Is it the most likely scenario or just the latest wave of anti China propaganda?
How do you explain China not cooperating with international investigators?
Why should we trust them if they weren't being transparent?
Why are you quick to trust and defend the nation that isn't cooperating or being transparent?
China dont cooperate with anybody about anything.
Both. It originated in a city with a lab doing gain-of-function research on coronaviruses. I’m not claiming that’s definitely where it came from - but it’s quite the coincidence, to say the least.
And there’s nothing wrong with anti-China propaganda as long as it’s aimed at the authoritarian government, not the people living under it. That regime deserves every bit of it.
“But what about the US this and the UK that?!” Yeah - they deserve it too.
And there’s nothing wrong with anti-China propaganda as long as it’s aimed at the authoritarian government, not the people living under it. That regime deserves every bit of it.
I love the perfect circularity of the reasoning here.
There’s nothing circular in what I said. I made a conditional claim: propaganda aimed at the regime, not the people, is justified when that regime is authoritarian. That’s not “assuming the conclusion” - it’s stating a position based on a distinction you seem eager to ignore. Disagree with it if you want, but at least engage with the actual logic.
"It's ok to deliberately spread defamatory misinformation about China to make them look bad, because they are bad! No, I have not examined how I came to that conclusion, why do you ask?"
Do you also make this argument for Russian propaganda?
Wasn't the wet market the most likely scenario
No.
You tout science, but you've cited an NPR interview where the conclusion you call "most likely" is described by issuing agencies as "low confidence." That doesn't make it seem "most likely" at all. What is most likely is that we don't have enough information to draw a definitive conclusion, so being judgemental about it might be hasty and hypocritical. The NPR interview also states that we don't know where the intelligence is coming from, so criticizing China for not being transparent but ignoring the secrecy of the intelligence agencies is a double standard.
The other source is a video from Ken LaCorte, who is a former Fox News executive who killed a legitimate Trump and Stormy Daniels story that turned out to be true, so his credibility is questionable on top of the fact he ran competing US political partisan websites and hired Macedonian teenagers to write the content to stir up contention.
You claim to never trust the media, but you're trusting a known manipulative media executive.
A better question is why the origin story matters so much to you. Does it change the need for masking or quarantines or vaccines in your opinion? If China came out and said it was a lab leak, how would it affect your life in a fundamental way?
People get banned on social media for legitimate and illegitimate reasons every day. This is a weird hill to die on.
Is that actually happening though? Last I checked people were seemingly free to spread all kinds of Covid misinformation on social media.
I'm not sure where you 'checked,' but major social media websites would routinely ban people for spreading what they deemed to be 'misinformation' surrounding covid. This included the idea that it originated from a lab in China. They would also classify it as racist bigotry.
It's not a point of contention.
Sites like Facebook and Youtube went absolutely wild with "Covid hoax" bullshit during the pandemic. Spawned an entire popular movement in my country, who went to the street protesting against the protective measures.
Let me just get this straight.
Do you think major social media websites did not ban people for saying Covid originated from a lab in China? A simple yes or no will suffice.
Dunno. Bans and their reasons are not public record. But they definitely don't ban all of them. Funnily enough, you've just proven that yourself further down, by linking to a youtube video arguing for the lab theory.
A well-researched video for a user that asked for sources. If you're going to assume it's immediately incorrect because it's a youtube video, then that says more about you than it does about me.
Also, good job avoiding giving a definitive answer to a question that should be common knowledge. It shows that you're ashamed to admit the truth because it doesn't support what you want to believe.
I'm not going to discuss with you any further since you are not discussing in good faith. Goodbye.
A well-researched video for a user that asked for sources. If you’re going to assume it’s immediately incorrect because it’s a youtube video, then that says more about you than it does about me.
I haven't said anything about it being incorrect or correct. What I'm saying is that guy clearly wasn't banned for posting it. I have no strong feelings either way about the lab theory.
Also, good job avoiding giving a definitive answer to a question that should be common knowledge.
Where would you get that "common knowledge" from? Like I said, ban records aren't public.
Even IF that turns out to be the truth, that just means that the people yelling about China in 2020 happened to be right out of sheer coincidence, like a broken clock. They didn't come to that conclusion through science / critical thinking but xenophobia.
Science should always be open to criticism.
Science is not "moderators on social media".
Yeah, sure, xenophobia. When a virus that looks very much like something that's created to maximise spreading appears and it happens to originate in a city which has a virus studying lab, somehow putting 2 and 2 together equals xenophobia.
I've been saying that back in 2020 and not because of some xenophobia you try project on everyone.
In one corner, tens of thousands of experts whose job is to understand and protect.
In the other corner, a known media manipulating political figure.
People are calling bullshit. Naturally. Places with a shred of responsibility will of course remove harmful lies.
As a person who's completely uninformed on the aspects of the subject you are discussing, would you share some links to information that you think is credible so I may inform myself?
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/27/1159630271/energy-department-assessment-low-confidence-china-lab-leak
Here's a well-researched video that you can watch to get background and verify any information you might be unsure of by checking his sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rZmcTdQw98
When a scientific says low confidence it means no.
At university when doing science we are taught the hard way that a result without units nor uncertainties is wrong, I had professor suppressing half of the point simply for that, even all the rest was correct. It sounds hard when being a student but actually untertainties/confidence index are what scientists care about
Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu