3 ms·

The problem with the term "lab leak" is it means different things to different people. To smooth brained shitheads it means "weaponized virus leaked from a lab

The problem with the term "lab leak" is it means different things to different people. To smooth brained shitheads it means "weaponized virus leaked from a lab in China". To scientists it means a leak of a virus under study by breached protocols or lax adherence to same. The smooth brained shitheads ran with their version of "lab leak" and poisoned all discussion of it. They were of course egged on by right wing opportunists around the world to push their favorite bullshit narratives. Scientists and government bureaucrats acting in good faith didn't pick up on the stochastic meaning of "lab leak" and tossed it into public discourse with no qualifiers or definition. This opened the door for just more opportunism by anyone pushing an agenda.

__loam 3y ago
Don't forget that the lab leak theory contributed demonstrably to violence against Asian Americans.
- throwawaymaths 3y ago
  I find that hard to believe (I am pacific islander, often mistaken for Asian, I encountered zero extra racism over the pandemic). Even if it were unambiguously from the wet market, I would expect the tiny amount of extra violence to have happened. Moreover, a big chunk of the "anti-asian hate" hysteria is actively funded by CCP. I'm also not personally convinced that declaring that "anti-asian hate" weirdly normalizes it and gets people who wouldn't be participating in that kind of activity to think "oh hey yeah that's a good idea".
throwawaymaths 3y ago
> The smooth brained shitheads ran with their version of "lab leak" and poisoned all discussion of it. They were of course egged on by right wing opportunists around the world to push their favorite bullshit narratives. Actually there was a concerted effort by high ups in the NIH to conflate the two, not right wing opportunists. https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-suppression-of-the-lab-leak-hypothesis-was-not-based-in-science/ https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-suppress... https://theintercept.com/2023/01/19/covid-origin-nih-emails/ https://theintercept.com/2023/01/19/covid-origin-nih-emails/
account42 3y ago
> smooth brained shitheads What an argument, I bet you are really proud of it.

__loam 3y ago

Don't forget that the lab leak theory contributed demonstrably to violence against Asian Americans.

throwawaymaths 3y ago
I find that hard to believe (I am pacific islander, often mistaken for Asian, I encountered zero extra racism over the pandemic). Even if it were unambiguously from the wet market, I would expect the tiny amount of extra violence to have happened. Moreover, a big chunk of the "anti-asian hate" hysteria is actively funded by CCP. I'm also not personally convinced that declaring that "anti-asian hate" weirdly normalizes it and gets people who wouldn't be participating in that kind of activity to think "oh hey yeah that's a good idea".

throwawaymaths 3y ago

> The smooth brained shitheads ran with their version of "lab leak" and poisoned all discussion of it. They were of course egged on by right wing opportunists around the world to push their favorite bullshit narratives. Actually there was a concerted effort by high ups in the NIH to conflate the two, not right wing opportunists. https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-suppression-of-the-lab-leak-hypothesis-was-not-based-in-science/ https://oversight.house.gov/release/hearing-wrap-up-suppress... https://theintercept.com/2023/01/19/covid-origin-nih-emails/ https://theintercept.com/2023/01/19/covid-origin-nih-emails/

account42 3y ago

> smooth brained shitheads What an argument, I bet you are really proud of it.