this Ioannidis thing is an excellent reminder that the gap between heroes and villlains is a lot smaller than one might intuitively suppose. nearly all of us have the latent capacity to be both many times over, depending on starting conditions. 1/
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it's also tempting to say, "well, why can't Ioannidis exercise better judgment and recognize when he's being a useful iconoclast vs when he's just being an asshat"—as if any of us have a direct line to the truth, or the ability to turn our personalities on and off at will. 5/
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some have tried to convince us that Ioannidis is really a good person. "i know John," they say. "John is the nicest guy. he's kind and caring and doesn't give a shit about credentials." you can easily twist yourself into knots trying to unpack which is the "real" Ioannidis. 6/
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but you don't have to. people are complex. it is possible for Ioannidis to be a nice person who cares about others and wants to help the world, but also has a strong iconoclastic streak and a huge ego—and occasionally finds himself hoisted by his own petard. no tension here. 7/
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does any of this excuse Ioannidis's covid-time behavior? of course not. at least in my view, Ioannidis has deserved most of the criticism that's come his way. while we will never know with confidence, it seems likely that his work has had a detrimental impact on public health. 8/
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so, criticize Ioannidis's behavior all you want! go ahead and point out that gatekeeping like this is utterly beyond the pale; that his work on covid-19 over the past year is extremely sloppy and shows clear evidence of bias. that's how science (and policy) work. 9/
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but: you can and should also continue to praise his earlier work if you respect it and feel it's had a positive impact. there is no contradiction between the two. the same person can make both positive and negative contributions to discourse and society. really. truly. 10/
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beyond that, there is probably no deeper mystery to unravel. it's not that Ioannidis once deserved to be lionized, but then, like, he *changed*, man. no. he's pretty much the same person now as he was 2 or 15 years ago. his work now and then is cut from the same cloth. 11/
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this is true of pretty much any public figure who does things you like (or hate). go read biographies of Gandhi, Mother Teresa, or MLK some time. you will almost certainly some find things that turn you off—perhaps even horrify you. 12/
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it's okay to have a hard time with the idea that nobody is a pure force for good or bad in this world. i certainly do. but maybe a good way to navigate that isn't to swing wildly between poles of idolatry and vilification; maybe it's to try to avoid both in the first place. /end
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postscript: i don't have a soundcloud, but you can show support for content like this by buying my collection of short stories: https://www.amazon.com/Possibilia-Stories-Tal-Yarkoni-ebook/dp/B08NJ4KNWH/ … it's absolutely terrible, and your buying it will in no way deter me from shitposting so much. thank you for your attention
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(some people like to wait until their tweets actually go viral before they try to capitalize on them, but i prefer to make very optimistic projections so i can get ahead of the curve)
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End of conversation
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