Hey can we talk for a moment that some conman (former) doctor started up some ableist crap to sell a medical product?
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(TITLE FROM REDDIT r/HistoryMemes)
The whole situation is so cuckoo. Wakefield performed colonoscopies on the kids, something you absolutely shouldn't do unless there's a very valid reason and all other options have been exhausted, because their bodies are small and the equipment could seriously hurt them, which if I remember correctly did happen to at least one of the kids. Most of the kids in his study, y'know about how MMR vaccines cause autism, didn't actually have autism (or bowel issues for that matter)! He was commissioned to make this lying study by some sketchy lawyer guy. So he lied and lied and lied to get rich and now idiots are regurgitating his talking points.
People who don't have the intellectual tools to notice when they're reading bullshit and then go apeshit to defend it are a big problem, generally speaking, in all domains (and I can't even say anybody's fully immune to this). And some are very skilled speakers so you need to sit down and take each sentence apart to see the bull. Fake news and fake science have bright ays afraid of them.
Yeah. Not to group him in with anti-vaxxers, but Benny Shapiro is really good at this. He talks fast and has a very high BSPM (bullshit per minute) ratio, so to effectively debunk him you have to take his speech apart and fact check it thoroughly. Which of course is not something you can do on the go, hence why he's so successful at debating.
No worries, I understand the not amalgamating, yet recognizing (hopefully not intentional) miscommunication.
I haven't listened to the guy (maybe I should, because it's not the first time I hear this) but I've gotten a taste of a few who match this description... generally speaking when people achieve a guru-like status with a following that drink up everything they say, I think it's good to plug in my antennae extra hard. It's also psychologically super interesting.
Yes! Gurus and cult leaders especially are super interesting because it's all this stuff we've talked about but to the absolute extreme. It's really interesting to see how they keep their "flock" in line, all the mind games and tactics. And yeah maybe it's a bit macabre of me to be so fascinated by this, seeing as the situations are often really messed up, but it's just fascinating from an anthropological perspective.
Edit: oh and if you want a good intro to Ben Shapiro, as well as to have a laugh, I'd recommend you watch his interview with Andrew Neil on the BBC.
Thank you, that was so embarrassing I felt I wasn't giving him a fair start in my mind but at the same time he fully brought that upon himself. I like how he said afterwards "I wasn't prepared", I'd say so too, but who goes to talk about his book without preparing first?
Because he's speaking fast and English is not my first language, I really need to focus to not get caught in it. I don't think I spotted all the fallacies but between the ones I got, the overly emotional reaction and blatant "non-truths" (cos I don't know if he was lying or just mistaken) it's a great exercise in intellectual self-defense. The fun thing is, I'm neither strongly for nor against his ideas, he just doesn't discuss them fairly.
I get the fascination, I think knowing what makes an unfair debate is good to build a toolkit that'll allow us to not get trapped in it, and also argue correctly when we're discussing.
Ahaha yeah, it sure wasn't his strongest moment. But tbh he's at his strongest when he argues with college students who have no debate experience, because he can keep his BS flowing and nobody will call him out.
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(TITLE FROM REDDIT r/HistoryMemes)
I haven't listened to the guy (maybe I should, because it's not the first time I hear this) but I've gotten a taste of a few who match this description... generally speaking when people achieve a guru-like status with a following that drink up everything they say, I think it's good to plug in my antennae extra hard. It's also psychologically super interesting.
Edit: oh and if you want a good intro to Ben Shapiro, as well as to have a laugh, I'd recommend you watch his interview with Andrew Neil on the BBC.
Because he's speaking fast and English is not my first language, I really need to focus to not get caught in it. I don't think I spotted all the fallacies but between the ones I got, the overly emotional reaction and blatant "non-truths" (cos I don't know if he was lying or just mistaken) it's a great exercise in intellectual self-defense. The fun thing is, I'm neither strongly for nor against his ideas, he just doesn't discuss them fairly.
I get the fascination, I think knowing what makes an unfair debate is good to build a toolkit that'll allow us to not get trapped in it, and also argue correctly when we're discussing.