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Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
@PhilippMarkolin
Oct 27, 2022 • 14 tweets • 7 min read • Read on X
MEME ALERT: There is a new GOP minority report out today 'concluding' SARS-CoV-2 leaked from a lab.

I've read it and it is basically a rehash of outdated #lableak talking points, irrelevant anecdotes, and a strong misrepresentation of scientific studies and data.

Short version: Image
WHAT TO EXPECT:

#Rightwing networks will amplify this anti-scientific report dramatically in hopes of mobilizing their #conspiratorial base before the midterms.

This is the purpose of that content & timing.

#Weaponized conspiracy myths are powerful:
protagonistfuture.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-tw…
WHAT TO DO:

If you are an individual: Ignore & don't amplify.
If you are an influencer: Talk to scientists & don't amplify
If you are a journalist: Investigate & don't amplify.

Everybody: Don't get manipulated by scientific meme content like the report
protagonistfuture.substack.com/p/scientific-m…
UNSURE WHO TO TRUST:

Wait for a week before forming an opinion on the report.

#Lies in the report will spread rapidly through amplification, but will eventually be debunked point by point by scientists.

Form an opinion after the #truth had a chance to get their pants on.

/end Image
POINT BY POINT DEBUNK:

Like announced yesterday, scientists will address the meme report. Here is one scientists whose work has been purposefully misrepresented in the report and he is not okay with it:
MORE DEBUNK

Like announced above, I will be loosely collecting threads and opinions from scientists about the latest GOP meme report so that inclined readers might be able to form an opinion of it's scientific merit

INFORMATION OPERATION:

Information operations are inauthentic actions of a coordinated group, they may include fake identities, content, messaging, or amplification; and they pursue a social, economic, or political purpose.

COORDINATED LIES:

Journalistic malfeasance from @KatherineEban
in service of the lableak myth, conveniently arranged days before the midterm election.

Intentionally misquoting scientists should have professional consequences.

@KatherineEban MORE DEBUNK:

Irrelevant anecdotes and strategic incompetence on top of purposeful misquoting of scientists. 🔽

That is pretty much the depths of all scientific meme content, unethical, dangerous and poisoning the info sphere in hopes of political gain.

MORE DEBUNK:

Scientific and other misrepresentations can be accidental, it is usually good to assume so. This is not true when it comes to manipulation from info combatants, there the twisting of reality is intentional to serve strategic aims.
MORE COORDINATED ACTIONS:

Alina Chan, a prominent lableaker and advisor to the GOP report came out with her worthless scientific meme content.
The timing is no coincidence, just linking to the debunk of her opinionated & flawed 'literature review'
MORE DEBUNK:

The GOP report claims massive breaches of biosecurity. Why this is false🔽

(consider also: even if WIV had 100% leakage rate of every virus they had, scientists can still exclude SARS-CoV-2 came from the WIV given other lines of evidence)

MORE DEBUNK:

Sensationalist claims sweep around the globe and misinform people before the truth has a chance to get the boots on. This is intentional by motivated actors, right before an election on top of it all. Will people ever hear the corrections?

FIRST PUSH TO CORRECT:

@propublica is now starting to fact-check its own flawed story, secretly pulling in professional translators to check the serious errors of translation.

Shouldn't that happen BEFORE writing and amplifying political propaganda?

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More from @PhilippMarkolin

Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
Aug 14, 2024
Listen to @PeterHotez; he points out 3 strategies of the anti-science movement to shift blame now that their actions killed so many people:

1) blame the vaccines for the deaths
2) blame the scientists for creating COVID
3) blame public health for bad communication

All false
1/
The anti-vaccine movement became a juggernaut during COVID-19 by exploiting people's anxieties & profiting from their fears

Because emotional manipulation is politically valuable, republicans soon merged with the ideology

Unfortunately, that caused over 200k Americans to die
2/
... just during the delta wave alone.

Given estimates of 1,4 million excess deaths since 2020, half of it after vaccines became available, the odds are that vaccine-preventable death toll was even higher.

