Denialism

Category: General Discussion

  • 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!

  • Open letter to Douglas M. Steenland, president and CEO, Northwest Airlines

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    MarkH
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    Dear Mr. Steenland, I would contact you using more conventional means, but getting through to even a minor lackey at your company is next to impossible. Thank you in advance for reading this. I hate your company. They are perhaps the most difficult company I have ever dealt with as a consumer, and I won’t…

  • Update—kiddo heading home

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    MarkH
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    We’re heading home from the hospital soon.We’ve gone from, “Daddy, I don’t want to cough anymore…it’s too boring,” to, “Daddy, do pirates have convertibles?” But infectious diseases have lots of consequences. I’m starting to get a tickle in my throat and a bit of a cough. I have asthma, and this could really set it…

  • I don’t like this at all

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    MarkH
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    Yesterday my daughter (the one in my picture, but older now) started sneezing—a lot. Allergy season in this part of the country is brutal. We keep a box of kleenex on every flat surface in the house. But this morning she started coughing, and had a low-grade fever, so we knew she was sick, not…

  • National poetry month

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    MarkH
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    It’s all the buzz around here, so it’s my turn to share some interesting verse with you. Death and dying is a common topic of discussion with my patients and colleagues. Some of these are well-known to all, some of them aren’t, but I enjoy all of them.

  • Bill Maher is a crank

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    MarkH
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    I must admit I have a love-hate relationship with Bill Maher. He is a funny guy, he is good at mocking some of the more ludicrous aspects of politics, and he has been an effective critic of this administration and some of its more egregious policies. However, I’ve also long held the position that both…

  • How to deliver a message

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    MarkH
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    Bloggers are an odd bunch. Some are “serious journalists”, some glorified editorialists, but most are just folks with access to a computer. This was the genesis of the blogosphere—individuals writing whatever they wanted, not knowing (but hoping) that maybe a few others might read their work. As it turns out, there are some excellent writers…

  • Science—the only way to view reality

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    MarkH
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    Science is the investigation of reality. Reality is, by definition, everything. It is all we can see, all we can measure. It is, for all practical purposes, a god; it is omnipresent, omnipotent. The only tool that successfully measures and describes reality is science (including mathematics). So why the desire to placate theologians and theocrats…

  • 4000 means nothing

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    MarkH
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    It means nothing to those who have lost someone. One is the only number that matters. The one brother my friend lost. The one son my patient lost. The one child a nameless Iraqi mother lost. People say they find solace in God. Bullshit. People say they find solace in heroism and valor. Bull-fucking-shit. Those…

  • A history of denialism – the ancients

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    MarkH
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    This week I think I’m going to spend some time discussing denialism throughout history. In part inspired by the recent attacks on some of the most effective scientific communicators we have by by Mooney and Matthew Nisbet, and PalMD’s post on some modern thinking by “ancients” I feel like it’s time to provide some more…