Many people have probably heard about the Great Barrington Declaration, denouncing social distancing and calling for "herd immunity." It's popular with the White House, and it's the product of a Koch-linked think tank 1/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/19/health/coronavirus-great-barrington.html …
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Replying to @paulkrugman
#GreatBarringtonDeclaration is more than that. It’s a strategy used by science deniers since at least HIV/AIDS denial started 30+ years ago, the propaganda technique known as magnified minority.https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/great-barrington-declaration/ …13 replies 131 retweets 292 likes -
Replying to @gorskon @paulkrugman
David Gorski, MD, PhD Retweeted John Cook
The idea is simple. Get some fringe scientists or experts to start a petition or sign a letter or “declaration” in order to give the appearance of legitimate scientific controversy and doubt about a scientific consensus.https://twitter.com/johnfocook/status/1314301046756384794 …
David Gorski, MD, PhD added,
0:24John Cook @johnfocookMagnified minority is a denial technique amplifying the contrarians' significance to convey the impression of expert disagreement. The Global Warming Petition Project uses this technique: it amounts to less than 1% of U.S. science graduates (full video at http://youtu.be/gecDy9wDuCs ) pic.twitter.com/e9jHZH4qmg5 replies 77 retweets 211 likes -
Replying to @gorskon @paulkrugman
Of course, the three scientists needing
#GreatBarringtonDeclaration are generally well regarded, but only one of them, Sunetra Gupta, is an infectious disease epidemiologist. The other two are a biostatistician and a doctor interested in health economics.4 replies 7 retweets 28 likes -
Replying to @gorskon @paulkrugman
Scientists
#BEHIND#GreatBarringtonDeclaration (damned predictive typing). Onward...1 reply 2 retweets 20 likes -
Replying to @gorskon @paulkrugman
All it takes is one fringe legitimate expert, though, often not even that. If the science deniers can’t find a legitimate expert, the usual fake think tank experts will do; e.g.,
@SWAtlasHoover.1 reply 12 retweets 38 likes -
Then, the vast majority of the signatories end up not being legitimate experts. Oh, many might have advanced degrees, but few will have relevant degrees and expertise.
1 reply 4 retweets 27 likes
Basically, #GreatBarringtonDeclaration is no different from the many statements/petitions produced by climate science deniers (who are the most prolific users of the propaganda technique of magnified minority). Creationists, HIV/AIDS deniers, and 9/11 Truthers have used it too.
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#GreatBarringtonDeclaration is magnified minority backed by a right wing free market fundamentalist climate science denying think tank,@aier, nothing more. The three scientists behind it are either useful idiots or complicit in spreading disinformation, more likely the latter.3 replies 12 retweets 44 likes - Show replies
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