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The meta-analyses I looked at didn't mean much because the input studies all had severe flaws too, so I'm not sure we can say much one way or another. "IMO he

The meta-analyses I looked at didn't mean much because the input studies all had severe flaws too, so I'm not sure we can say much one way or another. "IMO he exploited the lockdowns as an easy way to curry popularity." That's a pretty staggering statement. Opposing lockdowns, especially in March 2020 when he started, was the absolute worst thing you could do to make yourself popular. It resulted in him immediately being cancelled all over the place, and for most of the pandemic Lockdown Sceptics was a blog that subsisted off donations. People who opposed lockdowns were routinely told they were directly killing people! You yourself are still implying that in your final paragraph, even after everything that we now know. Nobody but nobody adopted that position because in bad faith to curry popularity or obtain "personal gain", lol, that's crazy. Maybe in a year or two that'll be the case as more people conveniently forget about their support for it, but to take that position back then you had to truly and seriously believe it. And it was correct to believe it because the arguments made in support of lockdowns, masks, mass testing, border closures etc were all un-scientific when investigated. Someone had to stand up for what science is actually meant to be about, and at a time when nobody else did, Toby Young stepped up. "He's done far more to harm the public than either the US or UK governments, and I'm grateful that his opinions are relegated to the back waters of the internet." Well, I think (know) that you're wrong about that and in fact, it was those governments and their supporters who have harmed the public on a massive scale. Young and his writers did what they could to stem the tide but the absurd over-confidence and lack of scientific approach amongst public health authorities have now destroyed confidence in all government health advice amongst vast swathes of people. Look at the rejection rate in the USA for the mRNA vaccines for children. Despite urging by the government not even 2% of the eligible children under 5 have been given the shots. Nobody is listening to them anymore because every day, more people figure out that public health workers lie all the time. The damage they've done is on a staggering scale and trying to silence the DS/FSU is just another attempt to cover up what a catastrophe their rule has been.

n4r9 4y ago
Lockdowns were never very popular. There was a reasonable level of discontent from the start, and plenty of people that resented having to modify their behaviour for the sake of (his words) "a few hundred thousand mostly elderly people". In my opinion he gambled on this being a silent majority. It paid off a little, and he does seem to have some followers such as yourself. As I say I'm grateful that's the extent of it. If all he was doing was challenging the government based on known facts, I would have much less of an issue. But he went much further than that; he managed to get himself published in the mainstream media saying shit like "the country is well on its way to herd immunity" (March 2020), "the virus is expected to vanish in London by the end of next month" (May 2020), and "people will have a natural immunity because they’ve already successfully fought off other coronaviruses, such as the common cold" (July 2020). At best, these were based on wishful and imaginitive interpretations of data. At worst, they were simply made up to bolster his agenda, which is why the article containing that last quote had to be retracted. Either way they were unfounded, and fueled and exploited a growing atmosphere of distrust and division. And let's not pretend that there was no one else out there looking directly at the science and communicating it to the public. There were websites like Science-Based Medicine to YoutTubers like John Campbell doing a decent job of it (at least for the first year or so). Toby Young was just the one that would promote any voice which parroted his own views.

n4r9 4y ago

Lockdowns were never very popular. There was a reasonable level of discontent from the start, and plenty of people that resented having to modify their behaviour for the sake of (his words) "a few hundred thousand mostly elderly people". In my opinion he gambled on this being a silent majority. It paid off a little, and he does seem to have some followers such as yourself. As I say I'm grateful that's the extent of it. If all he was doing was challenging the government based on known facts, I would have much less of an issue. But he went much further than that; he managed to get himself published in the mainstream media saying shit like "the country is well on its way to herd immunity" (March 2020), "the virus is expected to vanish in London by the end of next month" (May 2020), and "people will have a natural immunity because they’ve already successfully fought off other coronaviruses, such as the common cold" (July 2020). At best, these were based on wishful and imaginitive interpretations of data. At worst, they were simply made up to bolster his agenda, which is why the article containing that last quote had to be retracted. Either way they were unfounded, and fueled and exploited a growing atmosphere of distrust and division. And let's not pretend that there was no one else out there looking directly at the science and communicating it to the public. There were websites like Science-Based Medicine to YoutTubers like John Campbell doing a decent job of it (at least for the first year or so). Toby Young was just the one that would promote any voice which parroted his own views.