Day: January 11, 2016

Interesting Information:

The Real Quacks:

Internet Trolls Attack Anyone Resisting Vaccine Party Line

How many times have you gone to a web site with a title like “Science-Based Medicine” or “Quackwatch” for information?

I would urge some caution as to thinking you are going to find some kind of truth, or even expertise, there.

Take an extra step and try to find out something about who is behind these sites.

For instance, the mainstream press and media in general would have you believe that 99.9% of all doctors and scientists agree that vaccines are safe.  But when you start to list the many doctors and genuine scientists who work in immunology or virology and who do not agree and who are asking questions and calling for adequate research, you can surface one of the internet “trolls” from “science” blogs or web sites who work to disparage your comments and the work of creditable, credentialed, experienced doctors and scientists.  Another term for this process of debunking reasonable people, information, or questions is ASTROTURFING.

Who are these people who are not called trolls?  Let’s take a look.

Here’s a quote from the link below:

Predictably, every time you give the name of a contrarian doctor or scientist in response to the 99.9% figure, what you tend to get is, “Eh, well, he’s a quack, she’s not credible.” Also, you get referred to blogs such as Science-Based Medicine¹ or Respectful Insolence,² or the Skeptical Raptor’s Blog.³ The first two are often written by or associated with a guy named David Gorski, MD, who also goes by the alias “Orac.” Gorski is a surgical oncologist and an assistant professor of surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, MI.⁴ The third is written by Michael Simpson, who goes by the “Skeptical Raptor.”⁵ This is how Simpson describes himself on his blog:

I have over 25 years experience in marketing, business development, and product development in the medical products industry, working in a variety of marketing, sales, clinical research, and product development roles with large and small medical products companies. I have also had key executive roles on both the manufacturing and distribution sides of the medical products industry.³

Should you wish to debunk someone, anyone, who dares to disagree with mainstream thinking on vaccines, all you need do is inform Orac or the Raptor, and either will gladly oblige by writing up a boorish piece, long on insult and short on science. Their methods are painfully predictable. In one piece earlier this year, Raptor criticized a prominent immunologist⁶ who had the nerve to write an open letter on vaccine science to state legislators in California about to vote on a bill eliminating personal belief vaccine exemptions. The piece started out by dismissing the individual’s credentials outright.

Follow the money?

Orac’s defensiveness, in particular, may have something to do with his research on a Sanofi-Aventis drug called Riluzole (Rilutek®),¹⁰ which may well eventually be used to treat autism. Riluzole has been approved for clinical trials (for autism) by the FDA, and one can imagine the money that might be at stake if the drug makes it to market.^11 12 13

And for heaven’s sake note that Simpson IS A SALESMAN, not a scientist.  And let’s also remember that MDs are practitioners, not scientists like immunologists, virilogists, and so forth.  And surgical oncologists have NOTHING TO DO WITH GIVING VACCINES.

So, take a second and take a look at who is saying what and who is paying them to say what.  PULL BACK THE CURTAIN AND TAKE A LOOK AT THE WIZARD BEHIND IT.

Source: Internet Trolls Attack Anyone Resisting Vaccine Party Line