So apparently some low carb diet-promoting lifestyle doc is challenging me to come on his podcast this Friday to "debate" a certain local holistic vegan cardiologist whom I took to task the other day for his fear mongering about #CovidVaccine. 1/
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Predictably, when I didn't answer him right away, he started taunting me. ("DoN'T yOu waNT tO eDuCAte PeoPle aBouT vaCcIneS???) And, of course, calling me a coward.
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Also, I work for a living and can't just drop everything to cater to his whim on a Friday morning. Funny, but wasn't our friendly neighborhood vegan cardiologist too busy answering patient calls and learning about genetics to read my explanations why he was wrong about
#VAERS? 4/Show this thread -
Nor do I have any particular desire to disrupt my work schedule to cater to a fake "both sides" debate about the vegan cardiologists
#CovidVaccine misinformation with a moderator biased against me. 5/Show this thread -
It's not as though this is my first rodeo. Over the years, I've had the same tactic directed at me by antivaxxers, HIV/AIDS deniers, cancer quacks, and even Andrew Weil and Deepak Chopra themselves. 6/
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The answer has always been the same. I'll do a written exchange on blogs or other social media. I won't do a live debate that allows the antivaxxer or quack to Gish gallop, etc., particularly not with a biased moderator and audience. 7/
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A written exchange would actually permit a deep dive into the issue at hand, complete with time to look up relevant references from the peer-reviewed biomedical literature. 8/
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Strangely enough, not one of the people inviting me to a "live public debate" about vaccines, alternative medicine, etc., has ever said yes to this counterproposal. I wonder why... 9/
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Actually, I know why. These invitations are intended to generate heat, not light. Most importantly, they are designed to put the advocate of quackery/pseudoscience side by side with a real expert, this giving the false impression that there is a genuine scientific controversy.10/
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That's why cranks, quacks, and conspiracy theorists LOVE these sorts of "debates" and "forums." That's why I generally politely decline. 11/11
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Forgot to add: It bothers me not one whit if a quack thinks I'm a "coward" or calls me such on Twitter. 12/12
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End of conversation
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