It’s worse because holding a rational-sounding position for irrational reasons is not good. It creates a sense of consensus among experts that may be wholly unw

It’s worse because holding a rational-sounding position for irrational reasons is not good. It creates a sense of consensus among experts that may be wholly unwarranted and could threaten trust in experts. The reason why this is especially contentious for this particular opinion is that it’s pretty clear China would prefer everyone to believe in 2 or maybe even 1. Why exactly that is is unclear, but the “data-free” part of the title warrants asking why we have no data over a year and a half later. Is it radical to suggest that the data was suppressed? I’m no expert, but the Vanity Fair article certainly paints the picture that it has been. Now we just have to be in the unfortunate position of not being able to ascertain whether it was due to paranoia or because they knew things that we didn’t. I don’t have a number right now. I do have some suspicions regarding the consistent attempts to squash the lab leak theory. It has been rather aggressive at times.