Qui bono?

Who was paying them.

Follow the trail and kill the liars.

Was there actually an abundance of evidence related to the origins of covid-19? I think the evidence was pretty scant on both sides, so ultimately people made inferences. I agree that unilateral censorship might lead us in a rabbit hole, but frankly, you have yourselves to blame. A significant portion of conservatives are contrarian provocateurs who tend to rely on intuition, religion and "common sense" instead of concrete evidence, therefore it would be remiss of orgs to take them seriously or give them a voice - even if some of the conspiracies eventually vindicate them. Like even now with the gain of function scenario, they automatically assume that the virus was bioengineered to dethrone Trump and cause economic chaos while China thrives and remains relatively unscathed. Sometimes petulant children need to reprimanded if their pattern of behavior is virtually always on the pessimistic side.

We knew very early on that bats weren't sold at the wet market, and that a laboratory which studied similar viruses was only a short distance away. In addition, we knew that the virus was incredibly virulent from the start, which stands in marked contrast to similar outbreaks (e.g. SARS) in the past. It normally takes time for the virus to adapt to human to human transmission, COVID-19 had this down pat from the start.

This isn't proof, but it's evidence that merits thoughtful consideration and investigation. The zoonotic explanation was full of holes that similarly required explanation. But because a Republican Senator floated the suggestion (based on that same circumstantial evidence) that it was possible, the media came out virulently against, and regurgitated uncritically accounts from a scientist who was compromised by the Chinese Communist Party. And because it was labeled a fringe conspiracy theory, the CCP managed to get Democratic aligned media, politicians, and social media sites to successfully censor any information which contradicted the CCP approved narrative. Researchers who did want to more closely investigate the possibility were told that their research "wasn't welcome", either because of concerns that it would tie those journals to the Republican position, or because their economic interests would be negatively impacted. This was a colossal embarrassment, and the decision makers involved should absolutely lose their jobs over it.

Ideas need to be weighed on their merits, with evidence for and against measured as objectively as possible. That requires freedom of expression, both legally and socially, because as we found out, researchers are loathe to actually investigate if there are severe professional and social repercussions for doing so. There were many reasonable voices which were advancing inconsistencies with the media narrative based on the facts of the case, and whether or not Trump or some random Youtuber is saying something similar isn't an excuse to declare something "fake news" and censor it accordingly.

The wet market theory isn't really important to the human transmissability. There's millions of Chinese farmers who come into Wuhan every month who have exposure to bats and pangolins. Additionally, the lab you're mentioning is not a wet lab that stores viruses. That lab is several kilometers away. The video below is by a channel I really like for debunking science conspiracy theories.

Where are you getting that viruses have to adapt to human-to-human transmission? I've never heard that. A respiratory virus that isn't great a human-to-human transmission would almost certainly get overlooked as just a few extra cases of pneumonia or the flu and wouldn't get discovered, so a virus being good at human to human transmission is necessary for us to even be talking about it.

The fact that this virus spreads more easily than SARS is not evidence of any kind of manipulation, it's been warned about as an inevitability that a virus like this would pop up even before Covid. Epidemiologists have said for basically 100 years that an easily transmissible respiratory virus is going to pop up again eventually so we should be prepared.



Great video where he tracks down the origins of conspiracy theories and debunks claims like "it came from a lab".

This post was edited by NetflixAdaptationWidow on Jun 23 2021 10:21am

Which is why I generally agree that censorship is unfair because the people on the short end of the stick are spurred to form their own echo chambers - essentially, the left-leaning orgs become the arbiter of free speech. Personally, it doesn't affect me because my stances don't fall in line with a vast majority with what the conspiracy theorists spew, but I could definitely see why some rational conservatives are flustered for being silenced.

It's unfortunate that your original messaging gets lost in translation due to people like tistuff and darkhead who embellish everything. I still believe popular bad faith acting propagandist should be deplatformed because their talking points like PizzaGate, Covid is a hoax and basically opinions that have no foundation on reality will almost never be conducive to proper discourse and cause demonstrably harm to society.

The Great White Hope DeSantis is one of the only patriots actively fighting against anti-white indoctrination in schools. God bless him for keeping the young white adults' mind safe from corruption.

--------


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation that requires the public universities to survey students and staff about their beliefs.
The surveys purportedly seek to determine the state of "intellectual diversity" on campuses.
DeSantis said campuses that are "hotbeds for stale ideology" are "not worth tax dollars."


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed legislation on Tuesday that will require the state's public colleges and universities to survey students, professors, and staff about their political views in an effort to crack down on intellectual "indoctrination" on campus.

DeSantis, a potential 2024 presidential contender who's closely aligned with former President Donald Trump, threatened to cut funding from state universities if he determines they don't sufficiently promote "intellectual diversity."

The governor said campuses that are "hotbeds for stale ideology" are "not worth tax dollars and that's not something that we're going to be supporting moving forward," during a Tuesday press conference at a Fort Myers middle school.

The annual surveys will assess "viewpoint diversity and intellectual freedom" and determine "the extent to which competing ideas and perspectives are presented" and whether students, professors, and staff "feel free to express beliefs and viewpoints on campus and in the classroom," according to the text of the bill.

The law, which is effective July 1, demands Florida's students "be shown diverse ideas and opinions, including those that they may disagree with or find uncomfortable."

University professors and education experts in Florida have expressed concern that the law will allow the state government to interfere with teaching, politicize faculty hiring, firing, and promotions, and stifle faculty and student speech.

"I worry that this bill will force a fearful self-consciousness that is not as much about learning and debate as about appearances and playing into an outside audience," Cathy Boehme, a researcher at the Florida Education Association, told the Miami Herald in April.

DeSantis said he knows "a lot of parents" are concerned their kids will be "indoctrinated" in college.


"It used to be thought that a university campus was a place where you'd be exposed to a lot of different ideas," the governor said. "Unfortunately, now the norm is really these are more intellectually repressive environments. You have orthodoxies that are promoted and other viewpoints are shunned or even suppressed."

The conservative effort is part of a broader right-wing drive to push back on progressive influences in education. Republican lawmakers across the country are pushing to prohibit the teaching of The New York Times' 1619 Project, about the history of slavery, and critical race theory, both of which have been banned in Florida's public schools.

The governor also signed two other education bills on Tuesday mandating new civics and "patriotism" education requirements in Florida's K-12 schools, including teaching about the "evils" of communist and totalitarian governments.

Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls, a Republican, emphasized at the Tuesday press conference that Florida's kids needs to be taught "about loving America," and "what our real history is and what our legacy is."



This post was edited by kenw on Jun 23 2021 10:42am

If the state is allowed to decide what is bad faith propaganda and what is opinion then you’re giving the state power to censor criticism of itself as propaganda.

I don’t see many left-leaning orgs successfully censoring anyone. Just large corporations.

Media matters and sleeping giants.

Their biggest accomplishments were defending Clinton (who is not a leftist) and getting Tucker Carlson to take a forced vacation

Private companies pulling advertisements from a right-wing opinion show is not leftist censorship

This post was edited by Doggyfood on Jun 23 2021 11:10am

no.