The Cult of Denialism

 Unreasonable doubt: Climate change, AIDS, GM foods – all have their detractors. But when does disbelief become dogma? 

By  Keith Kahn-Harris, New Humanist Magazine 

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We were supposed to be living in a world in which the methodical, rational, scientific accretion of knowledge would lead us down a path to a better world. That was the dream of Enlightenment, the bedrock of modernity.

But much has happened to challenge this dream. One doesn’t have to agree with Theodor Adorno or Zygmunt Bauman that the Holocaust was the apotheosis of an inhuman Enlightenment rationality to recognise that scientifically grounded bureaucracy can be used to control and slaughter millions. One doesn’t have to be a radical environmentalist to recognise that, from Thalidomide to DDT, the fruits of scientific progress can lead to horrendous unintended consequences. One doesn’t have to be a Richard Dawkins to observe the continued flourishing of religious fundamentalism and conclude that enlightenment has failed to take hold in many parts of the world.

Living in Denial

This week's New Scientist Magazine is dedicated to denialism. Several excellent articles. Well worth a look. Deborah MacKenzie's article is especially worth reading.

Living in denial: Why sensible people reject the truth

By Debora MacKenzie, New Scientist, May 12, 2010

HEARD the latest? The swine flu pandemic was a hoax: scientists, governments and the World Health Organization cooked it up in a vast conspiracy so that vaccine companies could make money.

Never mind that the flu fulfilled every scientific condition for a pandemic, thatthousands died, or that declaring a pandemic didn't provide huge scope for profiteering. A group of obscure European politicians concocted this conspiracy theory, and it is now doing the rounds even in educated circles.

This depressing tale is the latest incarnation of denialism, the systematic rejection of a body of science in favour of make-believe. There's a lot of it about, attacking evolution, global warming, tobacco research, HIV, vaccines - and now, it seems, flu. But why does it happen? What motivates people to retreat from the real world into denial?

Accountability for Reckless Abuse of Academic Credentials by AIDS Deniers

Unconventional thinkers or recklessly dangerous minds?

By Jon Cartwright

6 May 2010

Aids denialism is estimated to have killed many thousands. Jon Cartwright asks if scientists should be held accountable, while overleaf Bruce Charlton defends his decision to publish the work of an Aids sceptic, which sparked a row that has led to his being sacked and his journal abandoning its raison d'etre: presenting controversial ideas for scientific debate

In late 1996, Robert C, a social worker living in New York, was diagnosed as HIV-positive. At first he followed his doctor's advice and collected his prescription antiretrovirals, which stall the disease's progression. But he never took the drugs. Instead, encouraged by a series of articles in the US magazine Spin, he did nothing.

AIDS contrarian ignored warnings of scientific misconduct

Peter Duesberg was told publication of paper carried risk of charges

By Jon Cartwright

Published in Nature 4 May 2010

A controversial scientist who is under investigation at the University of California, Berkeley, for making false claims in a paper and failing to declare a colleague's alleged conflict of interest ignored an earlier warning that he could face misconduct charges if the paper was published.

Earlier this month, molecular and cell biologist Peter Duesberg told the ScienceInsider policy blog that the publication of his paper in the journalMedical Hypotheses prompted two letters of complaint to Berkeley. After receiving the letters, the institution opened a misconduct investigation.

But Duesberg had earlier submitted the paper for publication in theJournal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS), and a review of the paper, seen by Nature, explicitly warns Duesberg that "cherry-picking" of results and a co-author's "obvious conflict of interest" could lead to misconduct charges if the paper were to be published. Despite the warnings, Duesberg chose to publish the paper in Medical Hypotheses, which does not peer review submissions.

(Near) Death From Stupidity: Gary Null's Personal Product Endorsement

Putting the 'die' in diet

Health guru nearly killed eating own product

By DAREH GREGORIAN New York Post

Last Updated: 10:20 AM, April 28, 2010

UPDATE: AOL NEWS picks up the story.




That's not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Nutrition guru Gary Null says he was almost killed by eating a dietary supplement -- his own.

In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the controversial alternative-medicine advocate says he suffered "mentally and physically" after eating his Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal.

Over the month Null, 65, ate the powdered product, he suffered "excruciating fatigue along with bodily pain," and "began to suffer from extreme cracks and bleeding from within his feet," the suit says.

AIDS Denialist - Libertarian Connection: Celia Farber's Dad Reports on Her Tea Bagging Activities

A warning to the tea partiers
by Barry Farber (aka Dad)
WorldNetDaiily.com April 21, 2010

The following has never been verified by me. Too many good stories are ruined by over-verification. Just call it "Southern folk-biology."

We were taught that the magnolia blossom, probably the most beautiful in the plant kingdom, stays beautiful only as long as you do nothing but look at it. If you touch it, it blackens and dies! I think tea parties do, too.

Is Peter Duesberg Finally Paying His Dues?

