Edit: after typing all of this, I re-read your comment and realized I simply argued your point for you further. Initially misread.
luckily it’s not very subtle and rarely hard to spot.
The abrasive propaganda that’s easy to spot, sure. But I’m positive that’s a minority of if unless you’re hyper vigilant in which case you’re also going to have a ton of false positives.
Now to preface this next bit. I don’t categorize myself politically. I’m very open to many different viewpoints but I saw Trump winning as a very dangerous thing, so some people would call me liberal, although plenty of liberals have called me a conservative in the past. I’m pro-choice, but I can understand that many really do see it as murder. I’ve had insults from all across the spectrum accusing me of fitting nicely into a box.
The first example of a western media type of propaganda that comes to mind in America-centric media is how the COVID lab leak theory was so heavily associated and linked with the far-right and discredited that even when the Department of Energy (they handle nuclear secrecy and many other things) and other official agencies released their assessments earlier this year that said the lab leak theory is the most likely by far, few seemed to believe it and not many news networks reported on it longer than a day, if that. And, since scientists work in provable facts and China hid the initial infections for over a month, even though they studied all the data and said it’s the most likely theory, they said they had “low confidence” in that assessment, because you can’t go back into the past and investigate things that are now covered up. Many if not most virologists who specialize in coronaviruses extensively now say that coronavirus jumping from an animal to a human with the highly-contagious specific modifications it had for binding to the specific receptor say it’s highly unlikely that it occured naturally in the wild. We (including American and other western scientists) went searching in caves and forests for many months for any mammals that had a previous version of the specific mutation that led to COVID-19 before it jumped to humans. No animal coronavirus with that precursor mutation has ever been found.
We now know that at least 3 people who were working at the Wuhan Institute of Virology where gain-of-function research was being done (in a level 2 lab – only medium security, if I recall correctly - think gloves, masks, change of outfit… no serious sanitization) were hospitalized for COVID symptoms a month before the first infected masses started showing up to hospitals with covid symptoms. The 3 scientists tested negative for everything they tested them for.
But the majority of people will still tell you it was caused by a wet market infected animal, and if you bring up the evidence and official opinion that it was a lab leak they will fight you on it and make up excuses.
Whether it’s a case of political bias, or self-censorship for fear of repercussions of subscriber numbers, or a message came from the top of the networks, it was a very effective campaign of propaganda. Even though it would be beneficial for the “China is incompetent, and dangerous, and we need to spend as much as we can to protect ourselves from them” narrative the DoD has been pushing (true as it may (or may not, I’m not an expert in geopolitics) - the majority of major news networks decided to brush it under the rug.
Also consider that you’re arguing from high grounds.
While we will read/hear/agree majorly about the true origin of COVID eventually, in places like Russia there’s no open discourse ever or discussing sensitive topics is dangerous and almost only happens between closely related people behind closed doors. There is almost no development of public opinion beyond closed online discussions outside of echo chambers.
If the USSR would still exist, russians & east germans would still believe that AIDS/HIV was manufactured by the USA although even the worst critcis of the US have agreed on proof, that it must have developed outside of labs.
Links out of order but are the sources. I’m short on time right now. You’ll notice the US IC still thinks it was not a lab leak, while the FBI and DoE think it is from their research, but China won’t cooperate in the investigation of the source of COVID-19 so that makes things hard… Biden is attempting to get the IC to declassify and release their info about the origins. Right after the reports from DoE and FBI, China released data showing it appeared to come from wet markets again. I’m happy to be proven wrong but my understanding from people discussing the experts is that the lab leak theory is most likely. The article about the toxic debate is full of info and I believe newest iirc.
Although the evidence shows that SARS-CoV-2 is not a purposefully manipulated virus, it is currently impossible to prove or disprove the other theories of its origin described here
In your linked WHO report:
Assessment of likelihood
In view of the above, a laboratory origin of the pandemic was considered to be extremely unlikely.
In your FBI article which blames China lab with no evidence:
Many scientists point out there is no evidence that it leaked from a lab.
And other US government agencies have drawn differing conclusions to the FBI’s.
Why did you even link a news article citing Energy Dept. making the accusation with, by their own words, “low confidence”?
I’m happy to be proven wrong but my understanding from people discussing the experts is that the lab leak theory is most likely
Your own evidence argues against your point. Your understanding is wrong. Scientists will ofc hedge and say the probability it was an accidental release from the Wuhan lab is ‘not zero’, but this is what being precise with language and honest looks like. It does not mean they believe it is actually what happened or that it is even likely. There is no actual evidence to suggest it was an accidental release, and even less that it was engineered.
Biologists know that as the population of the planet increases so too will the occurrence of pandemics. Just look at the last century or so: Spanish flu, Hong Kong Flu, Bird Flu, Aids, Bubonic Plague. Look earlier than the 1700s and you get 1 pandemic a century at most.
