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I disagree. He's obviously more of a politician, otherwise how would have he climbed those ranks. Unfortunately that's how governments optimizes itself, by choo

by proc0 5y ago

I disagree. He's obviously more of a politician, otherwise how would have he climbed those ranks. Unfortunately that's how governments optimizes itself, by choosing those than can play politics instead of being the actual experts. Labeling things as conspiracy just amounts to shutting people up at this point. At the very least there is a need to clarify and make sure people understand, not just dismiss things and appeal to authority. Anyone who thinks science can't go wrong is naive. Arguably science moves forward by being wrong (disproving theories based on more evidence), and at no point does an actual scientist claim to have found the "truth", only the best theory for the given evidence. Personally, when you can't question something, it is a huge red flag. Not questioning is a property of religions. You can't question, you just follow. I'm sure the retort here is "but people are going to die", except we're seeing evidence to the contrary, but again, no questioning, just obedience, and that is a red flag for me.

jfengel 5y ago
No, the retort is "I'm calling it a conspiracy theory because it's a conspiracy theory". Because one of the markers of conspiracy theory thinking is "Science can't take any criticism because it won't take my criticism." You are allowed to question. You're also obligated to listen to the answer. If you you're not listening to the answer, then you're not really asking a question. Repeatedly asking the same not-a-question gets people frustrated, but that's not a red flag.
- proc0 5y ago
  > You're also obligated to listen to the answer. And where does this obligation come from? I suspect from some kind of shared danger... that someone else's beliefs will endanger you. Otherwise I don't see the obligation to "listen" (assuming that means to agree and go along with it). That would mean the retort is indeed "people will die". Conspiracy theories have always been around, how come they haven't infected everyone? How come there hasn't been a big effort to censor flat-Earthers? You would think these ideas would infect everybody if one looks at how pandemic related questions get censored and labeled as dangerous. All of sudden corporations are the saviors of humanity... that is seriously suspicious to me, and there is plenty of evidence to challenge the main narrative, it's just taboo to even bring it up or challenge the status quo.

by proc0 5y ago

jfengel 5y ago

No, the retort is "I'm calling it a conspiracy theory because it's a conspiracy theory". Because one of the markers of conspiracy theory thinking is "Science can't take any criticism because it won't take my criticism." You are allowed to question. You're also obligated to listen to the answer. If you you're not listening to the answer, then you're not really asking a question. Repeatedly asking the same not-a-question gets people frustrated, but that's not a red flag.

proc0 5y ago
> You're also obligated to listen to the answer. And where does this obligation come from? I suspect from some kind of shared danger... that someone else's beliefs will endanger you. Otherwise I don't see the obligation to "listen" (assuming that means to agree and go along with it). That would mean the retort is indeed "people will die". Conspiracy theories have always been around, how come they haven't infected everyone? How come there hasn't been a big effort to censor flat-Earthers? You would think these ideas would infect everybody if one looks at how pandemic related questions get censored and labeled as dangerous. All of sudden corporations are the saviors of humanity... that is seriously suspicious to me, and there is plenty of evidence to challenge the main narrative, it's just taboo to even bring it up or challenge the status quo.