Prof. Jose-Luis Jimenez Profile picture
Dec 30, 2021 22 tweets 17 min read Read on X
ON LOGICAL FALLACIES & TWITTER.

Before the pandemic I didn't use Twitter much. Now I am becoming an expert on the many types of logical fallacies that people who do NOT have any arguments use to try to discredit scientists

A good list here:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_f… Image
When people do not reply to the arguments being made, doesn't provide data or analysis, often resort to various types of ad hominem attacks

Take it as a compliment (you won argument, they have nothing else to say) & disengage

If they insult, then block

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem Image
3/ I've decided to catalogue and respond here to some of the most common things I am confronted with, in an attempt to diminish my expertise, question my motives, and turn people against me in general.
4/ Here "Appeal to motive", evidence-free, that I say #COVIDisAirborne because I benefit from sales of CO2 meters, HEPA filters, or whatever

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to…

For record: I have no such financial interests whatsoever. I've spent $$ on those things for donations & family Image
5/ Another "Appeal to motive"(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to…), but different one

This time I am trying to "be a protagonist" & get attention

[For record: I have a day job, I am tired of this. Was hoping pandemic decreasing in summer, tweeted a lot less. Oh well, didn't work that way] Image
6/ A "Bare Assertion Fallacy": Deny evidence that makes their position untenable. E.g. minimize #LongCOVID for those favoring mass infection

As @svillapol, who does research on LongCOVID explains, very real & will be a major health burden after pandemic:

Image
7/ BTW my motivation to write this thread is to educate others (and myself) on these fallacies and how to respond to them. Some are more obvious, some less so

When I was new to twitter, wasted a lot of time dealing with them. Hope to save others time

Nothing to do w/ this: Image
8/ Tone policing (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_poli…) – focusing on emotion behind (or resulting from) a message rather than the message itself as a discrediting tactic.

Here put in use by #DrBonnieHenry of @CDCofBC

HT @FarmhouseBySea Image
@CDCofBC @FarmhouseBySea 9/ Indeed this is also what I do in response to an Ad Hominem attack (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem).

But many of the other fallacies are trickier to deal with.

10/ A thought-terminating cliché (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-t…) is another type of logical fallacy:

"Its only function is to stop an argument from proceeding further, in other words "end the debate with a cliché... not a point."

In heavy use right now:
11/ The "Normalcy Bias" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_…) has also been prominent in the pandemic, especially at the start, but also w/ each wave:

"There are 3 phases of response: 'denial, deliberation, and the decisive moment'. Ppl were likely to deny that a disaster was happening" Image
12/ One example of the Normalcy Bias (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_…) on early responses of many experts to the pandemic. There had not been a really bad pandemic for over a century, didn't believe it could happen / warn the public / prepare.

E.g. Feb. 2020:

keranews.org/health-science… Image
13/ Something we have endured while fighting #DropletDogma & demonstrating #COVIDisAirborne: "Courtier's Reply"(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtier%…)

"Respondent to criticism claims that critic lacks sufficient knowledge, credentials, or training to pose any sort of criticism whatsoever"
14/ E.g. example of Courtier's reply (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtier%…) from @WHO committee member (@Metadoc) totally dismissing our expertise as relevant (livescience.com/coronavirus-ai…)

Also mixing in an "Appeal to motive" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to…) implying we must have financial interests. Image
15/ Most interesting about the logical fallacy (Courtier's Reply) used by @Metadoc to dismiss airborne transmission experts as not having relevant expertise to discuss COVID transmission through air:

He himself is an expert on... transmission of diseases through WATER, not air! Image
16/ "Appeals to Authority" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_…) are also extremely common

E.g. @WHO official @allegranzib using it together with Courtier's reply (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courtier%…) against the 239 scientists that signed Jul-2020 letter of #COVIDisAirborne:

nature.com/articles/d4158… Image
17/ The mix of Appeals to Authority / Courtier's Reply by @WHO et al. against airborne / aerosol scientists has been so prominent that @trishgreenhalgh wrote a whole paper about this dynamic (explaining it with more sophisticated Bourdieusian theory):

wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/6-126
18/ The fallacy of relative privation: (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_f…:

"The fallacy of minimizing 1 harm by pointing out a more severe harm is fallacy of relative privation. Has been commonly employed to minimize how COVID-19 has harmed children"

@Dr_ScottK

sciencebasedmedicine.org/cognitive-illu… Image
19/ "Traitorous Critic Fallacy" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergo_dece…): "implying that the critic is motivated by undisclosed favorability or affiliation to out-group, rather than responding to the criticism. Critic should avoid the question or topic entirely"

E.g.:

20/ Thanks to multiple people are pointing out other resources, from people who have paid attention to these fallacies much longer than me:

- logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallaci…
- yourlogicalfallacyis.com
- catalogofbias.org
-
21/ "Affirming a Disjunct" Fallacy (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirming…)

"Concluding 1 disjunct must be false bc the other disjunct is true. They may both be true bc 'or' is defined inclusively, not exclusively"

E.g.: pharma industry is bad, so vaccines not good

22/ Another "thought-terminating cliché" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-t…), from government official (@ArrudaHoracio)

"Air cleaners give false sense of security"

Totally made up, but used widely to end discussion about something they don't want to pay for

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More from @jljcolorado

May 26
1/ Survey of CO2 indoors during trip

CO2 (above ~400 ppm outdoors) indicates the amount of exhaled air (& virus) trapped in a space

Also per recent scientific results by @ukhadds, CO2 helps SARS-CoV stay infectious in air much longer

@united flight boarding, pretty terrible! Image
2/ This is the trip so far:

-Low outdoors
-Pretty high ~2000 in @RideRTD bus to airport
- ok ~800 at @DENAirport, except restroom ~1500. Not sure why restrooms at this airport are so often poorly ventilated
- Then boarding on @united, ventilation OFF, so huge increase till ON Image
3/ For details of the recent results on how and why CO2 makes SARS-CoV-2 stay infectious much longer in the air, see this recent thread by @ukhadds

Read 9 tweets
May 8
1/ "After four years of fighting about it, @WHO has finally proclaimed that viruses, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID, can be spread through the air"



By @maggiemfoxscientificamerican.com/article/a-figh…
2/ "It took four years to get here because some leaders in public health, medicine and science clung too tightly to precision and semantics"

"One particular moment of shame came on March 28, 2020, when WHO tweeted: “FACT: #COVID19 is NOT airborne.”

3/ "Words matter. When people heard that COVID might spread on surfaces, they wasted time wiping down groceries. People who misunderstood airborne spread needlessly wore masks on outdoor walks and veered off sidewalks to avoid their neighbors."
Read 7 tweets
Apr 18
1/ @WHO has published a report on updated terminology for disease transmission

I've seen some debate about it. My take:

- Terminology itself is ok. Big progress
- But no recommendations of how to protect!

Report:

Press release: who.int/publications/m…
who.int/news/item/18-0…
2/ The report was likely the result of intense pressure on @WHO during the pandemic:

- They denied that #COVIDIsAirborne on March 2020
- They finally accepted it 2 years later

nature.com/articles/d4158…
@WHO 3/ To their credit, @WHO did invite some of their critics to be part of the committee.

What was the terminology before. In medical circles:

- droplet transmission: if it happened in close proximity, or if particles were > 5 microns

- airborne transmission: if it happened far
Read 34 tweets
Mar 28
1/ New paper in @ScienceMagazine: "Mandating Indoor Air Quality for Public Buildings"

Explaining current status of indoor air quality standards (in short: bad or non-existent), the huge health benefits that would arise from them & proposing a path forward
science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
Image
2/ "People living in urban & industrialized societies, which are expanding globally, spend more than 90% of time indoors, breathing indoor air (IA)."

"Most countries do NOT have legislated indoor air quality (IAQ) performance standards for public spaces"

science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
3/ "Few building codes address operation, maintenance, and retrofitting, and most do NOT focus on airborne disease transmission."

"We propose that Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) standards be mandatory for public spaces"

science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
Read 14 tweets
Oct 4, 2023
1/ Checking the ventilation by measuring CO2 as I travel to the #AAAR2023 conference

@RideRTD bus to Denver airport. Bus route had started 3 min before I got in, already 1500 ppm

Typical of these @RideRTD buses, poor ventilation Image
2/ Not getting any better as time passes in the @rideRTD bus to the airport...

7% of the air is being re-breathed, it has already been in someone else lungs when each of us breathe it. Image
@RideRTD 3/ Given the often poor-to-mediocre ventilation in US transportation systems, I wear N95 masks (not KN95, less good)

In this case @3M VFlex, which I tested at 99.99% filtration for myself

It also stays sealed when I talk, doesn't distort my speech (& add to my Spanish accent) Image
Read 14 tweets
Oct 2, 2023
1/ Video de mi presentación sobre "Transmisión de enfermedades por el aire: cómo funciona, por qué se malentendió, y cómo reducirla"

como parte de la presentación del libro de ventilación de @aireamos

2/ Las diapositivas se pueden bajar de este enlace.

(Son de una charla más larga así que tienen más detalles, pero están todas las de la presentación de @Aireamos)

drive.google.com/file/d/1Bs0RRG…
@aireamos 3/ Miguel Ángel Campano @MA_Campano y @Aireamos han sido los motores del libro de ventilación:

Read 4 tweets

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