;tldr get used to it and stop believing conspiracy theories on something that is going to be a regular occurrence.
Edit: after typing all of this, I re-read your comment and realized I simply argued your point for you further. Initially misread.
The abrasive propaganda that’s easy to spot, sure. But I’m positive that’s a minority of if unless you’re hyper vigilant in which case you’re also going to have a ton of false positives.
Now to preface this next bit. I don’t categorize myself politically. I’m very open to many different viewpoints but I saw Trump winning as a very dangerous thing, so some people would call me liberal, although plenty of liberals have called me a conservative in the past. I’m pro-choice, but I can understand that many really do see it as murder. I’ve had insults from all across the spectrum accusing me of fitting nicely into a box.
The first example of a western media type of propaganda that comes to mind in America-centric media is how the COVID lab leak theory was so heavily associated and linked with the far-right and discredited that even when the Department of Energy (they handle nuclear secrecy and many other things) and other official agencies released their assessments earlier this year that said the lab leak theory is the most likely by far, few seemed to believe it and not many news networks reported on it longer than a day, if that. And, since scientists work in provable facts and China hid the initial infections for over a month, even though they studied all the data and said it’s the most likely theory, they said they had “low confidence” in that assessment, because you can’t go back into the past and investigate things that are now covered up. Many if not most virologists who specialize in coronaviruses extensively now say that coronavirus jumping from an animal to a human with the highly-contagious specific modifications it had for binding to the specific receptor say it’s highly unlikely that it occured naturally in the wild. We (including American and other western scientists) went searching in caves and forests for many months for any mammals that had a previous version of the specific mutation that led to COVID-19 before it jumped to humans. No animal coronavirus with that precursor mutation has ever been found.
We now know that at least 3 people who were working at the Wuhan Institute of Virology where gain-of-function research was being done (in a level 2 lab – only medium security, if I recall correctly - think gloves, masks, change of outfit… no serious sanitization) were hospitalized for COVID symptoms a month before the first infected masses started showing up to hospitals with covid symptoms. The 3 scientists tested negative for everything they tested them for.
But the majority of people will still tell you it was caused by a wet market infected animal, and if you bring up the evidence and official opinion that it was a lab leak they will fight you on it and make up excuses.
Whether it’s a case of political bias, or self-censorship for fear of repercussions of subscriber numbers, or a message came from the top of the networks, it was a very effective campaign of propaganda. Even though it would be beneficial for the “China is incompetent, and dangerous, and we need to spend as much as we can to protect ourselves from them” narrative the DoD has been pushing (true as it may (or may not, I’m not an expert in geopolitics) - the majority of major news networks decided to brush it under the rug.
Also consider that you’re arguing from high grounds.
While we will read/hear/agree majorly about the true origin of COVID eventually, in places like Russia there’s no open discourse ever or discussing sensitive topics is dangerous and almost only happens between closely related people behind closed doors. There is almost no development of public opinion beyond closed online discussions outside of echo chambers.
If the USSR would still exist, russians & east germans would still believe that AIDS/HIV was manufactured by the USA although even the worst critcis of the US have agreed on proof, that it must have developed outside of labs.
All good points.
Cite your sources please.
Links out of order but are the sources. I’m short on time right now. You’ll notice the US IC still thinks it was not a lab leak, while the FBI and DoE think it is from their research, but China won’t cooperate in the investigation of the source of COVID-19 so that makes things hard… Biden is attempting to get the IC to declassify and release their info about the origins. Right after the reports from DoE and FBI, China released data showing it appeared to come from wet markets again. I’m happy to be proven wrong but my understanding from people discussing the experts is that the lab leak theory is most likely. The article about the toxic debate is full of info and I believe newest iirc.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/origins-of-the-virus
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/27/1159630271/energy-department-assessment-low-confidence-china-lab-leak
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64806903
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/21/newly-released-chinese-covid-data-infected-animals-wuhan
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64819965.amp
In your linked Nature study:
In your linked WHO report:
In your FBI article which blames China lab with no evidence:
Why did you even link a news article citing Energy Dept. making the accusation with, by their own words, “low confidence”?
Your own evidence argues against your point. Your understanding is wrong. Scientists will ofc hedge and say the probability it was an accidental release from the Wuhan lab is ‘not zero’, but this is what being precise with language and honest looks like. It does not mean they believe it is actually what happened or that it is even likely. There is no actual evidence to suggest it was an accidental release, and even less that it was engineered.
Biologists know that as the population of the planet increases so too will the occurrence of pandemics. Just look at the last century or so: Spanish flu, Hong Kong Flu, Bird Flu, Aids, Bubonic Plague. Look earlier than the 1700s and you get 1 pandemic a century at most.
;tldr get used to it and stop believing conspiracy theories on something that is going to be a regular occurrence.
Thanks for actually reading the links and posting this