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carolyn kostopoulos's avatar

i wondered about this, especially when the virologists on This Week in Virology (TWIV) got all social justicey and started to proclaim that racial disparities in outcomes were due solely to "systemic racism" and not to other issues. in fact they actually said that the claim of lower vitamin D levels in black people was "egregious."

but i don't recall anyone ever claiming that sickle cell anemia disparities were due to systemic racism. why does that condition get a pass? probably because they can't stretch it's origins, no matter how hard they try, to include american slavery.

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Johnny Dollar's avatar

I don't get scientists who are supposed to be EVIDENCE BASED stick their toes into the abstract social justice realm. It's waaaay past their wheel house.

I stopped listening to TWIV because I sensed they were sympathetic to that nonsense. No time for science that doesn't stick to science and facts.

I will say this. Dr. Racaniello said in May of 2020 pouring money into vaccines was going to be a waste and that investing in anti-virals would have rendered a better return and results.

He saw the likelihood of success was low.

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Jimmy Gleeson's avatar

The very idea that "the science is settled" is anti-scientific. And a lot of these mantras and social justice aspects sound more like a religion, or a cult, than science.

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BeadGurl's avatar

I vote for cult. When you have "scientists" who alter/lie about data (University of East Anglia/IPCC for "global warming"), ignore data (CDC and VAERS reporting) or ghost/gaslight people who ask for accountability and honest, truthful answers - I'd say cult is a good label for these types of people.

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I am not your Other's avatar

I stopped listening to TWIV when they said, "Tony is a great guy."

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Johnny Dollar's avatar

Swell, stand-up guy experimenting on babies and beagles. Clueless people.

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carolyn kostopoulos's avatar

then you probably didn't listen in when the great man did a guest slot on their podcast

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I am not your Other's avatar

omg would rather die than listen to that pos ever again

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carolyn kostopoulos's avatar

i'm not opposed to people going "outside of their wheel house." after all that claim could be leveled at us. surely you've heard this: just shut up and trust the experts. you can't do your own research.

i still listen to TWIV although to a much lesser degree. i find them too smug for words. you'll be happy to know that Racaniello has changed his mind; he now proclaims the vaccines "miracles" of modern science and why we should flood them with unrestricted tax dollars because GOF research will enable the development of more vaccines for viruses we haven't even created (oops, i mean discovered) yet to save the world

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Ali Beebs's avatar

Fun fact: People with sickle cells are less likely to contract malaria. It is thought to be a genetic variation that developed due to prevalence of malaria in many regions of Africa. The slave trade is one way that these African traits ended up in the US. Sickle cell recessive trait is very common in West African adults, but not sickle cell disease. It is speculated that most African children with sickle cell disease do not survive childhood. Black Americans with Sickle Cell have a lower life expectancy, but are more likely to survive childhood

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carolyn kostopoulos's avatar

Yes I know all that but the point is no one says that the reason blacks have more sickle cell anemia than white people is because of systemic racism

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Rosa the Riveted's avatar

Wouldn't that be something? If "scientists" could make a virus more deadly in some races but not others! Racist virus!

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carolyn kostopoulos's avatar

well, that's been suggested and maybe even tried. if they can just make an air borne virus that attacks people with a certain genetic ancestry, then they could target only chinese people or whoever was your enemy du jour.

isn't that sick?

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Ali Beebs's avatar

there were papers early on about how this virus attacked ACE2 receptors, and the variantion of ACE2 receptor expression by race/ethnicity made some groups more vulnerable than others. I'm not saying it's eugenics, but don't discount the possibility that things are engineered to harm some more than others. That said, ACE2 isn't the only pathway for infection, maybe just primary in the original/wild strain

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Rosa the Riveted's avatar

This world is going to shit! Nothing surprises me anymore!

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Ali Beebs's avatar

100% agree. I barely learned anything new during this pandemic, I was just happy to have more company in reality ;-)

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Rosa the Riveted's avatar

Yes! And I had a sneaking suspicion that it was a plan to ruin Trump's presidency! He was actually making America great again! Couldn't let that happen.

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