Denialism

Month: April 2008

  • A mysterious encounter

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    MarkH
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    The room was dark—preturnaturally dark (damn you, Stephen Donaldson!). I was led by the robed and hooded figures to an altar. On the altar was a…something, and it was covered with a cloth. The cloth was a remarkable black, the kind of black that escapes focus. It created an even darker hole in the already…

  • Church vs. Science

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    MarkH
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    HT to Tara The United Methodist Church has just allowed its member to deliver unto them a hunk of burning stupid. Some misguided souls have looked upon vaccines and have found them wanting. Let us examine for ourselves this misguided petition (which passed 58 to 0). (I’ll skip the theological justifications given—they are irrelevant, unless…

  • One Year of Denialism Blog

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    MarkH
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    Today represents one year since we joined scienceblogs, and I think we’ve had a great deal of success in defining the problem of denialism, establishing a new vocabulary for dealing with the problem of pseudoscience, and establishing uniform standards for what is legitimate scientific discourse and debate. Our first post describes the problem of denialism,…

  • First, do no harm—Chiropractors, are you listening?

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    MarkH
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    As you may have read earlier, the only thing chriopractic has ever really been shown to do is to help low back pain about as well as conventional therapy. That doesn’t stop chiropractors from doing whatever they want. It sure seems harmless enough, though—you back or neck hurts, some guy moves it around, and you…

  • Physical therapy+massage+woo=chiropractic

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    MarkH
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    This is a reprint from my old blog that will provide necessary backgroud for an upcoming story. Thanks for your indulgence. I am often asked my opinion of chiropractic care. My usual answer (based on evidence) is that it can be somewhat helpful in the treatment of low back pain. That’s it. Any further claims…

  • Open letter to the People of the great state of Florida

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    MarkH
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    Dear Floridians, Greetings, and an early “hello”! I’m heading your way at the end of the week to spend my tourist dollars, and I can’t wait to see you! But first, some important business. Your representatives in the Florida House have just passed a so-called academic freedom bill. I strongly recommend a deep suspicion on…

  • Welcome ERV

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    MarkH
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    No time for blogging today but make sure to welcome ERV, on of my favorite bloggers, to the network. Welcome ERV!

  • If you ever get tired of sanity, Huffington Post is still there

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    MarkH
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    In this morning’s post, Mark mentions an article from the alternative medical universe that is the Huffington Post. One of the latest bits of idiocy to come out of HuffPo is from Barbara Fischkin. I have no idea who this person is, but her writing shows a few things: she is willing to go against…

  • Huffington Post is a denialist website

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    MarkH
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    How else can you describe a site that regularly publishes David Kirby’s anti-vaccination denialism, Jennifer McCarthy’s insanity, and conspiracy theories from the like of Diedre Imus? The latest this weekend is the goalpost-moving from David Kirby, which based on the egregious misinterpretation of the Hannah Poling case, represents the new front of anti-vaccination denialists in…

  • Why blog? Musings and open thread

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    MarkH
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    There’s been some chat around here regarding why people blog. I’ll leave out the entire matter of why people write in the first place—that topic is so well covered in undergrad, there’s no reason to try to add to an already voluminous literature. But why blog?