3 ms·

Without the full data and an open investigation anything claiming any sort of definitive conclusion for or against lab leak is just propaganda. There are gaping

Without the full data and an open investigation anything claiming any sort of definitive conclusion for or against lab leak is just propaganda. There are gaping holes in the evidence on both sides. Both the left and the right in the US are waging a political war on normal people.

smoldesu 3y ago
> Both the left and the right in the US are waging a political war on normal people. To be fair, if those normal people had to reconcile Chinese slave labor with affordable luxury goods, they might wish we knew less about how the sausage is made. But largely I agree - this is a bipartisan cycle of neglect that lets China get away with far too much.
eesmith 3y ago
The claim that it's "just propaganda" is itself propaganda. As I quoted: "Continuing to frame them as such does us all a disservice, dilutes our efforts, and misdirects resources—only serving to weaken our ability to respond to future pandemics" > claiming any sort of definitive conclusion Which, you'll notice, that editorial does not do. I quoted it: "it is possible that its origin may never be known with certainty" It makes the weaker statement: "the two plausible possibilities for the origin of SARS-CoV-2 are not equally likely" and "the available evidence favors" a zoonotic origin. > There are gaping holes in the evidence on both sides. Where are the gaping holes in the conclusions of that editorial I pointed to? It sure comes across like there are far larger holes in the lab leak hypothesis than the zoonotic one. > Without the full data And until then, what, we do nothing? It's not like we need full data to draw useful scientific conclusions, nor to make policy decisions. We do it all the time for other fields - what makes this one special? > Both the left and the right in the US are waging a political war on normal people. What a shame there aren't virologists elsewhere in the world studying this topic and publishing their own research. Like, no one in France is able to draw a similar conclusion - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935121014742 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001393512... .

smoldesu 3y ago

> Both the left and the right in the US are waging a political war on normal people. To be fair, if those normal people had to reconcile Chinese slave labor with affordable luxury goods, they might wish we knew less about how the sausage is made. But largely I agree - this is a bipartisan cycle of neglect that lets China get away with far too much.

eesmith 3y ago

The claim that it's "just propaganda" is itself propaganda. As I quoted: "Continuing to frame them as such does us all a disservice, dilutes our efforts, and misdirects resources—only serving to weaken our ability to respond to future pandemics" > claiming any sort of definitive conclusion Which, you'll notice, that editorial does not do. I quoted it: "it is possible that its origin may never be known with certainty" It makes the weaker statement: "the two plausible possibilities for the origin of SARS-CoV-2 are not equally likely" and "the available evidence favors" a zoonotic origin. > There are gaping holes in the evidence on both sides. Where are the gaping holes in the conclusions of that editorial I pointed to? It sure comes across like there are far larger holes in the lab leak hypothesis than the zoonotic one. > Without the full data And until then, what, we do nothing? It's not like we need full data to draw useful scientific conclusions, nor to make policy decisions. We do it all the time for other fields - what makes this one special? > Both the left and the right in the US are waging a political war on normal people. What a shame there aren't virologists elsewhere in the world studying this topic and publishing their own research. Like, no one in France is able to draw a similar conclusion - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935121014742 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001393512... .