The 1977 H1N1 spread was never truly explained, here a possible lab incident in Russia was one of the possibilities:
https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.01013-15?permanent...
The Coronavirus from Wuhan, China has a similar story, only this time it is in China.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/...
To me a solid scientific explanation is still useful, e.g. the intimate study of the Wuhan lab into Coronavirus seems risky at best.
I can see why that might seem suspicious, but isn't it equally likely it was a sincere effort to prepare the world for a somewhat periodic event? Especially given previous disease prevention efforts by Gates.
https://youtu.be/IdYDL_RK--w?t=1773
But honestly, it does not matter. What matters is that there is a whole culture who allows shutting down narratives, as it pleases for whatever failed reflexes control it. That culture has to go. Right, Left and center.
That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Everybody knows that babies are too valuable to be thrown into fires. They need to be murdered for their tasty, tasty adrenochrome[0]!
>Shi instructed her group to repeat the tests and, at the same time, sent the samples to another facility to sequence the full viral genomes. Meanwhile she frantically went through her own lab’s records from the past few years to check for any mishandling of experimental materials, especially during disposal. Shi breathed a sigh of relief when the results came back: none of the sequences matched those of the viruses her team had sampled from bat caves. “That really took a load off my mind,” she says. “I had not slept a wink for days.”
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-wo...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch
The closest phenomena we have in modern world is suicidal jihadism, but its practicioners generally cannot be described as extremely powerful, even if they managed to tire out Western powers in Afghanistan.
However, if we were to assume that the origins are neither natural (wet markets) nor accidental (lab leaks), but deliberate action on the part of some state that is not China, I have to wonder about the likelihood of this being a botched attempt at triggering regime change in China by parts of the US government. It was executed perfectly in Egypt and Ukraine over the last decade. The extreme measures taken by the CCP that rapidly ended transmission within the country perhaps caused the project to fail.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%E2%80%932021_China%E2%80%...
[2] Tawang would have gone to China if Nehru had been left to deal with it : Sardar Patel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydguwz8lV7k)
If you scroll to the bottom of it, China owned up to accidentally leaking brucellosis mere months before Covid became a thing, sourced by China Daily (CP's English website). That's why I don't get the accidental lab leak hypothesis. It's inconsistent with previous ones unless you make some 4D chess plays in reasoning.
As for suspiciousness, is that action different than in other situations, or are we they just behaving like that all the time and most of the West is only learning about it now? I'm leaning towards the latter.
> our strategy should be exactly the same even if SARS-CoV-2 is of entirely natural origin
This is still missing the point. The point is that studying the details of how it leaked (if it did leak) gives you information that you can use to refine safety processes. Without these details, you are left with mere armchair theorizing about what new procedures are necessary and what the flaws are in current procedures.
Read about the history of plane crashes, where the details of how planes crashed were used to improve flight safety.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/g73/12-airplane-cras...
- United Airlines 232 "The NTSB later determined the accident was caused by a failure by mechanics to detect a crack in the fan disk ... The accident led the FAA to order modification of the DC-10's hydraulic system and to require redundant safety systems in all future aircraft."
- TWA 800 "It was everybody's nightmare: a plane that blew up in midair for no apparent reason ... most likely after a short circuit in a wire bundle ... The FAA has since mandated changes to reduce sparks from faulty wiring and other sources."
Now how could such improvements have been made without knowing how the plane crashed?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/16/tom-cotto...
https://www.npr.org/2020/04/22/841925672/scientists-debunk-l...
https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/reports-publications/...
https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/reports-publications/...
I am still confused how people think that it being an accidental "lab leak" is any more damning of the role China played in the initial outbreak. China made a lot of mistakes and also kept other countries in the dark for way too long no matter the origin. It can also serve as a warning against authoritarian models of rule.
My criticism doesn't mean I think we shouldn't investigate the origins either. It is in the world's public interest to err on the side of knowing too much so that maybe the chance of this happening again is reduced.
Here's but one of many cases.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/sep/12/they-are-co...
You can't arrive at the truth of a matter by only listening to those with enough power to shut down any countervailing opinions.
Apparently for the past three years their vast 'fishing' fleets are also shining green lasers into the cockpits of passing planes and bridges of passing ships at night, to increase the stress and occupational risks heaped upon the shoulders of each captain/pilot of a non-Chinese boat/plane [1]
Let's also not forget their MASSIVE KNEE JERK REACTION to the Australian PM stating that we needed China to cooperate more with the W.H.O. (scientists attempted to follow the normal discovery process investigating the origins of Covid, but were denied access to dated lab samples from the Wuhan lab [2])
China was so insulted (and/or scared?) by these words that their knee-jerk reaction was to cut off billions of dollars of imports arriving from Australia, temporarily decimating some parts of our wine industry, and rock lobster export industry to China [3]
[1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-06/chinese-fishing-vesse...
[2] https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-tells-who-its-not...
[3] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-10/chinas-trade-war-with...
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2021/09/10/nolte-how...
On July 5, 2021, a Correspondence was published in The Lancet called “Science, not speculation, is essential to determine how SARS-CoV-2 reached humans”. The letter recapitulates the arguments of an earlier letter (published in February, 2020) by the same authors, which claimed overwhelming support for the hypothesis that the novel coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic originated in wildlife. The authors associated any alternative view with conspiracy theories by stating: “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin”. The statement has imparted a silencing effect on the wider scientific debate, including among science journalists.
