
Conspiracy Theories, Denial, and the Coronavirus - fortran77
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/conspiracy-theories-denial-and-the-coronavirus
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9nGQluzmnq3M
[http://archive.is/x5qgg](http://archive.is/x5qgg)

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082349872349872
> "The glorification of convicted war criminals, the denial of genocide and
> war crimes, and bitter disputes around conflicting commemorations all create
> an environment of perpetual division that is gradually becoming the norm."

Taking the specific example of (as it was then) yugoslavia, an environment of
freshly perpetual division (stoked in those times mainly by radio and TV) was
what started the bloodshed.

I know refugees whose conspiracy theory is that that division had been helped
by outside forces. I think they're optimists, and Solzhenitsyn called it more
accurately:

> “If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds,
> and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy
> them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every
> human being."

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23613311](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23613311)

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henriquez
How can you really argue with the thesis that anyone who argues with the
thesis is a denialist and a conspiracy theorist?

It takes a special kind of elitism to assume a conclusion from an unposed
argument as a premise for an opinion piece likening public policy
disagreements to genocide, all the while with no sense of irony hand-wringing
about partisan media outlets and institutional decay.

People like this author are exactly why the tenor of our national discourse
has gone off the rails into crazy territory. Well-traveled, well-educated and
blinded by their own arrogance.

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panpanna
If you have a thesis that goes against well established facts and you meet
that by not re-evaluating your stance but by blaming the media for not
supporting your altered facts, then yes you are a conspiracy theorist.

I don't see where "elitism" comes in here. When you are wrong, you are wrong.

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EliRivers
It seems that reality (that is, the narrative of events supported by facts and
evidence, the things that actually happened) and truth are no longer the same.

As Henriquez inadvertently makes clear, he doesn't need to address the facts.
He can simply say that his course of events is just as valid as that of the
"elites", with their "evidence" and "facts". He can (and does) dress it up
with bullshit wordy adjectives, and he can (and does) make it somehow not even
_about_ the facts, not even _about_ reality, but instead about some kind of
weird fucked up culture war. You'll note he doesn't mention facts even once;
the very idea of evidence isn't present. Those who deal in fact, the people he
rails against, are powerless when people ascribe zero weight to those facts.

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henriquez
I have not denied any facts or reality, yet you attack personally while
missing my point. Here, to clarify:

1\. Does the coronavirus pandemic exist? Yes.

2\. Has it killed a lot of people? Obviously.

My point is that how we respond to that threat is a public policy debate. The
author of this piece doesn’t make his position clear or offer evidence either,
instead he simply compares disagreement with his preferred consensus to a
genocide and related coverup, all the while drawing parallels to “some kind of
weird fucked up culture war” (as you put it) and vaguely posing the “how did
we even come to this” drama trope.

“disagreement == genocide”; statements like that are how we’ve come to this
and why we face the institutional decay the author decries.

TFA is arguing in bad faith pure and simple. That’s why facts aren’t relevant
here, not to be confused with facts don’t matter. Facts matter, but you don’t
argue with [not an argument].

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EliRivers
Genuine question; did that atrocity happen? Was it real? I know what I think,
but maybe you disagree.

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henriquez
You’re asking if I believe in genocide against Muslims?

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EliRivers
I guess your refusal to actually answer that straight, simple question says it
all.

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henriquez
I was just trying to clarify your actual question after spending two posts
explaining why genocide is not relevant to U.S. public policy (or at least how
this particular article fails to establish so).

To answer, I wasn’t there, I don’t know but based on the information available
I assume it _did_ happen.

