Imagine these words but being spoken by a dictator, while shutting down the opposition on any matter whatsoever.

When have the good guys ever said "you're either with us or against us, and creating doubt is deadly"?

Let's walk through this slowly, because I'm kinda in awe. 🧵
"the heterodox thinkers' obsession with nuance".

This assumes the conclusion, as usual. Nobody says that of their own position. People talk about nuance because they believe things are more complex than pro/anti mandate or covid-19 vaccine. Is the FDA rejecting boosters antivax?
"is blinding their judgement that the underlying issue is straightforward". Again, the circular reasoning is obvious. A steelman is a position of other side put so well, they would recognize it as being well articulated. This is anything but that. Mind-reading, and bad at it.
"Vaccines are safe and effective". Except for all the acknowledged likely side-effects, the waning immunity, and the escape variants. You know, the things Yuri was shitting on Bret and Heather for discussing a few months back. Now admitted as very much possible, by official lips.
Vaccines were always a trade-off. With herd immunity off the table, they're definitely worthwhile for some, likely not worthwhile for some. Why mandate vaccines for those who have developed immunity by becoming infected? No good answer provided. Too much nuance, I suppose.
And one more thing, are we ready to acknowledge that unless a much better vaccine shows up, we're all going to get the virus? Even 95% protection is not over a lifetime, but over 6 months or so. 5% risk every 6 months adds up over time, converging to certainty. Too much nuance.
"incompetent gurus". I guess I'll just say that if John Ioannides with 369k citations, Paul Marik and Peter McCullough with about 40k citations each are "incompetent", then I don't want to be competent. I'll take these incompetent doctors every day of the week.
"throwing shade at them by [just asking questions]". I didn't know there was an official oracle we can all get undiluted truth in the middle of a fast-evolving pandemic. Until then, we'll keep asking questions until you manage to shut us up. Keep trying.
"leads to vaccine hesitancy". Know what leads to hesitancy? Telling people they're obsessed with nuance. Calling top scientists incompetent. Telling them to stop asking questions. Repeating "safe and effective" like it's a chant. Horse paste memes. You.
"that is deadly". If you knew anything about how groups solve problems, you'd know that dissent, even if wrong, helps groups converge to the right answer faster, and reduce extremism. Shutting contrarians up, that's what is deadly.
One more reason to mistrust anyone making such arguments: They're admitting they're manipulating you. He who discourages sharing information because of potential consequences, admits that the information he shares isn't to inform, but to cause what he believes is good results.
But that's a fool's errand. Complex systems can't be modeled from the inside. And if the theory is not convincing, we know how the noble lies by omission have worked out in practice.
Pride comes before the fall. We're in dire need of humility and transparency, not jupiter-sized egos telling everyone to STFU and fall in line. It's not just that it's nasty, it also doesn't work. It's also not what one does when they have truth on their side.

Not now, not ever.

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More from @alexandrosM

18 Sep
I am reading the slide deck of the TOGETHER trial and have a few questions of those who know a bit more about this stuff than me.

I'll try to keep this thread as neutral as possible.

To read the deck, click the link below, and press the "slides" button. rethinkingclinicaltrials.org/news/august-6-…
The trial says (implies) that it's using "shared control patients". In the "recruitment over time" slide, it shows that the placebo group was recruited in both "stages". Does this mean placebo patients from either stage were used to form control groups for each drug tested? ImageImage
It also says (last bullet) that this is a "planned interim analysis of the fluvoxamine arm with the data cut from August 2nd, 2021". Does this mean the trial isn't done? What's the rationale for sharing data on other drugs if this was supposed to be about fluvoxamine? Image
Read 7 tweets
18 Sep
So, this is probably the worst rebuttal I've seen recently, and this says a lot. I suspect I'm going to have a few things to say so it's time to reach for that 🧵emoji.
So, first strike for a Professor of Ethics, he doesn't link to the video he is responding to. The tweet he quotes doesn't link to it, and the article the tweet links to doesn't link to the video. It's all meta-commentary. So here's the original:
Second strike for a Professor of Ethics, he mentions that he "led WHO's policy brief on the ethics of vaccine mandates". Professor, that's what's called a "conflict of interest". You're supposed to acknowledge it makes your position a little tenuous, not use it as an argument.
Read 11 tweets
18 Sep
Upon request of @april_harding I will attempt to list some off-the-cuff principles for how my 🧵s come together.

I'm sure others do it differently, this is about how I do it.

That's right. It's a 🧵 about 🧵s.
1. Understanding the medium is important. A thread is not a blogpost. As much as possible make each tweet stand out as a stand-alone idea. The best part about threads is that each tweet can reach different people and generate different conversations.
2. The characters are limited, but you have attachments, QTs, links, etc. Try as much as possible to cite your sources and give people a path to learn more about each of your claims.
Read 13 tweets
18 Sep
A partially effective measure will not only select for the subset of the problem it doesn't address, but the very existence of the measure can worsen the problem by creating the impression it's under control, encouraging people to let their guard down.

What are some examples?
1. ADE:
A partially effective vaccine will not only select for the subset of the variants it doesn't kill, but the very presence of antibodies can worsen the infection by giving the virus the body's own signature, encouraging cells to let their guard down.en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibody-…
2.
Journalistic best practices not only select for the subset of disinformation they don't address, but their very existence can worsen the problem by creating the impression journalistic outlets have disinformation under control, encouraging people to let their guard down.
Read 13 tweets
18 Sep
Today's experiment in #tweetInversion...

- do you think this one works?
- if so, why do you think it works?

I'm still on the fence about whether this is.a tool of sensemaking or sophistry.
I think I know why I was uncomfortable about this one. Her tweet is built on a false fact claim. The evidence is not being hidden, it's right there. So in this case inversion is not making a symmetric tweet. The response is genuinely superior, since it's actually true. Huh.
... And I think this may be the first #tweetInversion that will exceed the original in likes, and it's going to do it in less than an hour. This is somewhat confirmatory of my suspicion above.
Read 5 tweets

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