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What the article forgets to mention is that there is a world power (cough China cough) which would use all its (social-) media manipulation skills and influence

What the article forgets to mention is that there is a world power (cough China cough) which would use all its (social-) media manipulation skills and influence to make sure that the lab leak theory was written off as crazy conspiracy talk… Under those circumstances, and without a concerted effort by the US and other democracies to counter China’s preferred narrative, no wonder that the debate turned very lopsided.

coffeefirst 5y ago
Not to mention many of the early proponents were notorious conspiracy theorists, racists, and nut jobs who spoke with absolute certainty, cited virtually no evidence and clearly had no idea what they were talking about. Could they, in their wild speculation, been right about a few things? Sure, that’s always possible, but they didn’t actually know that at the time. This isn’t a science or mainstream media problem; both require something resembling empirical evidence to make factual claims. It’s a problem of bullshitters, who can just stay stuff. If you want to be clear that they’re full of it, you run the risk that they actually guessed right.
- the_optimist 5y ago
  This is an interesting way to evaluate ideas. Where did you learn this technique?
  - tux1968 5y ago
    It's very common and easy to learn these days. It's everywhere.
  - coffeefirst 5y ago
    Not the ideas. This entire thread is about public discourse. It's completely independent of whether the virus actually escaped from the lab.