[p2p-research] shots in the dark/p2p article

[Michel Bauwens]

Hi Tomas,

I don't personally think there is "one" vaccine controversy but difference
ones,

the more radical interpretations go against vaccines altogether, and you
could indeed term this a type of denialism, and I think that the evidence
against their claim is substantial,

but other controversies deal with side effects of vaccines, such as
neurological damage linked to autism ...

and then there is the current one against swine flue, shared by many medical
professionals who do not see a dangerous deadly pandemic and hence question
the wisdom of massive vaccination campaigns with untested vaccines for which
liability waivers have been obtained ...

It's dangerous to lump all these various discussions together in one big
lump ...

Michel

On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 4:54 PM, Tomas Rawlings <tom at fluffylogic.net> wrote:

> Hi - before I start I need to state I don't know a lot about the vaccine
> controversy.  However the article posted on the p2p looks a little like
> denialism - while I don't know enough about the vaccine controversy, I have
> been involved in long-running attempts to combat creationism and global
> warming denialism.  Here's a few examples of what I mean:
> - Claims of wikipedia bias - you also find this constantly with creationism
> and global warming denialism.  In my experience there is often a narrative
> that when an argument goes against one side there is a temptation to blame
> the moderators of the platform rather then re-examine the argument itself.
>  That is not to say it does not happen, just to say that such claims need to
> be backed with evidence.  For example the wikipedia page on the foundation
> linked in the p2p article is also in dispute - for the opposite reasons;
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:National_Vaccine_Information_Center
> - Links to 'institutes' with grand sounding names - National Vaccine
> Information Center - sounds like an official body but it is not - it is a
> campaign group - nothing wrong with that except if  they are a campaign,
> they should be honest about it.  Again you find this all the time in global
> warming and creationism, e.g. Biologic Institute - sounds official but is a
> front campaign group for Intelligent Design.
> - For example the article suggests that the mainstream view is incorrect,
> fine, then posts links to the debate, but the p2p article only posts links
> to one side and so looks less like an analysis of this issue and how it has
> gone viral and more like a propaganda article on this issue - which I am
> uncomfortable with.  My concenrn for things like this is they bleed into to
> well documented denialism, of which one of the most potent exposes I have
> read of late is Gen Goldacre on AIDS denialism...
> http://www.wired.co.uk/wired-magazine/archive/2009/06/start/the-man-who-sold-out-medicine.aspx
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> Tomas
>
> -----------------------
> Tomas Rawlings
> Development Director, FluffyLogic Development Ltd.
> web: www.fluffylogic.net
> tel: 0117 9442233 -
> Also see:
> blog on film & interweb: www.plugincinema.com
> blog on p2p, media ecology & evolution: blog.catbot.org
> tweet: www.twitter.com/arclightfire
>
>
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