
The Deadly Stupidities Around Ebola - ColinCochrane
http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/09/26/the_deadly_stupidities_around_ebola.php
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mlichtenstern
I can appreciate your frustration, but when you look at the history of things
like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study or read a book like "The Immortal Life of
Henrietta Lacks" the distrust becomes more understandable. As per the RFS
biotec comments
([http://www.ycombinator.com/rfs/](http://www.ycombinator.com/rfs/)), and
given the expressed intent of certain groups to develop the ability to
annihilate entire ethnic groups, the fears are not unfounded. Consider how
many still fervantly endorse Darwinism. Consider this quote from his popular
book (the title of which is often truncated):

"On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation
of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life"

“At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the
civilised races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace
throughout the world the savage races. At the same time the anthropomorphous
apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked, will no doubt be exterminated.
The break will then be rendered wider, for it will intervene between man in a
more civilised state as we may hope, than the Caucasian and some ape as low as
a baboon, instead of as at present between the negro or Australian and the
gorilla.”

~~~
swombat
Quoting that without the historical follow-up (namely, the experience of
eugenics in the first half of the 20th Century, culminating in the
extermination of the Jews by Nazi Germany, which is widely regarded as one of
the most shameful chapters in human history) is dishonest to say the least.
Many great thinkers made errors in their thinking. You can take the good
without taking the bad - and you certainly know that.

~~~
maxerickson
It took longer than that for the lesson to sink in:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_sterilization)

And it hasn't completely stopped.

~~~
mlichtenstern
Very true...I've read quite a few new reports about it recently, particularly
in prisons. I've also met and interviewed women who were given unnecessary
hysterectomies. In one case, the woman saw her doctor on a news program saying
that unmarried Black women should be sterilized. She immediately drove to his
office and found it abandoned.

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vfclists
Here comes another drop in my HN points.

The simple truth is that there is no explanation of how the Zaire variant of
Ebola arrived in West Africa, travelling over a 1500 miles without any
outbreaks between.

Last time I checked not a single animal, bat or otherwise, in the area of the
outbreak has been found infected the Ebola virus since the beginning of the
outbreak. There is simply no evidence of Ebola having been transmitted from an
animal to a human being in West Africa or Central Africa for the 40 years the
virus has been known, yet the media runs on and on about 'bush meat' (which is
a derogatory term for meat obtained by hunting or trapping), deforestation and
other nonsensical theories about how Ebola emerged there.

Coming to the term 'bush meat' when a Westerner hunts deer, ducks or grouse is
it called 'bush meat'? This only shows the kind of snide, racist, innuendo
towards Africa and really hints an agenda to manufacture an unsubstantiated
source of Ebola in the mind of uninformed Westerners.

Shouldn't science be based on hard evidence rather than speculation? Ebola so
far has been transmitted from human to human, meaning that a human must be the
original source of Ebola. This is what science is supposed to mean, based on
facts and evidence. So it raises the question who is patient zero, and how and
where did they get and infected?

Prior to any outbreak the only places where Ebola can be found is in drug
manufacturers and other biological laboratories, so why the surprise at
conspiracy theories?

Then again there comes another question? Why Africa?

The amount of unexplored Amazonian rainforest is way larger than that in West
Africa, why haven't any Ebola style outbreaks occurred there, or in areas like
Indonesia, New Guinea and Malaysia?

Claims which cause people to avoid sources of treatment are not helpful in
these circumstances, but with so called foreign assistance being the source of
cholera in Haiti, which should anyone be surprised at conspiracy theories?

~~~
gibbitz
There are strains from the phillipines and virginia. Check Wikipedia.

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swombat
Umm, and why exactly does the Delaware State University tolerate this sort of
behaviour? It's unconscionable that they don't fire this ass-hat immediately,
for causing thousands of unnecessary deaths through idiocy.

~~~
vfclists
Have you studied the evidence he uses to support his claims before calling for
his dismissal?

I suppose you don't realize that his being fired will only cause the reasons
for his claim to be studied more carefully and even strengthen the case he is
making.

~~~
A_COMPUTER
Have you read his piece? It's a random mishmash of accusations and conspiracy
theory. It doesn't have anything to do with his field of expertise nor does he
seem to have any reason to have special knowledge of the things he claims. The
only thing he mentions that could be investigated to see if it has a
connection is a clinical trial in January for Ebola treatment (NCT02041715)
that seems to immediately predate the epidemic.