Exclusive:
AIDS Scientist 
Investigated for 
Misconduct
After Complaint

by Greg Miller on April 16, 2010, Science Insider 
UPDATE: Huffington Post / Daily Californian pick up the story:UC Berkeley Professor Under Investigation For Controversial AIDS Article; 
Statement by Nathan Geffen on Complaint Against Peter Duesberg 

University of California, Berkeley, professor of molecular and cell biology Peter Duesberg tells ScienceInsider that he is the subject of a misconduct investigation launched by the university. Duesberg has been a controversial figure for decades because of his vocal skepticism that HIV is the cause of AIDS. But he says this is the first time he has ever been investigated for misconduct, and ScienceInsider has learned that an AIDS activist may have helped initiate the investigation.

HIV/AIDS denialists prefer the term "re-thinkers." What's the difference?

When Is The Truth Pejorative?

by J. Todd DeShong

Published by splicetoday.com
 

The truth is often cold, hard and downright ugly. But is the truth ever pejorative? Can the truth be used in such a way that it can have a disparaging, derogatory, or belittling effect or force? I’d say no; truth can only be what it is. When the truth is portrayed in any other form, it is, quite simply, a lie. The truth is really the only thing in the world that is black and white.

In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the father, Baba explains sin to his son Amir this way:

"Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. When you kill a man, you steal a life. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth."

David Crowe's Incisive Interview with David Crowe on Global Warming

I was recently asked whether AIDS Denialists are involved in other denialisms, such as Holocaust denial, the anti-vaccine movement, 9/11 Truth Seeking, etc. 

The answer is, of course, yes. Gary Null is an AIDS Denier and Cancer Denialist. Liam Scheff and Tom Bethell are AIDS Denialists and creationists. There is overlap between AIDS Deniers and the anti-vaccine crowd. Henry Bauer is an AIDS Denier and a well known Anti-Reality Activist. 

I suppose I should not have been surprised when I saw that David Crowe, President of the Rethinking AIDS Society, is also a Global Warming Denialist. David Crowe is well known for his AIDS and cancer denialism. But Global Warming too? 

I suppose when it comes to the wacky world of AIDS Denialism, nothing should surprise us. 

My Position on Global Warming and Climate Change

by David Crowe

March 19, 2010

If I can be classified it would be as a left-leaning environmentalist, with a history of environmental concerns dating back to my pre-teen years in the 1960s. I was one of the founders of the Alberta Greens political party in 1990 based on support for a federal Green candidate in 1988, and was the party's president until 2004 and then CFO until a right-wing takeover in late 2008.

I have organized my position on global warming/climate change as a self-interview because my concerns have arisen as I have been asked more questions about this and some of my green friends exhibit shock at my position.

New Book by Nathan Geffen

Quackery taken to task
by Lesley Odendal
health-e


Nathan Geffen’s book Debunking Delusions reminds us what can go wrong when AIDS denialists are given the time of day. The book also documents clearly how we can fight denialism in a manner that saves lives and respects science. What is clear given the resurgence of AIDS denialist propaganda is that now is not the time to sit back.

As Geffen argues in his book, underlying the Treatment Action Campaign’s success in fighting denialism and quackery was the almost unsung treatment education programme. Knowledge truly is power in this case.

Deconstructing David Crowe

Next to Henry Bauer, David Crowe is my favorite AIDS Denialist.

It was, after all, David Crowe who took me under his wing to give me a bird's eye view of AIDS denialism. Crowe and Henry Bauer taught me that AIDS Deniers are sincere when they say that HIV does not cause AIDS. In fact , they don't just say it -  they live it! Crowe and Bauer really believe that HIV is harmless and that HIV tests are invalid.  It is their reality.  Using my nickname, Joe Newton (for obvious reasons), the psychopathology that runs through Denialism was vividly displayed by my AIDS Denialist mentors. AIDS Denialism is no joke...still it is easy to mistake David Crowe the AIDS Denialist for David Crowe the comedian. 

I recently saw David Crowe's (the AIDS Denialist) latest essay. Trying to keep the legacy of former South African Denialist President Thabo Mbeki in our hearts and minds, David Crowe rants that AIDS In Africa is caused by poverty, HIV tests are invalid, the numbers are cooked, blah ......  

I have not read Crowe's essay myself. I tried. I cannot. I am finding it increasingly difficult to read the same old crap spewed by AIDS Denialists, over and over and over again.

Stunning Admission by the NIH: Advances in HIV Treatment have saved countless lives

At a meeting with the (Washington Post) editorial board yesterday, Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, dropped this stunning piece of data on the AIDS epidemic in the United States. In the 1980s, he said, a 21-year-old diagnosed with HIV could expect to live just one year. Today, a 21-year-old who becomes HIV-positive has a life expectancy of 70.

"Pretty remarkable," Dr. Collins said, after noting the impact of anti-retroviral treatments that lower the level of HIV in the blood and boost immune systems. For those whose lives have been saved, it's a miracle.

You can hear more about what he said on AIDS and other topics here: