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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Popular culture Skepticism/critical thinking

On “reasonable” apologists for the antivaccine movement

There have always been “reasonable” apologists for the antivaccine movement. Thanks to COVID-19 their prominence has increased as they mistakenly conflate “antivaccine” with “vaccine hesitant.”

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Medicine Skepticism/critical thinking

Anti-lockdown ideologues’ “science” is now as bad as antivaccine “science”

Anti-lockdown ideologues are now falling prey to the ecological fallacy in their bad epidemiological studies in the same way antivaxxers have been doing for years. Cranks gonna crank, I guess.

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Antivaccine nonsense Blogging Holocaust Holocaust denial Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Legal thuggery: A favored technique by disinformation merchants to silence critics

What do Didier Raoult, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Portuguese quacks have in common? They’re using legal thuggery to silence criticism.

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Antivaccine nonsense Clinical trials Medicine

WTF happened to The BMJ?

The BMJ recently published an “exposé” by Paul Thacker alleging patient unblinding, data falsification, and other wrongdoing by a subcontractor. It was a highly biased story embraced by antivaxxers, with a deceptively framed narrative and claims not placed into proper context, leading me to look into the broader question: WTF happened to The BMJ? (Updated and revised from a week ago.)

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Politics Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

Bernard and Lisa Selz (and Albert Dwoskin): Name and shame wealthy donors funding antivaxers

The Washington Post reported that Bernard and Lisa Selz have donated heavily to antivaccine causes. Will naming and shaming stop them? The Daily Beast reported that Albert Dwoskin is distancing himself from his ex-wife’s antivaccine foundation; so there’s hope.