The 2/20 letter stated:
The rapid, open, and transparent sharing of data on this outbreak is now being threatened by rumours and misinformation around its origins. We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin.
These are the scientists who wanted to deny facts: Charles Calisher, Dennis Carroll, Rita Colwell, Ronald B Corley, Peter Daszak, Christian Drosten, Luis Enjuanes, Jeremy Farrar, Hume Field, Josie Golding, Alexander Gorbalenya, Bart Haagmans, James M Hughes, William B Karesh, Gerald T Keusch, Sai Kit Lam, Juan Lubroth, John S Mackenzie, Larry Madoff, Jonna Mazet, Peter Palese, Stanley Perlman, Leo Poon, Bernard Roizman, Linda Saif, Kanta Subbarao, Mike Turner
The above statement may sound mild-mannered to a lay person but it had greater import and effect, as outlined by this BMJ article, "The covid-19 lab leak hypothesis: did the media fall victim to a misinformation campaign?" [https://www.bmj.com/content/374/bmj.n1656]
Scientists and reporters contacted by The BMJ say that objective consideration of covid-19’s origins went awry early in the pandemic, as researchers who were funded to study viruses with pandemic potential launched a campaign labelling the lab leak hypothesis as a “conspiracy theory.”
A leader in this campaign has been Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, a non-profit organisation given millions of dollars in grants by the US federal government to research viruses for pandemic preparedness.1 Over the years EcoHealth Alliance has subcontracted out its federally supported research to various scientists and groups, including around $600 000 (£434 000; €504 000) to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Shortly after the pandemic began, Daszak effectively silenced debate over the possibility of a lab leak with a February 2020 statement in the Lancet. “We stand together to strongly condemn conspiracy theories suggesting that covid-19 does not have a natural origin,” said the letter, which listed Daszak as one of 27 coauthors. Daszak did not respond to repeated requests for comment from The BMJ.
Minorities (POC, Latinx) have the lowest vaccination rates. Do these groups generally lean conservative?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/health...
Tuskegee was many decades ago. There are much more recent examples of the pharmaceutical industry and doctors prescribing a product to millions of Americans that was later shown to be harmful, at least for some patients. I'm of course referring to Oxycontin and other supposedly "non-addictive" opioids. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died as a result of these drugs. Countless more lives stunted or ruined.
In my view, events like this explain a great deal of working-class (including white, who heavily lean Republican) skepticism about novel treatments. Just today, Pfizer issued a complete recall of the anti-smoking drug, Chantix, after discovering it can increase cancer risk:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2021/09/17/cha...
I hope we all can have more empathy for anyone who is skeptical after witnessing or experiencing harm after a incident like this. I'm not saying all fear or skepticism is valid or warranted. Just that I wish people would not judge the individuals involved for their (presumed) politics, and work towards greater education and understanding.
https://retractionwatch.com/2020/06/04/lancet-retracts-contr...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/covid-19-surgi...
That's right. Trump was booed the moment he suggested that his supporters get vaccinated against Covid-19.
Black is 10.0% of all vaccinated while making up 12.4% of population.
White (non-hispanic) is 61.5% of all vaccinated while making up 61.2% of the population.
So we're talking ~2.4 points behind at worst (stats are from the CDC link in your article). For comparison we're talking about more than a 10 point gap when comparing counties by political affilation. https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/the-red-blue-divide-in-covi...
http://cultresearch.org/help/characteristics-associated-with...
- Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
- The group has a polarized, us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.
- The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group.
- The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and control members. Often this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.
- Subservience to the leader or group requires members to cut ties with family and friends, and radically alter the personal goals and activities they had before joining the group.
Because the DPRK SoS was not the one openly talking about regime change in China.[1]
[1] Mike Pompeo Just Declared America’s New China Policy: Regime Change (https://nationalinterest.org/feature/mike-pompeo-just-declar...)
People make statements like this and I can only hope they're not american, because the idea you could be educated in an american school and come out believing this is too horrifying to ponder.
Our founders directly stated in contemporaneous documents their fear of unchecked democracy and how it can descend into tyranny.
There is a natural conflict between democracy (and any form of government) and individual rights.
The founders sought to create a republic (not even a democracy really) with heavy protections for individual rights which they saw as at risk from democratic forces
That you think individual rights and democracy are intertwined is only because of bad history linking the american constitution to some great creation story of democracy itself. Many democracies have been authoritarian nightmares for those in the minority
Some Americans wanted a monarchy after the civil war, but they still wanted individual rights protected. Democracy won out but not because of its human rights record. Indeed, the founders were familiar with democratic tyranny based on their classical studies.
The examples of the natural misalignment between democracy and human rights are numerous. Slavery, Jim crow laws, drug laws, all of which were highly popular in their day or are popular now, but agree or disagree obviously curtail individual rights.
Now to your points.... No the Roman republic was not at all like north Korea. The Roman republic was an actual republic, with elections, power transfers etc.
England has been a monarchy for a thousand years and still is. Parliament is a nice thingy but the queen can get rid of it if she wants and she knows that. That's why they behave themselves most of the time. In fact she did this in recent memory in Australia.
All governments fail, but some fail faster and more spectacularly than others.
(I don't have time to give you every thing said by the founders on the danger of democracy and it's nTueal tension with individual rights... Here's a good starting point https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/jimhuntzinger/2018/1...)