It should come as no surprise to you that social media can be hijacked by shrill and ignorant mobs. Or that large companies will gladly pander to the loudest and dumbest market segment.
Which, more or less, explains Facebook deciding last week to take down a page that took the anti-science hysterics to task, as well as the snake-oil salesmen who profit from the gullibility of the ignorant.
WE LOVE GMOS AND VACCINES
[https://www.facebook.com/welovegv/?fref=nf]
In a nutshell, WLGAV got trollswatted. Facebook, guided by ignorance and arrogance combined, paid heed.
And erased everything.
Fortunately the rationalistic roars of outrage by members of the scientific and medical communities eventually forced Facebook to reconsider and the page is now back up.
For an overview of the response let's head over to The Genetic Literacy Project, which is not likely to be taken down by Facebook hypocrisy.
Science communicators condemn Facebook’s censorship of pro-science “We Love GMOs and Vaccines”
Quote:
"The Facebook page for We Love GMOs and Vaccines, which covers the most notorious anti-science movements, suffered yet another activist swarm attack in which anti-vaxxers and campaigners against GM technology coordinated a large number of complaints in order get Facebook to shut the page down."
End quote.
Quote:
"While operatives like natural product quack salesman Joseph Mercola or Gary Ruskin, head of the US Right to Know–the organic industry financed site that seeks to malign the credibility of mainstream scientists–may feel their standing, book sales and sponsorship agreements are threatened by people who disagree with them and their narrow-minded worldview, willingly shutting down contrarian sites and social media pages is far from democratic. Do we really want to live in a world where we are all forced to listen to their views, and only them?"
End quote.
It is disgusting and shameful that Facebook caved in to the con-artists and fanatics, without even considering that they thus might be responsible for the spread of dangerous nonsense.
Fortunately they eventually realized their error.
People should feel free to experiment with lemon-ginger-cayenne drinks, garlic suppositories for whichever nether orifice, Himalayan salt, crystal healing, aromatherapy, re-birthing, and other equally berserk new-age crap, but when they try to pass it off as therapeutic, or having any validity, it is only right that someone call them on their bullshit.
A person's stupidity should only endanger one person.
Not their fellow man.
By the way: Organic food is largely a huge waste of money, and absolutely no healthier than the normal produce you buy in the supermarket.
Homeopathy is a load of codswallop.
And vaccination saves lives.
Marijuana tampons?
Good lord!
Emergency Rooms across the country are a testament to the failures of alternative medicine and dietary idiocy.
==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
THE MACHINE LIVES
Surely everyone is pleasantly surprised that the SF Police have identified one of the people who torched a driverless taxi vehicle (Waymo) b...
5 comments:
How about nicotine tampons? Would you be interested in wearing one?
Not even as a piece of punk jewelry.
And marijuana tampons already exist. They're "therapeutic", or something, and are alleged to alleviate menstrual discomfort.
But why not nicotine? Nice clean civilized drug.
Nicotine is quite secondary to the pleasure of smoking.
Post a Comment