Denialism

Month: July 2008

  • Putting the Rose to Bed

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    by

    Chris
    in

    Okay, as Denialism’s lawyer, let me get to the issue of the rose tattoo. A medical procedure is a battery. Patients consent to it, thus allowing the doctor to engage in even invasive touching without liability for the battery. The scope of consent is key, however. Many individuals have a rough sense of consent; they…

  • Scene II, in which I clarify my previous statement

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    by

    MarkH
    in

    My Scibling DrugMonkey brought up a half-valid point. The half that was valid was that none of the medical bloggers spoke out about the surgeon who assaulted a patient. The half that was insane was where this is used as further evidence that doctors are arrogant pricks. Based on this comment and those of the…

  • Why am I hearing this nonsense from a scienceblogger?

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    by

    MarkH
    in

    Who wrote this? As someone who spends a substantial portion of his professional time teaching medical students, I can tell you that this kind of attitude-that physicians are gods, not mere mortals, and wield power over other human beings that no one dare question-is inculcated in them from the very beginning of medical training. It…

  • Scene I, in which I defend my profession

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    by

    MarkH
    in

    Our Scibling PhysioProf has launched the opening salvo in what may turn out to be a rather bloody flame war. In the interest of actually gaining something from this other than venting my own anger and frustration, I will beg your indulgence here as I explain why my colleague is so utterly misguided.

  • DROP THAT CELL PHONE NOW!!!11!!!

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    by

    MarkH
    in

    DROP YOUR CELL PHONE NOW!!!!111! (don’t send me the bill for the replacement) I’m sure others will cover more of the scientific details, but science aside, we should examine why today’s statement on cell phones out of Pittsburgh is so ridiculous. Setting aside the lack of data connecting cell phones and health problems, this is…

  • The end of ignorance

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    by

    MarkH
    in

    The folks at bloggingheads.tv whoring for some link love sent me an interesting link. They had a talking heads session (“diavlog”—damn, that’s hard to say) between John Horgan and some other guy (sorry, “Some Other Guy”). Horgan is the guy who brought us The End of Science, a book which was more widely criticized than…

  • The Joys of the Skymall Catalog

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    by

    Chris
    in

    I just returned from a wonderful trip to Turkey and London, and the flight gave me the opportunity to spend hours with one of my favorite diversions, the Skymall Catalog. Admit it! You look at this thing full of wonders, and wonder who in the world buys them! Check out this whopper: the “Aculife Therapist…

  • Karadzic captured

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    by

    MarkH
    in

    Radovan Karadzic, one of the worst mass-murders of the post-WWII era, has been captured, or, perhaps more properly, has been allowed to be captured. Karadzic was responsible for orchestrating the murders of tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims during the Balkan Wars. A close friend of my family grew up in a small Bosnian city…

  • NY meetup

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    by

    MarkH
    in

    Any native New Yorkers out there that read denialism blog? If so, I’ll be in town for the Sb meetup in NYC on August 9th. If anyone would like to meet me or the other sciencebloggers, let us know. And if you have a good idea where a bunch of people could find an air-conditioned…

  • Propaganda

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    by

    MarkH
    in

    Here and in other venues, we’ve written quite a bit about the tactics used in the anti-vaccination movement (or as I like to call it, the “infectious disease promotion movement (IDPM)”). Let’s examine some less subtle tactics.