Sunday 17 May 2020

Conspiranoia with a professional look

There is a dangerous video going around. It is a sneak preview of a "documentary" that is to be called Plandemics and it is moving around the world faster than the covid-19 pandemics despite the efforts to keep it down.

I will admit that when I saw it I was speechless. My only thought was "This amount of bullshit cannot be taken seriously by anybody". My bad. My observation skills are usually decent but the fact that this video is going viral faster than the fastest virus we have ever encountered caught me by surprise.

Disclaimer: I am a Biologist. I have a PhD in Biology (Molecular and Evolutionary Genetics). I have studied gene expression at the level of RNA for several years but I have never worked with viruses. I am not an expert, but I can understand the primary literature (scientific publications and data from the ministries and offices of statistics) and that is my source of news when it comes to this pandemic. Because there is so much out there, I do watch videos that summarize things, but I rely on people who analyze primary data and give the references to their sources. In a situation such as this, with people dying every day by the thousands, its very frustrating to wait for the slow speed of science even if it is being made and shared at a faster pace than ever before in history, but making claims too early can cause serious trouble (see the mess we have now with hydroxychloroquine or the death rate of patients on mechanical ventilation - down to a quarter after an early release had given 88%). Now, this video is not even talking too early about facts. It simply HAS NO FACTS WHATSOEVER.

The preview contains only opinions and not one of them, NOT ONE SINGLE CLAIM in the whole video is backed up by any evidence whatsoever. ZERO evidence. I have found so many articles and videos checking each of the claims made in the video, that I am coming here only to make a mere compilation of materials that debunk the video in its ENTIRETY.


Because the video starts claiming that the interviewee is an acclaimed scientist, the first reference that I am going to link here is the news section of the Science magazine.

 
 Source: sciencemag.org
In summary, she is not an acclaimed scientist and she is not an expert in coronaviruses. You can also read more in Retraction Watch about the painful story about the retraction of her star paper, which was a false positive due to contamination if not a hoax. Oh, and she was not jailed for exposing widespread virus transmission via vaccines or blood transfusions, she was jailed for allegedly stealing property (and she never made the discovery that she says "THEY" are trying to silence). The history of that is fact-checked in Snopes.

From there on the video is a series of statements that my PhD supervisor would label as wild speculation: vaccines killing people by the millions; viruses being tamed in laboratories to infect and kill humans; masks being a cause for viral reactivation (whatever that means); number of cases being made up; high government officials working against medicines to be widely used... These people would do themselves a favor if they tried in the realm of literature. For facts, read the fact-checks that debunk the whole video claim after claim. I am highlighting some statements in the snapshots, but the full articles are linked below each one of them.



Reuters (and the treatment guidelines mentioned, here)




FactCheck.org even gives a table of contents in the debunking article


Heavy traces down quite a few articles on the history of the accusations against Dr. Fauci... But we may never end if we have to list them all.

In general, it would be very difficult to believe that Dr. Fauci and his friend now at the CDC are single-handedly manipulating all the research that is being done in the USA... But the evidence is out there for everyone to see it, generated by researchers in all continents except Antarctica, and that makes the claims of this video absolute bunkers.

The video was shared with a warning announcing that it was going to be put down by the establishment or whoever is "THEY". Truth is, it has been put down and it keeps resurfacing. Why is this particular video being put down and so many other bunker theories are still up?
 
Source: reuters

As it often happens, the video has had more views due to the polemic around it being put down than because it merits any watching. Sometimes it is better to let things die by their own natural death.

Why is it going viral?

 

Speculation has it that it is spreading because it looks professional. The interviewer is a relatively handsome middle-aged white man, professional film-maker with his own production company backing up the project (how else would you ensure objectivity!!). The interviewee is a white woman who has a PhD and was once a researcher, she can use the technical jargon and denies what her actions prove, which is that she is an active member of the antivaccine movement.

To try and counteract that, I am leaving here the video of a handsome middle-aged medical doctor who goes minute by minute of the video debunking each one of the claims made by it.


There is a dangerous video going around, and a longer version is around the corner. We should be prepared to debunk each of its claims and explain to the public that spreading fear is not a way to help, it is a way to make money while harming the general population.

Source: The Daily Beast