The coronavirus pandemic has brought out a whole slew of interesting human tendencies, including a veritable tsunami of conspiracy theories. Like, holy cow, folks. When did everyone start pulling out their tinfoil hats?
There are several reasons for this, from the emotional and psychological needs that conspiracy theories fulfill (especially during such an uncertain time), to the intellectual habits that enable people to fall prey to such theories.
And of course, there’s always a shred of truth in any conspiracy theory, which pulls people in. But just as a shred of fabric doesn’t make a shirt, a shred of truth in a conspiracy theory doesn’t make it credible or true.
By now, you’ve undoubtedly seen or at least heard about the Plandemic video making the rounds. YouTube keeps taking it down because of its policy against spreading harmful misinformation about the coronavirus, but that of course just fuels the fire of conspiracy theorists who think the truth is being silenced. The good news is that the claims in the video have been debunked many times over at this point. The bad news is that the people who need to see these debunkings have probably not even read this far into the article, and are definitely not going to take the time to read and process what we share past this point.
But we’re gonna go ahead and share these well-cited debunkings anyway, because facts matter, sources matter, not all opinions are equal, and we can’t keep letting paranoid theories that don’t hold up to scrutiny and can’t be backed up with well-done science go unchecked.
(And yes, there is such a thing as well-done science. The scientific world has spent many, many decades improving and systematizing processes for checking data, replicating studies, peer-reviewing findings, etc. so that we have a good idea of what science we can trust and what science is not credible. The only way to refute well-done science is to toss the entire systematized scientific process out the window and instead listen to random individual scientists who refuse to accept that their work was shoddy. Not all scientists are credible, and if a scientist is publishing their opinion outside of the scientific community—especially via YouTube—you should immediately be skeptical and look for whether or not their claims have been debunked by well-done science.)
Case in point, Judy Mikovitz, the scientist at the forefront of the Plandemic video.
Since there are so many clear refutations of the claims in that video and there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, we’re just going to share a bunch of them with you. Off we go:
– Here’s an explanation from a microbiologist (see her credentials here) who outlines some of the most blatantly wrong things in the Plandemic video with links to back her up:
– Here’s an explanation of the difference between a scientific theory and a conspiracy theory, for those who think that the conspiracy theories are using science as their basis:
– Here’s a Snopes piece that details the issues with Judy Mikovitz’s research and history and why she is no way a credible source. (It’s worth noting that this was written in 2018, long before the pandemic. This woman has been discredited in the scientific world for years.)
– And here’s another Snopes piece about the issues with the chiropractor in the video who advocates drinking tonic water as a way to prevent coronavirus.
(I realize that most conspiracy theorists don’t trust Snopes because…well…they think the site is part of a liberal conspiracy. But the Snopes debunkings include links to reputable sources to back up their facts checks, so if the conspiracy theorists really look at everything and think critically like they claim to do, they have to look at the information and sources claiming to debunk their theories. Then they have to either refute them with actual science from reputable sources or admit that they have no credible basis for their beliefs.)
– Here’s an article I wrote about how medical associations as well as statistical experts have condemned the Bakersfield doctors shown in the video (which is a bit unnecessary since the docs issued a public statement condemned the Plandemic filmmakers for using footage of them anyway).
– Here’s a decently thorough debunking by surgical oncologist David Gorski.
– Here’s a very thorough explanation of the Plandemic erroneousness on Reddit, where you can also see discussion on the video and the debunking (for those of you who say, “Let’s at least have a debate!” about already thoroughly debunked claims—here’s where you can have at it.)
– If you prefer doctors on YouTube sharing their professional opinions on all things pandemic—which seems to be the favorite method for conspiracy theorists to do “research”—here’s a doctor who explains a bit about the psychology of the Plandemic video and also explains the shoddy research behind it.
“Plandemic” Video Analysis | Did Judy Mikovits Connect the Dots?
www.youtube.com
– This final one from Stanford-trained physician Dr. Zubin Damania might be just be my favorite (but only after reading everything above for the facts). For those of us who are trying not to lose our minds over having to continually fact-check all of this misinformation for people who really should be able to do it themselves, this 3-and-a-half minutes is quite cathartic. Enjoy.
A Doctor Reacts To “Plandemic”
www.youtube.com
Bottom line: The video is bunk, but conspiracy theorists will keep on insisting that it’s not. (Wake up! You’re all sheep following the mainstream media! Experts who provide data backed up by multiple peer-reviewed studies can’t be trusted! Individual doctors and scientists are more trustworthy than professional associations of thousands of doctors and scientists! Everyone is getting paid off, except these conspiracy theory pushers because I trust them because they say they’re being persecuted by the science community for no reason and that sounds totally legit! And maybe the earth really IS flat—scientists have been wrong before!)
Did I miss anything?