Oh, bloody hell @CBSMornings, dowsing? Really? Dowsing. Presented as though there is something to it. “Everything is not about science? Have a little faith.” Ugh.
The story followed the old annoying trope media use to cover pseudoscience. They found a dowser, followed him around, acted as though he was more accurate than chance, and then included the "token skeptic" scientist, which is when they said, "“Everything is not about science."
I mean, I thought this sort of crap had faded, at least from the really big legacy media outlets, like @CBSNews and @CBSMornings. Apparently I was wrong. I guess having the TV on before #MacysParade showed me the error of my assumption.
This @daraobriain clip is for you, @CBSMornings. Remember that dowsing is no more probable than homeopathy. Then watch it. Learn it. Live it.
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Surprise, surprise. We've been warning about this for 20 years. Few listened, and many of our fellow physicians were even "shruggies," who dismissed our warnings as trivial and unimportant, right up until right before the pandemic.
Basically, the "wellness industry" has long been antivax. "Wellness" gurus almost always at least lean antivax.
I'll go even farther than that. "Complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM), since rebranded as "integrative medicine," and then rebranded as "integrative health," has contributed to antivax propaganda by peddling the "wellness" narrative.
You know, @bmj_latest, when two of the biggest antivax propaganda sites in the world are loudly touting a badly sourced, conspiracy mongering bit of "investigational journalism" you commissioned from crank @thackerpd, you are doing it wrong and spreading antivax disinformation.
I frequently warn science communicators about this. Cranks LOVE to interview you or get you on their podcasts or It takes a very special skillset that few possess to be able to go "into the lions' den," so to speak. @stevennovella, for example, has that skillset.
You, on the other hand, probably do not. When you think you do, that is likely hubris.
Exactly. If you don't know all the conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, tropes, misinformation, and disinformation, you will get tripped up by the Gish gallop.
I thought: That’s a hell of conspiracy theory that, if true, would involve a lot of people covering up a lot of very improbable events. Guess what? After a year and a half it’s STILL a hell of conspiracy theory that, if true, would involve a lot of people covering up a lot. 1/
As I was putting together a talk about antivax conspiracy theories, I perused my blogs. You know what? People were claiming the then-novel coronavirus was an escaped bioweapon as early as January 2020—probably earlier. 2/
That’s because, in every outbreak or pandemic of a new disease, there *always* arise conspiracy theories that the disease was human-made and either leaked from a lab or was intentionally introduced. Such conspiracy theories exist for H1N1, HIV, Ebola, etc. 3/
@FLSurgeonGen What disingenuous nonsense. How did you manage to get through medical school? After all, your surgery, emergency medicine (trauma, wound suturing, , and OB/GYN rotations required a lot of mask wearing. Did you have a problem communicating on those rotations? How did you pass?
@FLSurgeonGen What about pediatrics? How did you do lumbar punctures? Did you do an oncology rotation during internal medicine? Surely you had to wear a mask and gown up to enter the rooms of several immunosuppressed patients at some point in your clinical rotations?
@FLSurgeonGen Did you do an infectious disease rotation and have to wear a mask and PPE to deal with a contagious patient? On second thought, strike that. You clearly know too little about infectious disease to have done even a medical school clinical elective in ID.