Posted: Nov 27, 2016 10:41 am
It's not just twaddle, it's dangerous twaddle. It's dangerous because it a) might persuade some policy-makers that HIV & AIDS aren't linked in a causative manner, which could then lead to significant unnecessary suffering & death, and b) the whole paranoid New World Order shit, and claims of government culpability in the AIDS epidemic, undermines our democracy.
Frankly, if you don't give a shit about these things, you're nasty cunt. If you not only don't give a shit but seek to promulgate such nonsense, you're much, much worse. I'd like to think the OP hasn't actually thought too much of the consequences of the shit they've posted, but has simply been caught up in the twisted thinking that goes with these sorts of conspiracy fantasies. But the evidence is clear - Thabo Mbeki was an AIDS denialist, and look at how that worked out for South Africa - the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the world. Jacob Zuma might be a corrupt little shit, but at least the AIDS denialism has ended, and South Africans have some hope of now getting on top of the disease, with proper treatment, not just olive oil, lemon juice & garlic.
It's hard to know quite how to respond to the OP's bollocks - I'm all for free speech, but crying "Fire!" in a crowded theatre, when there is no fire, constitutes a limit on that right, because the rights of others are infringed. Tolerating the crap Firestarter has posted, giving a platform for it, is of a kind, in particular on a site dedicated to rationality & skepticism. I know there's an argument for allowing it, on the basis that people can read the responses that undermine the claim, but it still gives exposure to the claim, and almost treats it as a serious claim (as opposed to a claim with potentially serious consequences for others), and that is far more than it deserves. Personally, I think the correct ethical stance is to refuse to give such shit space on the site. Pseudoscience in healthcare should be an imprisonable offence. Fuck 'em.
Frankly, if you don't give a shit about these things, you're nasty cunt. If you not only don't give a shit but seek to promulgate such nonsense, you're much, much worse. I'd like to think the OP hasn't actually thought too much of the consequences of the shit they've posted, but has simply been caught up in the twisted thinking that goes with these sorts of conspiracy fantasies. But the evidence is clear - Thabo Mbeki was an AIDS denialist, and look at how that worked out for South Africa - the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the world. Jacob Zuma might be a corrupt little shit, but at least the AIDS denialism has ended, and South Africans have some hope of now getting on top of the disease, with proper treatment, not just olive oil, lemon juice & garlic.
It's hard to know quite how to respond to the OP's bollocks - I'm all for free speech, but crying "Fire!" in a crowded theatre, when there is no fire, constitutes a limit on that right, because the rights of others are infringed. Tolerating the crap Firestarter has posted, giving a platform for it, is of a kind, in particular on a site dedicated to rationality & skepticism. I know there's an argument for allowing it, on the basis that people can read the responses that undermine the claim, but it still gives exposure to the claim, and almost treats it as a serious claim (as opposed to a claim with potentially serious consequences for others), and that is far more than it deserves. Personally, I think the correct ethical stance is to refuse to give such shit space on the site. Pseudoscience in healthcare should be an imprisonable offence. Fuck 'em.