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Can we get past the stupid tendency to just slap “nutter” or other epithets on perspectives we don’t agree with? If I had a nickel for every time someone aroun

Can we get past the stupid tendency to just slap “nutter” or other epithets on perspectives we don’t agree with? If I had a nickel for every time someone around me said something “nutter” that later turned out to have something to it… I’d have a lot of nickels. Imagine if just 3 years ago I said anything of the following. “Nutter!” - Russia will invade Ukraine. Sanctions and stupidity be darned. - Silicon Valley Bank will go insolvent from overexposure to one of the safest investments on earth. - There is a real, but small, connection between myocarditis and vaccination in young men. Etc.

baggachipz 3y ago
The guy's based his platform on Covid vaccine pseudo-science. He claims conspiracy bullshit by "big pharma" and that the vaccine isn't safe despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He's a nutter.
- bonzaidrinkingb 3y ago
  MRNA vaccine is not safe nor effective. Safety data (from final trial) only available in 2024, so we can just guess and track adversarial reactions. These vaccines are only safe and effective from a collective public health perspective, which necessitated emergency release.
- gjsman-1000 3y ago
  Yes. However, I’m not stupid either because science does change. There was “overwhelming evidence” that Thalidomide was safe around pregnant mothers; and only just now are we realizing that the “overwhelming evidence” that it’s completely safe to use antibiotics for everything with reckless abandon wasn’t the full story. Imagine if we had found the people who had found the truth “nutters” in these and other cases. I’d prefer “extreme disagreement” over that. Ultimately, it comes down to humility over the claim “we’ve got it right this time, for sure, and you can’t question it now!” There are no shortage of scientist quotes saying that in the 90s. And 80s. And 70s. And 60s. And 50s. And 1850s. And 1840s. And 1740s. And so on.
rsynnott 3y ago
I mean, to be clear, he is a loonie: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy_Jr https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy_Jr. Like, it's not even just one weird belief; he has a wide selection.
jncfhnb 3y ago
> There is a real, but small, connection between myocarditis and vaccination in young men. “Small, but real” is true for an infinitely large number of things for various magnitudes of “small”.

baggachipz 3y ago

The guy's based his platform on Covid vaccine pseudo-science. He claims conspiracy bullshit by "big pharma" and that the vaccine isn't safe despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He's a nutter.

bonzaidrinkingb 3y ago
MRNA vaccine is not safe nor effective. Safety data (from final trial) only available in 2024, so we can just guess and track adversarial reactions. These vaccines are only safe and effective from a collective public health perspective, which necessitated emergency release.
gjsman-1000 3y ago
Yes. However, I’m not stupid either because science does change. There was “overwhelming evidence” that Thalidomide was safe around pregnant mothers; and only just now are we realizing that the “overwhelming evidence” that it’s completely safe to use antibiotics for everything with reckless abandon wasn’t the full story. Imagine if we had found the people who had found the truth “nutters” in these and other cases. I’d prefer “extreme disagreement” over that. Ultimately, it comes down to humility over the claim “we’ve got it right this time, for sure, and you can’t question it now!” There are no shortage of scientist quotes saying that in the 90s. And 80s. And 70s. And 60s. And 50s. And 1850s. And 1840s. And 1740s. And so on.

rsynnott 3y ago

I mean, to be clear, he is a loonie: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy_Jr https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy_Jr. Like, it's not even just one weird belief; he has a wide selection.

jncfhnb 3y ago

> There is a real, but small, connection between myocarditis and vaccination in young men. “Small, but real” is true for an infinitely large number of things for various magnitudes of “small”.