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Ask yourself - if you were the CN government, with all of the information you're withholding from scientists, researchers, NGOs, etc. If you truly believe it wa

Ask yourself - if you were the CN government, with all of the information you're withholding from scientists, researchers, NGOs, etc. If you truly believe it was a zoonotic origin wouldn't you do everything possible to exonerate yourself? Again, if you were the CN government and it was a lab leak that got out of control, what would you do/say. All I'm saying is - if they shared the basic data that international researchers and NGOs were asking for, we'd be MUCH closer to the truth...a rather inconvenient one for them.

bsder 4y ago
> Ask yourself - if you were the CN government, with all of the information you're withholding from scientists, researchers, NGOs, etc. If you truly believe it was a zoonotic origin wouldn't you do everything possible to exonerate yourself? That presumes that leaders in China know the origin. Why would you presume that? If it were a lab fuckup, people will be executed. In that case, you can be damn sure people are going to work VERY hard to bury this. Priority number one in that case would be to prevent anybody competent (especially from the West) from getting anywhere near things. If it were zoontic, people still might be executed. Scapegoats are needed for Comrade Pooh. Personal survival probably depends upon keeping any such investigations ongoing and inconclusive. There is NO situation where the truth helps the people involved on the ground in China. And it's not clear that truth helps anyone in the entire political chain in China.
lern_too_spel 4y ago
Why don't defendants take the stand? Because even if they're not guilty of the crime they're accused of, they're usually guilty of something else. China's refusal to completely open the books is not strong evidence of lab origin.
abracadaniel 4y ago
If they made it in a lab, they would have samples of the intermediary steps. They could use one of those to infect a bat or pangolin and then claim to have proof of zoonotic origin. The “why wouldn’t you do everything possible to exonerate yourself” line of thinking is problematic

bsder 4y ago

> Ask yourself - if you were the CN government, with all of the information you're withholding from scientists, researchers, NGOs, etc. If you truly believe it was a zoonotic origin wouldn't you do everything possible to exonerate yourself? That presumes that leaders in China know the origin. Why would you presume that? If it were a lab fuckup, people will be executed. In that case, you can be damn sure people are going to work VERY hard to bury this. Priority number one in that case would be to prevent anybody competent (especially from the West) from getting anywhere near things. If it were zoontic, people still might be executed. Scapegoats are needed for Comrade Pooh. Personal survival probably depends upon keeping any such investigations ongoing and inconclusive. There is NO situation where the truth helps the people involved on the ground in China. And it's not clear that truth helps anyone in the entire political chain in China.

lern_too_spel 4y ago

Why don't defendants take the stand? Because even if they're not guilty of the crime they're accused of, they're usually guilty of something else. China's refusal to completely open the books is not strong evidence of lab origin.

abracadaniel 4y ago

If they made it in a lab, they would have samples of the intermediary steps. They could use one of those to infect a bat or pangolin and then claim to have proof of zoonotic origin. The “why wouldn’t you do everything possible to exonerate yourself” line of thinking is problematic