Thread by @asymmetricinfo

It was reasonable to think that an explanation which sounded like a movie plot was less likely than the usual way we get new viruses, from animals

The problem is, people went full-frontal jerk about it, treating it as the equivalent of "the freemasons are poisoning the wells"

https://twitter.com/joshrogin/status/1394647721487872002

I mean, it would be surprising, but ... when outbreak is right next to a virology lab that studies these very viruses, "sheer coincidence" actually seems less intuitively plausible than lab leak. Folks insisted that was not merely wrong, but obviously risible, based on...what?

Best I can tell, based on "The World Health Organization said so". You mean, the same WHO that told us they had no evidence that human-to-human transmission was occurring, at the same time China was locking a city of 10 million people into their homes? WTAH?

I'm not saying there was a lab leak. I have no idea, because I Am Not A Virologist. And thus I didn't comment on the lab leak hypothesis; I simply had no way to assess.

But I was, and continue to be, utterly mystified by the people who treated it as a wacky conspiracy theory.

If this pandemic has taught us anything it's that you should have pretty good evidence before you rush to the hot takes on how anyone who believes anything different from you about a novel threat is a hysterical fool.

Also, that "stuff the WHO says" isn't very good evidence.

The other thing it's taught us is that China is not a reliable partner, and moreover will weaponize our earnest and correct desire to evolve beyond our historical racial bigotries against us, in order to deflect important questions about its own conduct.

We should not cooperate with their efforts to avoid accountability.