WATCH: The Face Mask Debate
Digi-Debates is a website and youtube channel which hosts online academic debates on important topical issues of the day. Their latest edition, Vol 7, was titled “The Mask Debate” and originally live-streamed on Friday the 24th of July and moderated by Petar Josic, the producer.
We encourage you all to visit their website and follow their youtube channel and their twitter.
The Resolution
With mandatory masking being enacted by governments around the world, in an attempt to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, many questions have surfaced as to whether or not these measures work. What do you think?
Do public mask mandates help curb the spread of the virus?
Affirming the Resolution
David Kyle Johnson is a professor of philosophy at King’s College (PA), who specializes in (among other things) logic, argumentation, philosophy of science, and the refutation of pseudoscience. And he also he maintains a blog for Psychology Today, called “A Logical Take,” where he routinely identifies fallacious arguments and debunks pseudoscience.
You can read his full bio here and his written response to Dr Rancourt’s work here.
Negative to the Resolution
Denis Rancourt holds B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. (University of Toronto) university degrees in physics. He has been a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada international post-doctoral candidate in prestigious research laboratories in both France and The Netherlands. He became a national NSERC University Research Fellow, in Canada. He was a professor of physics at the University of Ottawa for 23 years, attaining the highest academic rank of tenured Full Professor.
You can read his full bio here, and his paper “Why Masks Don’t Work”, here.
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For the record: https://truepundit.com/exclusive-hard-hitting-blistering-raw-interview-on-anthony-fauci-uncovers-far-more-disturbing-dirt-top-virologist-dr-judy-mikovits-cuts-loose-like-never-before/ Transcribed from Thomas Paine Podcast episode 34/ Judy Mikovits @22:11 “The Manufacturing Facility of the CoronaVirus is..is a Cell-Line., an immortalised cell-line. Called VeroE6 Monkey Kidney cell. Which China got in 2012 -13, Published, in ‘Nature Medicine’ BY Fauci..that..that he paid for it and he shipped the manufacturing facility to Wuhan, and he shipped…they added the Bat Tissue to..and they shipped it around the world! that’s the truth ! And he wrote it himself in the paper. Where did we originally get the cell-line ? Oh. Fort Detrick . What is that cell-line ? Oh. It’s the very same cell-line that XMRV’s carried…that…that polio vaccines carried the XMRV’s and SIV’s and (undec ‘bar40’?), around the world. Y’know; yeah ! Vero Monkey Kidney Cells. What’s your intermediary…intermediate Host? Whats your manufacturing Facility ? An Immortalised continuously growing cell-line that you grow in 200litre formulators(?) like wine or craft-beer.… Read more »
I read a comment on ZH by someone who claimed to be OSHA certified. They said: N95 masks are used for contaminated environments. They filter air on the way IN to protect the wearer. They do not filter exhaled air. Surgical masks are used in sterile environments. Surgical masks are used as a physical barrier to protect the user from hazards, such as splashes of large droplets of blood or body fluids. Surgical masks also protect other people against infection from the person wearing the surgical mask. Such masks trap large particles of body fluids that may contain bacteria or viruses expelled by the wearer. Respirators protect wearer from airborne contaminants and offer the best protection for workers who must work closely (either in contact with or within 6 feet) with people who have influenza‑like symptoms in occupations classified as high exposure risk. Cloth masks are basically rubbish. Of course,… Read more »
there is little hope
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/thousands-protest-berlin-coronavirus-restrictions-72118240
Very strange debate with “Kyle” acting so intolerable to others view. It is sad to see such childish behavior by as so called professional. My first statement for Kyle would be,” My state has recommended mask for over a month, based on COVID positive patients having a 2 week quarantine period, then we should not have any additional cases in my state if the mask work as you declare.” In my state, cases have continued to increase which disregards Kyle’s hostile argument. Testing has increased greatly, even health people are being tested which we have not seen before with any infectious dx prior to COVID. I hold a Master’s in Public Health from Tulane School of Public Health. According to the FDA, a mask is considered a medial device. In no way should anyone but a treating MD request that someone (patient) should wear a medical device. The public should… Read more »
Here’s a nice review article, courtesy of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the U of Minnesota, from a pair of medical researchers (not philosophers or physicists?) with 50+ journal references:
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/commentary-masks-all-covid-19-not-based-sound-data
Posting BTL in the Off-Guardian is fun for me because now I that am permanently Off-Duty with terminal senility and the Off-Guardian doesn’t prohibit Off-Language in favour of polite and/or academically respectable phraseology, I can say what I think, whether it is carefully considered in the manner of rational debate or carelessly inconsiderate in the manner of a barroom brawl (the default mode of a majority of BTLers) in the rough vernacular that surrounded me during my first childhood. There is something curiously satisfying about relaying a conclusion I’ve reached–after long, meticulous research and precise, difficult ratiocination that has then, of occupational necessity, been followed by a long period of tediously accurate and repeatedly revised expression before its final presentation–with, instead of the latter, a few casual “fuckwit”s or “fuckoff”s. In that light, may I suggest that–however exciting his Straight-As are to all his pupils, dumb and clever alike, and… Read more »
Why all the useless prefatory bullshit, dude? Say what you have to say, if anything.
