4 ms·

>The tinfoilhat-crowd (we call them 'wappies' in Dutch) A very divisive term which will only increase the divide between the "believers" and "nonbelievers". Pl

by adflux 6y ago

>The tinfoilhat-crowd (we call them 'wappies' in Dutch) A very divisive term which will only increase the divide between the "believers" and "nonbelievers". Please treat people who don't share your ideas & ideals with respect and don't use blanket statements to demonize groups.

Avamander 6y ago
Respect is earned, not innate.
- kossTKR 6y ago
  The history of the pharmaceutical industry is absolutely jam packed with deception, corruption and sinister lobbying. Read up on the Sackler family for a good overview of horrible practices that is just the tip of an enormous iceberg. The fact that a group of idiots exists doesn't mean one should talk about "big pharma" like it's fantasy. It's corporate lobbying, and it exists in all industries. And it's often pretty bad. I find it incredible that people on a "hacker" forum has become so incredibly authoritarian and uniform, and call even the slightest sceptic all kinds of names. Even if some of them are dumb people. All of these companies incentives is : profit. Like always. There has been a myriad of medical scandals over the last 100 years where profit has trumped safety. Why should anything be different now suddenly? One should handle everything with extreme scrutiny especially in vaccines tested way less than normal. This should not be "controversial" to say for any science minded person.
  - Freak_NL 6y ago
    Anti-vaxxers of the tinfoil hat variety are most emphatically not 'the slightest sceptic'. Once you get into that category you are way off the deep end. Many people dislike the way big pharma works. I do. I hate how medicine for rare deceases is frequently treated as a bargaining tool by large pharmaceutical companies to put pressure on national governments to choose between paying the outrageous prices that have no bearing on cost or even healthy profits at all, or else explain to a nation why that medicine can no longer be covered by insurance. But that's not quite the same as thinking Bill Gates is putting 5G nanochips in the corana-vaccines, or outright denying that covid even exists. We're not talking concerned medical professionals or other science minded people acting as whistle-blower, but yoga teachers with dubious real estate holdings who are calling the recent elections fraudulent because their spur-of-the-moment political party didn't win any seats (to allude to one infamous Dutch example). Some people have standpoints that are not only absurd, but harmful. Pretending that these people may have a point and offering them a platform is harmful.
    - kossTKR 6y ago
      Fair enough. There definitely is a lunatic fringe. I'm not sure they are that big of a threat though, seems like a small minority to me amplified by social media. I know there is a heavy focus on "killing the fringes" atm. but i don't know if i agree. The focus must be on good education, and generally better and more research journalism which is sorely missing, leaving large parts of politics / economics / lobbyism / tech-policy making in the darkness creating a landscape where people speculate from correct "hunches" that sadly quickly becomes fantasy and community for these people that for the most part are searching for some grounding in a large chaotic world.

by adflux 6y ago

Avamander 6y ago

Respect is earned, not innate.

kossTKR 6y ago
The history of the pharmaceutical industry is absolutely jam packed with deception, corruption and sinister lobbying. Read up on the Sackler family for a good overview of horrible practices that is just the tip of an enormous iceberg. The fact that a group of idiots exists doesn't mean one should talk about "big pharma" like it's fantasy. It's corporate lobbying, and it exists in all industries. And it's often pretty bad. I find it incredible that people on a "hacker" forum has become so incredibly authoritarian and uniform, and call even the slightest sceptic all kinds of names. Even if some of them are dumb people. All of these companies incentives is : profit. Like always. There has been a myriad of medical scandals over the last 100 years where profit has trumped safety. Why should anything be different now suddenly? One should handle everything with extreme scrutiny especially in vaccines tested way less than normal. This should not be "controversial" to say for any science minded person.
- Freak_NL 6y ago
  Anti-vaxxers of the tinfoil hat variety are most emphatically not 'the slightest sceptic'. Once you get into that category you are way off the deep end. Many people dislike the way big pharma works. I do. I hate how medicine for rare deceases is frequently treated as a bargaining tool by large pharmaceutical companies to put pressure on national governments to choose between paying the outrageous prices that have no bearing on cost or even healthy profits at all, or else explain to a nation why that medicine can no longer be covered by insurance. But that's not quite the same as thinking Bill Gates is putting 5G nanochips in the corana-vaccines, or outright denying that covid even exists. We're not talking concerned medical professionals or other science minded people acting as whistle-blower, but yoga teachers with dubious real estate holdings who are calling the recent elections fraudulent because their spur-of-the-moment political party didn't win any seats (to allude to one infamous Dutch example). Some people have standpoints that are not only absurd, but harmful. Pretending that these people may have a point and offering them a platform is harmful.
  - kossTKR 6y ago
    Fair enough. There definitely is a lunatic fringe. I'm not sure they are that big of a threat though, seems like a small minority to me amplified by social media. I know there is a heavy focus on "killing the fringes" atm. but i don't know if i agree. The focus must be on good education, and generally better and more research journalism which is sorely missing, leaving large parts of politics / economics / lobbyism / tech-policy making in the darkness creating a landscape where people speculate from correct "hunches" that sadly quickly becomes fantasy and community for these people that for the most part are searching for some grounding in a large chaotic world.