@thereal_truther @hbhbglenn1 @Melissa08972285 @delbigtree @uTobian It's also a 20-year-old conspiracy theory that we old timers demolished when @RobertKennedyJr first published it almost exactly 15 years ago today. Let's just put it this way. The transcript doesn't show any conspiracy or coverup or data manipulation. skeptico.blogs.com/skeptico/2005/…
@thereal_truther @hbhbglenn1 @Melissa08972285 @delbigtree @uTobian @RobertKennedyJr I read the whole thing back in the day, and let's just say that I was underwhelmed by it as evidence of any sort of malfeasance. What I saw were scientists soberly addressing a concern and examining the evidence. oracknows.blogspot.com/2005/06/skepti…
@thereal_truther @hbhbglenn1 @Melissa08972285 @delbigtree @uTobian @RobertKennedyJr I also examined @RobertKennedyJr's conspiracyfest of an article that popularized the Simpsonwood conspiracy theory. It was full of cherry-picking, unsupported assertions, and, yes, conspiracy mongering. oracknows.blogspot.com/2005/06/salonc…
@thereal_truther @hbhbglenn1 @Melissa08972285 @delbigtree @uTobian @RobertKennedyJr Seriously, though. Antivaxxers who dredge up RFK Jr.'s 15-year-old conspiracy theory as a "gotcha" amuse me. They seem to think that science communicators have never heard of it or hadn't demolished it when it first hit the press 15 years ago this month.
@thereal_truther @hbhbglenn1 @Melissa08972285 @delbigtree @uTobian @RobertKennedyJr The resurrection of this zombie conspiracy theory is a good teaching opportunity, though. It demonstrates that nearly all antivaccine conspiracy theories take the same form.
@thereal_truther @hbhbglenn1 @Melissa08972285 @delbigtree @uTobian @RobertKennedyJr The form antivax conspiracy theories take is the insinuation that "they" (be they the @CDCgov, the medical profession, big pharma, etc.) "know" that vaccines cause autism/SIDS/autoimmune disease/all the other things antivaxxers blame them for, but are covering up the evidence.
@thereal_truther @hbhbglenn1 @Melissa08972285 @delbigtree @uTobian @RobertKennedyJr @CDCgov The Simpsonwood conspiracy theory from 15 years ago takes that form, that the CDC "knew" that thimerosal in vaccines caused autism but covered it up—at the Simpsonwood conference, of course!
@thereal_truther @hbhbglenn1 @Melissa08972285 @delbigtree @uTobian @RobertKennedyJr @CDCgov The #CDCwhistleblower conspiracy theory takes the same form as #Simpsonwood, that the CDC "knew" that MMR causes autism (in African-American boys) but manipulated the data to cover it up. (The CDC did nothing of the sort.)
@thereal_truther @hbhbglenn1 @Melissa08972285 @delbigtree @uTobian @RobertKennedyJr @CDCgov Once you know this near-universal conspiracy theory form, you'll see it in nearly all antivaccine conspiracy theories. You'll also see it in cancer quackery conspiracy theories too, such as in, "'They' have a cure for cancer but are covering it up and keeping it from the people."
@thereal_truther @hbhbglenn1 @Melissa08972285 @delbigtree @uTobian @RobertKennedyJr @CDCgov That's because conspiracy theories, boiled down to their essence, is about believing you have knowledge that other people don't because powerful malign forces are preventing that knowledge from becoming widely known.
@thereal_truther @hbhbglenn1 @Melissa08972285 @delbigtree @uTobian @RobertKennedyJr @CDCgov Antivaccine beliefs (and a lot of quack beliefs in general) are rooted in these sorts of conspiracy theories based on the idea of a few enlightened people discovering secret, suppressed knowledge, in spite of powerful forces trying to keep it from being revealed.
