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Anti-Semitism Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Religion

Richard Dawkins’ painfully simplistic take on measles among Orthodox Jews: “Religion poisons everything.”

Richard Dawkins saw the measles outbreaks among the Orthodox Jews of Brooklyn and Rockland County, and Tweeted, “Religion poisons everything.” Unfortunately for him, it’s way more complicated than that.

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Antivaccine nonsense Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Children’s Health Defense: Ten lies about vaccines

Children’s Health Defense is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s antivaccine group. Recently it posted a list of ten “facts” about vaccines. In reality, it’s ten bits of disinformation, half-truths, and lies.

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Antivaccine nonsense Bad science Computers and social media Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

Scientists and physicians versus the central conspiracy theory of science denial

Dr. Ashish Jha has led other scientists into the fray against COVID-19 pseudoscience and deserves a lot of praise for that. However, to be more effective, he and his colleagues need to understand the critical role of conspiracy theories in science denial.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking

Antivaxxers Amy Becker and Mark Blaxill deceptively use COVID-19 death statistics to claim that vaccines cause SIDS

Antivaxxers Amy Becker and Mark Blaxill try to use COVID-19 death statistics to claim that declines in vaccination due to lockdowns in response to the pandemic caused a decline in the number of children dying every week, thus wildly speculating that vaccines cause SIDS. It does not go well.

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Bad science Medicine Politics Pseudoscience Quackery

Drs. Dan Erickson and Artin Massihi: Promoting dangerously bogus pseudo-epidemiology about COVID-19

Drs. Dan Erickson and Artin Massihi own a chain of urgent care centers in Bakersfield, CA. Last week they became fake experts in COVID-19 spreading dangerous misinformation based on an incompetent analysis of testing data from their clinics.