Denialism

Author: MarkH

  • The end of ignorance

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    MarkH
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    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…

  • Karadzic captured

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    MarkH
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    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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    MarkH
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    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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    MarkH
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    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.

  • Vaccination and morality

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    MarkH
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    Who has the moral high ground in the vaccination wars? My initial response is that I do, “I” meaning the medical and public health fields—those of us who prevent disease, disability, and death. But it’s much more complicated. Many anti-vaccine activists are “true believers”. They really believe that vaccines do more harm than good. But,…

  • The APS should have known better

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    MarkH
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    Those reading Deltoid’s coverage of the APS fiasco are probably up to date on this issue, but I feel like we need to discuss the APS failure in more detail. For those unaware of the latest in global warming denialist nonsense, the American Physical Society made the foolish mistake of entertaining global warming denialists by…

  • Where did we go wrong? Framing vaccination

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    MarkH
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    I’ve had a bit of writer’s block lately, but I’ve learned to take my own advice and just wait it out. And so I did. Then, today, I read Orac’s piece on framing the vaccine problem. It set my mind a-whirring, so I’ve put the coffee on, and I’m setting fingers to keyboard. I don’t…

  • The stupid continues at Channel 7

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    MarkH
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    Right now, I’m looking out my window to see the spreading pall of burning stupid rising over Channel 7’s tower in Southfield. And the stupid isn’t just for Steve Wilson anymore. What reporter Carolyn Clifford lacks in adiposity, she easily makes up for in credulity. Her “investigative report” tonight on the HPV vaccine Gardasil is…

  • Skeptics’ Circle #91

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    MarkH
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    …is up at Sorting Out Science. Go and read it. Now.

  • Uh oh…not again

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    MarkH
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    Tonight on WXYZ Channel 7 in Detroit, the station that brought us the irresponsible health reporting of Steve Wilson, there will be a report on the HPV vaccine Gardasil. Given this station’s recent history, I’m not very optimistic. The Gardasil issue has been a unique crank-magnet. It has attracted a an interesting mix of religious…