Category: Critical Thinking
When antivax “died suddenly” conspiracy mongering vultures target a friend and colleague
After SBM suffered the unexpected loss of our co-founder Dr. Harriet Hall last week, we were angered and distressed to see antivaxxers saying that she had "died suddenly" because of COVID-19 vaccines. This dangerous narrative is even more painful when it targets a friend. Dr. Gorski tries to get past his initial anger and explain this dangerous conspiracy theory.
How antivaxxers laid the groundwork to blame COVID-19 vaccines for Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest
Right after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed from a cardiac arrest after a tackle and was resuscitated on the field, antivaxxers immediately pounced, blaming COVID-19 vaccines even as CPR was still continuing. That's because antivaxxers had "primed the pump" over more than a year with stories of young athletes who had supposedly "died suddenly." (Warning: This one's long, even by Gorski...
Quack Quack
Joe Schwarcz's new book Quack Quack is an informative and entertaining look at quackery and pseudoscience past and present. A delightful read.
Tomasz Witkowski Busts More Myths
Tomasz Witkowski has written another book filled with skepticism and critical thinking.
Announcing a New Children’s Book that Promotes Critical Thinking
A new book teaches young children about critical thinking and evidence. It's not only educational but colorful and funny. Too many adults are like Henry, the little boy in the story who rejects clear evidence and persists in what he wants to believe.
Apples, Oranges, and How Not to Analyze a Vaccine RCT
The evidence is overwhelming that COVID vaccines keep people alive and out of the hospital. Only someone who starts with the conclusion that vaccines don't work and then works backwards to find the evidence could claim otherwise.
“Coronaphobia”: How antivaxxers and pandemic minimizers pathologize fear of disease
Over the weekend, Dr. Lucy McBride, a concierge medicine doctor who has become famous as a pandemic minimizer and one of the drivers of "Urgency of Normal", Tweeted an article that she had written over a year ago about "coronaphobia". Whether she understands it or not, this is a very old antivax trope: To pathologize fear of infectious disease as mental illness.
The return of the revenge of “COVID-19 mRNA vaccines permanently alter your DNA” and “lab leak”
Claims that COVID-19 vaccines "permanently alter your DNA" or that SARS-CoV-2 was engineered in a lab were resurrected last week based on two dubious studies. No matter how many times you think these myths have been debunked, they always come back for another installment of the same misinformation franchise.
“Debate me, bro!”: Debate challenges by science deniers in the age of COVID-19
Quacks, science deniers, and conspiracy theorists love to challenge doctors, scientists, and science communicators to "live public debates" over the science they deny. I just say no, and you should say no too if you are in a position to receive such a challenge.
Sex and Racial Bias in Cardiac Care
Sex and racial biases in cardiac care partly reflect cognitive biases that can be corrected with education.