Categories
Anti-Semitism Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine History Holocaust Holocaust denial Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking World War II

“Debating” denialists

I happened to be listening to the Holocaust Denial On Trial podcast yesterday, specifically this episode which is a recording of a speech given by Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt about Holocaust denial and her experiences being sued for libel in Britain by arch Holocaust denier David Irving, who, much like the British Chiropractic Association taking […]

Categories
Entertainment/culture History Holocaust Holocaust denial Movies

Who should play David Irving? Part 2

I like the way some people think, Clive Davis, for instance. Remember how, two or three weeks ago, I speculated about who would play arch-Holocaust denier David Irving in a movie that’s been optioned based on his libel suit against Holocaust historian Professor Deborah Lipstadt? Well, Clive Davis has a better idea: Cinematical suggests Emma […]

Categories
History Holocaust Holocaust denial Politics World War II

In case you wondered whether David Irving is a Hitler admirer…

David Irving has made a career out of being a Holocaust denier and then protesting when someone calls him a Holocaust denier. As you may recall, he even sued Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt for correctly referring to him as a Holocaust denier in one of her books. Let’s take a look at what’s on his […]

Categories
Anti-Semitism Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine History Holocaust Holocaust denial Intelligent design/creationism Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking World War II

Bishop Richard Williamson, Holocaust denial, and the problem of “recantation” by cranks

Because of the fallout from the revelation by Brian Deer that very likely Andrew Wakefield, hero of the antivaccine movement but, alas for his worshipers, one of the most dishonest and incompetent scientists who ever lived, had almost certainly falsified data for his infamous 1998 Lancet paper that launched a decade-long anti-MMR hysteria that shows […]

Categories
Evolution Holocaust denial Skepticism/critical thinking

A crank’s favorite gambit: Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus

Science and history deniers love to misapply legal principles to arguments over scientific and historical evidence, for example, falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus (false in one thing, false in all things). It’s a useful principle to apply to witness testimony in a court, but it’s not how evidence is evaluated in science and history.