Jun 6, 2024 05:29 PM
Damned in Amsterdam: A Bizarre Deplatforming
https://quillette.com/2024/06/04/damned-...atforming/
EXCERPTS (Jerry Coyne & Maarten Boudry): Like being struck by lightning, getting deplatformed—first invited to speak and then disinvited for your political views—is something you assume happens only to other people. But, unlike a lightning strike, it’s not a rare occurrence. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)’s “campus deplatforming database” of US universities lists 626 successful deplatforming attempts since 1998. This year alone, there have already been 110 attempts to cancel talks, most involving speakers sympathetic to Israel. Neither of us, however, had ever personally experienced this kind of cancellation before.
[...] In the end, it was clear that the real reason for our cancellation had more to do with our support for Israel than with safety, which the university could easily have guaranteed. But all was not lost: the three-person conversation about “The Ideological Subversion of Biology” was eventually recorded behind closed doors at a private location in Amsterdam and can be viewed here. Since Betabreak wasn’t planning to record the discussion, one unexpected benefit of being deplatformed is that we will now hopefully reach a much wider audience (an instance of the Streisand Effect)..... (MORE - missing details)
Vaccines don’t cause autism, but the lie won’t die—in fact, it’s getting worse
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/06/...ing-worse/
EXCERPTS: For years, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has bluntly stated the truth: "Vaccines do not cause autism," the agency affirms on its website. Yet, nearly a quarter of Americans still don't believe it. ... In all, it's a bleak finding that bodes poorly for the collective health of Americans, who are now seeing rises in cases of measles and other vaccine-preventable illnesses. ... The APPC tied the false beliefs to the retracted 1998 Lancet paper by notorious anti-vaccine advocate Andrew Wakefield. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has only stoked vaccine misinformation and more anti-vaccine rhetoric... (MORE - missing details)
https://quillette.com/2024/06/04/damned-...atforming/
EXCERPTS (Jerry Coyne & Maarten Boudry): Like being struck by lightning, getting deplatformed—first invited to speak and then disinvited for your political views—is something you assume happens only to other people. But, unlike a lightning strike, it’s not a rare occurrence. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)’s “campus deplatforming database” of US universities lists 626 successful deplatforming attempts since 1998. This year alone, there have already been 110 attempts to cancel talks, most involving speakers sympathetic to Israel. Neither of us, however, had ever personally experienced this kind of cancellation before.
[...] In the end, it was clear that the real reason for our cancellation had more to do with our support for Israel than with safety, which the university could easily have guaranteed. But all was not lost: the three-person conversation about “The Ideological Subversion of Biology” was eventually recorded behind closed doors at a private location in Amsterdam and can be viewed here. Since Betabreak wasn’t planning to record the discussion, one unexpected benefit of being deplatformed is that we will now hopefully reach a much wider audience (an instance of the Streisand Effect)..... (MORE - missing details)
Vaccines don’t cause autism, but the lie won’t die—in fact, it’s getting worse
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/06/...ing-worse/
EXCERPTS: For years, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has bluntly stated the truth: "Vaccines do not cause autism," the agency affirms on its website. Yet, nearly a quarter of Americans still don't believe it. ... In all, it's a bleak finding that bodes poorly for the collective health of Americans, who are now seeing rises in cases of measles and other vaccine-preventable illnesses. ... The APPC tied the false beliefs to the retracted 1998 Lancet paper by notorious anti-vaccine advocate Andrew Wakefield. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has only stoked vaccine misinformation and more anti-vaccine rhetoric... (MORE - missing details)