Denialism

Author: MarkH

  • Welcome Back to Denialism Blog

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    MarkH
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    Despite rumors to the contrary, I am not dead. Instead I’ve been working hard as a new surgical intern and sadly not finding the time to write for the denialism blog. However, now more than ever, it seems that we need to talk about the problem of denialism. Two major new issues for denialism have…

  • Holocaust Museum Shooter – Anti-semite and conspiracy theorist

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    MarkH
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    Orac has already pointed out the disgusting hate behind the Holocaust museum shooter and his holocaust denial. Others around the internet, in particular Pat at Screw Loose Change have pointed out he was an example of crank magnetism. Not surprisingly, he was also a 9/11 truther (which as Pat says, “scratch a 9/11 truther and…

  • The psychology of crankery

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    MarkH
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    Our recent discussions of HIV/AIDS denial and in particular Seth Kalichman’s book “Denying AIDS” has got me thinking more about the psychology of those who are susceptible to pseudoscientific belief. It’s an interesting topic, and Kalichman studies it briefly in his book mentioning the “suspicious minds”: At its very core, denialism is deeply embedded in…

  • Changing medical school requirements for scientific medicine

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    MarkH
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    Science has an editorial today discussing a topic near and dear to me, what medical schools should require from undergraduates before admission. Since I was a bit non-traditional as an undergraduate premed (I was a physics major), I am happy to see that they’ve ignored calls to overload undergraduate education with a bunch of pre-professional…

  • The Obama Plan – Part I

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    MarkH
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    We’re starting to hear about how Obama intends to implement healthcare in this country. President Barack Obama says he’s open to requiring all Americans to buy health insurance, as long as the plan provides a “hardship waiver” to exempt poor people from having to pay. Obama opposed such an individual mandate during his campaign, but…

  • Oprah is a crank

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    MarkH
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    PZ brings to my attention this article in Newsweek which sums up Oprah’s views on health, and one sadly must come to the conclusion that Oprah is a crank. Based on our definition of crankery, one of the critical aspects is the incompetence of an individual in judging sources of information. How else can you…

  • What’s sad is that this actually works

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    MarkH
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    The onion, as always, nails it: Oh, No! It’s Making Well-Reasoned Arguments Backed With Facts! Run! I…I think it’s finally over. Our reactionary emotional response seems to have stopped it dead in its tracks. If I’m right, all we have to do now is smugly reiterate our half-formed thesis and–oh, no! For the love of…

  • What is health care like in the UK, Canada and New Zealand?

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    MarkH
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    Three systems widely cited as examples of universal health care are the so-called single-payer systems in the UK, Canada and New Zealand. These systems I would describe as “socialized”, and rely for the most part on taxation for funding. The system in Canada for instance, uses taxes to pay for health care administered by the…

  • What is the cause of excess costs in US healthcare?

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    MarkH
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    The question has come up again and again in our discussions on health care in the US and around the world, why does it cost so much more in the US when we get so much less? The drug companies and their lobbyists are already out in force trying to make sure their pocketbooks aren’t…

  • What is health care like in France?

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    MarkH
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    Here it comes. How dare I suggest the US could learn anything from France? By most assessments France provides the best health care in the world, with excellent life expectancy, low rates of health-care amenable disease, and again, despite providing excellent universal care, they spend less per capita than the US. Using about 10.7% of…