A huge political liability for Republicans if voters woke up to that.
3/
Read 10 tweets
Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
Jun 9, 2024
I don't know, but I feel like the cool kids don't get sucked into magical worldviews and waste their time live-action roleplaying as "investigators" in trite conspiracy myths.

Which makes all of those in the media who fall for them, over and over again, kinda embarassing? Image
There is no version of the lab leak idea that does not assume conspiratorial elements, given the evidence we have today.

There is no lab leak "theory" in the first place, just innuendo and magical thinking with mutual contradictory ideas that can not explain available evidence
Given the overwhelming evidence for a zoonotic origin, the scientific case is long clear.

What remains of the lab leak is a zombie idea, a myth kept alive by, sorry to say, mostly science deniers, activists, media manipulators and too many suckers that keep amplifying it.
Read 6 tweets
Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
Jun 1, 2024
🚨 Public service announcment 🚨

During the election season, discourse manipulators and influence campaigns work overtime to mislead citizens about scientific topics.

Here are 18 common tactics explained, why it works, and why you should guard yourself against it.

A 🧵

1/

Image
Image
Image
First up are the merchants of doubt

They use an array of manipulation techniques to denounce experts with various smear tactics, deny a scientific consensus exists, and deceive the public with irrelevant stories.

Full story with case examples here:


2/protagonist-science.com/p/denounce-den…
Next are the merchants of ambiguity

They distort scientific arguments by turning them into partisan fights, discredit proponents of an evidence-based worldview & dismiss the scientific method with appeals to intuition

Full story & case examples here:


3/protagonist-science.com/p/distort-disc…
Read 5 tweets
Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
May 27, 2024
Conspiracy theorists are shocked to learn that a science blogger writing about the bat origins of SARS-CoV-2 visits field sampling expeditions to interview bat researchers 😅

Good journalistic practice must be a nefarious plot 🤣

A niche 🧵 about conspiratorial ideation

1/ Image
Yesterday, I posted the above fotos to explain that my writing is based on expert interviews, personal research experience, scientific analysis and of course legwork.

Conspiracy theorists have claimed since 2022 that I must be a "paid" shill; from China, Biden, Fauci or EHA

2/

Image
Image
Image
For them, the idea that somebody could keep speaking up for science and scientists because he believes it is the right thing (& despite their hardest efforts to bully me out of the conversation with harassments), is unthinkable.

"He must be paid to do so." became their credo

3/
Read 22 tweets
Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
May 22, 2024
🚨Important facts 🚨

SARS-CoV-2 is a natural virus that has nothing to do with gain-of-function research.

While a complex topic, there is zero scientific doubt behind this today.

--> Full story:

Here are 5 key highlights why we know this:
A short🧵

1/protagonist-science.com/p/treacherous-…
I) SARS-CoV-2 has a mosaic genome that could only have come about through viral #recombination with other bat viruses in the wild.

No laboratory procedure or experiment can create, fake, or simulate this natural process.

Design is out of the question
It was once a bat virus

2/ Image
II) #Recombination does not have the granularity to exclude all genetic tinkering approaches, such as single AA mutations in the RBD to make it better bind human cells

Turns out, hACE2 affinity in SARS-CoV-2 was not designed either, but 100% natural

Bats have it exactly

3/ Image
Read 10 tweets
Philipp Markolin, PhD Profile picture
May 15, 2024
Decent article from @benjmueller at NYT about the administration's political decision to defund EHA.

He ends on a curious note 🔽

"Why now, 3 years after all the banalities the HHS cites to justify the farce were already known?"

I have some thoughts

1/
 nytimes.com/2024/05/15/hea…
Image
It is a critically important election year, so the Biden WH can not afford to have this emotional issue with large visibility be a differentiator between the parties.

They have to act as the ones driving accountability so the Republicans can not weaponize it against them

2/ Image
No party or politician gives a hoot about Ecohealth Alliance, it is a small non-profit with no political weight or power

Cutting off its funding makes politicians look good; they can pretend to hold "bad people" accountable in a bi-partisan fashion & not ruffle many feathers

3/ Image
Read 8 tweets

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