Thread by @gorskon

So apparently some low carb diet-promoting lifestyle doc is challenging me to come on his podcast this Friday to "debate" a certain local holistic vegan cardiologist whom I took to task the other day for his fear mongering about #CovidVaccine. 1/

Oddly enough, I'd never heard of this guy before he decided to insert himself into the thread about our antivax holistic cardiologist the other day, but then I'm not broadly familiar with the keto/vegan/low carb miracle diet brigade. Mea culpa, I guess. 2/

Predictably, when I didn't answer him right away, he started taunting me. ("DoN'T yOu waNT tO eDuCAte PeoPle aBouT vaCcIneS???) And, of course, calling me a coward.🙄 3/

Also, I work for a living and can't just drop everything to cater to his whim on a Friday morning. Funny, but wasn't our friendly neighborhood vegan cardiologist too busy answering patient calls and learning about genetics to read my explanations why he was wrong about #VAERS? 4/

Nor do I have any particular desire to disrupt my work schedule to cater to a fake "both sides" debate about the vegan cardiologists #CovidVaccine misinformation with a moderator biased against me. 5/

It's not as though this is my first rodeo. Over the years, I've had the same tactic directed at me by antivaxxers, HIV/AIDS deniers, cancer quacks, and even Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra themselves. 6/

The answer has always been the same. I'll do a written exchange on blogs or other social media. I won't do a live debate that allows the antivaxxer or quack to Gish gallop, etc., particularly not with a biased moderator and audience. 7/

A written exchange would actually permit a deep dive into the issue at hand, complete with time to look up relevant references from the peer-reviewed biomedical literature. 8/

Strangely enough, not one of the people inviting me to a "live public debate" about vaccines, alternative medicine, etc., has ever said yes to this counterproposal. I wonder why... 9/

Actually, I know why. These invitations are intended to generate heat, not light. Most importantly, they are designed to put the advocate of quackery/pseudoscience side by side with a real expert, this giving the false impression that there is a genuine scientific controversy.10/

That's why cranks, quacks, and conspiracy theorists LOVE these sorts of "debates" and "forums." That's why I generally politely decline. 11/11

Forgot to add: It bothers me not one whit if a quack thinks I'm a "coward" or calls me such on Twitter. 12/12