5 ms·

The linked article says mass hysteria is a possible cause, why is discussing it "outright propaganda?"

aaomidi 4y ago
> Jamileh Kadivar, a prominent former reformist lawmaker at Tehran’s Ettelaat newspaper. This person is not a trustworthy source of information. They've worked for the Iranian government.
- boomboomsubban 4y ago
  They're also the source for it being a terrorist attack. Is discussing that outright propaganda? As long as no direct cause is found, mass hysteria is a possibility. And while it's certainly possible there's a massive government cover-up, it's also possible there's nothing to cover-up.
  - Loquebantur 4y ago
    Again, "mass hysteria" is no real phenomenon. Rather, it is a pseudo-scientific "explanation", bereft of logic and factual evidence. People are confabulating a diagnosis here, based upon next to no information. Would you want them to be your physician?
    - boomboomsubban 4y ago
      We see easily verifiable cases of mass hysteria regularly. How many people do you think went to the hospital complaining of COVID-19 like symptoms and upon inspection no illness was found? The only difference between that and mass hysteria is there was an actual disease affecting others. I wouldn't want somebody without a medical degree to be my doctor, but I'd have no strong objection to random people privately discussing what they thought my disease was based on an anonymous report of the symptoms.
      - Loquebantur 4y ago
        No, these are explictly not "verifiable cases". Hypochondria is a thing. Triggering many with hpochondria is possible. But they won't all be in one class of the same school. If you have half of all girls in a class hospitalized, it's downright ridiculous to claim hypochondria as the cause.
        boomboomsubban 4y ago
        I was saying that mass hysteria exists, not trying to prove this instance was mass hysteria. That said, if a third of my class was already going to the hospital because they were "poisoned," I could very easily see myself getting overly worried about my own health to the extent where I would join them in the hospital. And I wouldn't consider myself a hypochondriac by any means.

> Jamileh Kadivar, a prominent former reformist lawmaker at Tehran’s Ettelaat newspaper. This person is not a trustworthy source of information. They've worked for the Iranian government.

boomboomsubban 4y ago
They're also the source for it being a terrorist attack. Is discussing that outright propaganda? As long as no direct cause is found, mass hysteria is a possibility. And while it's certainly possible there's a massive government cover-up, it's also possible there's nothing to cover-up.
- Loquebantur 4y ago
  Again, "mass hysteria" is no real phenomenon. Rather, it is a pseudo-scientific "explanation", bereft of logic and factual evidence. People are confabulating a diagnosis here, based upon next to no information. Would you want them to be your physician?
  - boomboomsubban 4y ago
    We see easily verifiable cases of mass hysteria regularly. How many people do you think went to the hospital complaining of COVID-19 like symptoms and upon inspection no illness was found? The only difference between that and mass hysteria is there was an actual disease affecting others. I wouldn't want somebody without a medical degree to be my doctor, but I'd have no strong objection to random people privately discussing what they thought my disease was based on an anonymous report of the symptoms.
    - Loquebantur 4y ago
      No, these are explictly not "verifiable cases". Hypochondria is a thing. Triggering many with hpochondria is possible. But they won't all be in one class of the same school. If you have half of all girls in a class hospitalized, it's downright ridiculous to claim hypochondria as the cause.
      - boomboomsubban 4y ago
        I was saying that mass hysteria exists, not trying to prove this instance was mass hysteria. That said, if a third of my class was already going to the hospital because they were "poisoned," I could very easily see myself getting overly worried about my own health to the extent where I would join them in the hospital. And I wouldn't consider myself a hypochondriac by any means.