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It was absolutely INSANE seeing the number of US publications starting with "nope nope its a conspiracy theory disproven debunked dont even think about it you'r

It was absolutely INSANE seeing the number of US publications starting with "nope nope its a conspiracy theory disproven debunked dont even think about it you're racist if you believe this" in early 2020 when the possibility was raised. It was a completely valid hypothesis as to where the virus came from, but was just completely invalidated and ignored in a matter of weeks. Now that it's been a year and things have changed vastly in society, the same outlets are repeating the exact opposite talking point "oh, it just might have some credibility now!" Note they don't apologize for the 4-6 months of disingenuous reporting. Maybe these media companies should be "clamped down on" instead of the ethereal boogieman "anti-vaxx" industry that this article failed to bring even an ounce of credibility to.

hakfoo 5y ago
Even if it's 100% accurate, the lab-leak scenario is very difficult to manage as a social problem. The odds are quite large that a leak would have been a matter of incompetence or accident. Who's deranged enough to roll the dice on intentional germ warfare against your own people? However, it's a very tempting narrative, especially since we've had an ongoing trend of demonizing China, frequently revolving around the premise of their population being infinite and disposable. Nobody wants to hear that it was some intern who threw used PPE in the dumpster instead of an incinerator. Boring and unsatisfying! Of course it's a grand and deliberate plan-- they'd be willing to kill a few million of their own people, for the sake of creating an emergency and crippling the rest of the world! Even if we find 4k video of someone dropping a beaker and saying "Oh, shit" like some Simpsons outtake, the conspiracy crowd and war hawks will not be satisfied. Finding the exact cause isn't going to bring back anyone we lost to the disease. There's probably nobody who can be punished in a meaningful and proportionate way. There's value in the research, for scientists and biosecurity experts, but I'm worried we're looking for succor for the general public and won't find it. I wonder if by pushing the investigation back a few months, it was a "white lie" of omission. It bought time to cool down emotions-- so even if the result is disappointing or inconclusive, we'll hopefully avoid a violent overreaction.

hakfoo 5y ago

Even if it's 100% accurate, the lab-leak scenario is very difficult to manage as a social problem. The odds are quite large that a leak would have been a matter of incompetence or accident. Who's deranged enough to roll the dice on intentional germ warfare against your own people? However, it's a very tempting narrative, especially since we've had an ongoing trend of demonizing China, frequently revolving around the premise of their population being infinite and disposable. Nobody wants to hear that it was some intern who threw used PPE in the dumpster instead of an incinerator. Boring and unsatisfying! Of course it's a grand and deliberate plan-- they'd be willing to kill a few million of their own people, for the sake of creating an emergency and crippling the rest of the world! Even if we find 4k video of someone dropping a beaker and saying "Oh, shit" like some Simpsons outtake, the conspiracy crowd and war hawks will not be satisfied. Finding the exact cause isn't going to bring back anyone we lost to the disease. There's probably nobody who can be punished in a meaningful and proportionate way. There's value in the research, for scientists and biosecurity experts, but I'm worried we're looking for succor for the general public and won't find it. I wonder if by pushing the investigation back a few months, it was a "white lie" of omission. It bought time to cool down emotions-- so even if the result is disappointing or inconclusive, we'll hopefully avoid a violent overreaction.