Covfefe-19 The 12th Part: The Only Thing Worse Than This New Board Is TrumpVirus2020

[Swansong]

I think this was the story that Nate has been relying upon in his criticism of the media and the anti-lab theory groups. I didn't have it at my fingertips when I originally posted.

https://www.thenation.com/article/so...id-lab-theory/

So heavily edited, context free emails of people desperate for any information on this new virus that's about to steamroll humanity - including the performance of due diligence like "was this man made" - is evidence of ... what, exactly?

[SJHovey]

I think this was the story that Nate has been relying upon in his criticism of the media and the anti-lab theory groups. I didn't have it at my fingertips when I originally posted.

https://www.thenation.com/article/so...id-lab-theory/

[Kepler]

If it is he is a moron.

I wonder if Kepler is still gonna think hevis a genius...you know, despite literally all evidence to the contrary ;^)

Which "he"?

Oh, Nate. Show me where I ever called him a "genius." The reason I like Nate is he is essentially me if I followed a different career path in the late 80s, one which would have been far more interesting than the one I settled for out of cowardice. He is top 1%, not top .1%. He's not a genius, he's just usually the most educated and circumspect person in the room.

Reading this over, I don't agree with his tone about "a certain cadre" but his overall opinion is correct: just because Nazis are citing something for their own purposes does not relieve scientists of the responsibility for testing a hypothesis. Obviously, the Right then attempts to use this to muddy the waters. They have endowed entire "think" (ahem) tanks to forge false results in order to feed their narratives and line their pockets, because they are a business operation. Nate should not exclude that from the calculation of how much time and energy real scientists should expend countering the frauds and criminals of the Right. But if Climate Change taught us something it's that just because a truth is inconvenient doesn't make it any less true.

I have no data. My intuition, which is worth nothing, is that COVID wasn't created in a lab any more than SARS or any other pandemic was. The media and politicians who repeat declarative statements about science they don't understand should be boiled in oil on the Nightly News. But we also have to insulate science from political pressure as much as we can, Fascist, Liberal, or even Left (although the last will never happen in America). Nate is saying "In science, you can't reject a hypothesis strictly because a Nazi is using it to foment hatred and disorder." There is nothing controversial about that statement.

We now return you to hysterical generalizations.

[Handyman]

Isn't his beef this: Early in 2020 all these top scientists signed onto an article that basically said, with a high degree of confidence, that the virus likely originated in the natural world as opposed to a lab. Using that article, the media labeled all lab origination claims as conspiracies. Now, it's discovered that the scientists who signed onto the article were, at the time, themselves concerned about the possibility that it originated in a lab? Isn't that basically what he is complaining about?

If it is he is a moron.

I wonder if Kepler is still gonna think hevis a genius...you know, despite literally all evidence to the contrary ;^)

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

It's all part of the conservative victim complex. Help! We're being oppressed! (((Globalists))) are conspiring with the ChiComs to stamp out white social conservatives!

[Kepler]

They have proven nothing. But now, and forever more, the narrative will be that the virus was engineered and released by China.

The people who latch onto this evidence for that conclusion were just study-shopping to confirm their predetermined ideological conclusion and should be ignored. They aren't part of the public discussion because they are not discussing or thinking, they are emoting.

[ScoobyDoo]

They have proven nothing. But now, and forever more, the narrative will be that the virus was engineered and released by China. That in itself is a huge ****ing problem but that's America the most ****ed up country on Planet Earth when it comes to truth.

[Swansong]

Like I said, there's a certain segment of our populace that refuses to understand to or simply doesn't understand the difference between accidental leak of a natural virus and human-directed manipulation of said virus.

No one - not even that evil lefty mainstream media - called the accidental leak from a lab a conspiracy theory. Saying it's unlikely and to be cautious because it is perilously close to conspiracy theories is not the same thing as simply dismissing it.


Not sure which one Hovey is, but here we are not talking about the virus but about those poor, persecuted conservatives (who have been wrong on literally everything).



Anyway, the criticism of this report has been pretty thorough. The evidence they site for a lab leak mostly boils down to "well, it's nearby the lab, and some of the lab workers go to this market, and we don't really know because the CCP never stops lying, and these other reports [that reach the opposite conclusion] suggest possible-but-unverified links."

[rufus]

Do you understand the meaning of the word "likely"?

And, by the way, the conspiracies are that it was being manipulated in a lab to use as a biological weapon, and escaped.

I don't think anyone has ever dismissed outright that it could have been of natural origin, being researched in a lab, and somehow contaminated or otherwise made it's way outside the lab.

But you do you.

[SJHovey]

Nate Silver has become unbearable the last two days. I thought it was bad when he decided to become an epidemiologist because he decided since he knows political statistics he could also be an expert in public health, but he’s broken the scales on comparison to that.

Despite a low confidence rating from the Energy Drpartment and four other agencies saying they believe it was zoonotic (also with low confidence), he’s gone on what can be best described as a 48 hour binge to “own the libs.” It’s astounding what data he’s willing to ignore to try to argue that others are ignoring data.

Isn't his beef this: Early in 2020 all these top scientists signed onto an article that basically said, with a high degree of confidence, that the virus likely originated in the natural world as opposed to a lab. Using that article, the media labeled all lab origination claims as conspiracies. Now, it's discovered that the scientists who signed onto the article were, at the time, themselves concerned about the possibility that it originated in a lab? Isn't that basically what he is complaining about?

[Spartanforlife4]

Nate Silver has become unbearable the last two days. I thought it was bad when he decided to become an epidemiologist because he decided since he knows political statistics he could also be an expert in public health, but he’s broken the scales on comparison to that.

Despite a low confidence rating from the Energy Drpartment and four other agencies saying they believe it was zoonotic (also with low confidence), he’s gone on what can be best described as a 48 hour binge to “own the libs.” It’s astounding what data he’s willing to ignore to try to argue that others are ignoring data.

[St. Clown]

It’s been over a year since I’ve lost partial sense of smell from this ****ing virus. Fortunately(?) I can still smell most noxious things, so safety is less compromised. Still, I’d tend to think that an ability to smell more scents is better than my overly heightened ability to smell the gasoline in my snowblower.

[LynahFan]

Drew as usual bringing both barrels of stupid, starting with, “If your life has been impacted….” Name one person whose life has not been impacted.

Forget targeted killing - would you be more angry if a loved one were randomly killed by a serial killer or in a car accident? How about a drunk driver vs someone who hydroplaned? A distracted driver vs a driver who swerved to avoid running over a small child?

intent always matters. Pretending that it doesn’t in this one narrow situation is dumber than my 3 year old telling me that she’s not pretending to be Elsa, that she’s Elsa “for real.” Sure, kid. Sure, Drew.

[Swansong]

I assume if they were murdered in a targeted way they wronged someone in some way whereas if it was an ‘accident’ someone was being careless or reckless. I think for me the murder would be easier but it would depend on the exact circumstances.

[Slap Shot]

I assume their goal is to "prove" it came from a lab. Which seems like a self-own in the making considering how many times Trump praised China for its handling of the virus.