, so that sensational or apocalyptic findings are probably easier

I do not believe it's a hoax, but a lot of disciplines develop unintentional publication biases, so that sensational or apocalyptic findings are probably easier to publish. Again, I don't think that's what's going on, but I know a lot of people who question or dismiss the median conclusions in other scientific disciplines, like economics, because of some perception of systemic bias. Myself, I might discount health studies, but maybe I'm biased by the ones that the media chooses to report, which seem to be mostly contradictory nonsense about how chocolate and wine will make you live forever. This is just a conjecture. If I'm right, I'm not sure if that's supposed to make you feel better (because your opponents are more rational than you thought) or worse (because complex epistemology is not likely a topic you can discuss with 60% of people).