77th / don’t bother
Right off the bat I would say this debate is flawed because it was never made clear what “work” means in the debate topic “do masks work”…what does “work” mean? I would assume it means “mitigate the spread of disease in a statistically relevant way”…the claims of “no Covid if everyone wore a mask for 6 to 8 weeks” is a big claim…what is the SCIENCE behind that? The “work” in the phrase “do masks work” could be limited to the conclusion “masks work if someone verified to have Covid sneezes within six feet of a healthy person, the person receiving the sneeze has less than a 10% chance of acquiring the disease”…prove THAT. Wouldn’t that then mean them “working” or not is irrelevant? It would be so unusual to meet that criteria? How often will you run across someone WITH the disease that is compelled to sneeze on you?… Read more »
If you are going to be ‘scientific’ you should start by being scientific: Even N95 respirators will not stop airborne particles of SARS-CoV-2, which can apparently hang around much longer and travel much further than even strong air currents can carry the much larger, optically resolvable drops or splashes of snot and gob that a covered sneeze or cough, even just into one’s inner elbow’s clothing, can prevent from landing on a surface that the next persons passing might then get onto their hands before rubbing the itches in the corners of their eyes. Did you not allow for covered bent inner elbows in your uncontrolled mind experiments? Your bad. And you should conclude by being logical: What government or enterprise could realistically mandate the wearing of an expensive Harris tweed sports coat when the no-hoper me-first dumbfucks with amongst us here BTL kick up all hell at the idea… Read more »
If much more advanced socialogical and technologically advanced people like Persians and Chinese are doing it, then why can’t we follow suit like we do when big brother tells us to jump
Why I am against the mask…. Firstly, in any trial the burden must be on those proposing extreme measures, and forcing hundreds if millions to wear masks is certainly extreme, and any extreme measures need to be backed up by firm evidence. The data from alleged covid 19, (if any of it is trustworthy, and that’s debatable, so say the least,) shows the people who are reported to suffer from it are nearly all very elderly and / or have serious pre existing health conditions, the vast majority of the public are not at any risk, and quite competent to get over it, and can even develop immunity from it. So, that alone is sufficient to reject the mandatory measures of mask wearing, because the majority don’t need protection, their immune systems do that for them. The only scientific evidence for masks would be for those working closely with infectious… Read more »
anyone telling people to wear masks is certainly not a health authority.
Well said. It’s the new breed of “health authority”, with quotation marks, which has become the only species now able to apply successfully for high positions in crucial departments. If you really understand the fundamental tenets of medical science and its rightful place in a decent society, you won’t get the job.
I’m totally freaked out and horrified and can’t be around masked people
I only had a brief encounter in on supermarket as the only unmasked person, and it was weird, but no one reacted, and I don’t want to let this stop me from shopping, as it would be a shame to relegate that exclusively to online, so I intend to go out to shops anyway, if they’ll except me, claiming exemption due to a health condition, under the Law, in the UK, and perhaps elsewhere, you can be exempt from the mask if you have a physical or mental health condition that would be made worse by wearing it. I think it’s important for there to be a maskless presence on the high street and on transport, to encourage others who want to be mask free too
(a) ‘elderly’: fuck you too.
(b) ‘pre existing’: tell that to the kids in the favelas or the poor and malnourished anywhere.
(c) ‘don’t need protection’: still ignorant on the directionality of cause and effect?
(d) ‘my choice’: so you want to look like your arse is your mouth?!!
A. Very elderly people tend to have more health problems and are at often a higher risk of infections, why are you being vulgar to me for stating this fact, they need protection and support
B. By pre existing conditions I mean other long term health conditions, like COPD, diabetes and so on, and yes sometimes that’s related to poverty, I don’t need to tell the poor this, they already know
C. The vast majority of people can competently get over many infections, and already have done
D. No, I want to have the cherished freedom to dress how I want to, and I want you to as well, providing it’s not putting others at serious risk, I’m sorry you feel the need to be vulgar
So neither are epidemiologists? What a joke.
Five different supermarkets now and only offered a mask in one. No challenges or anything from the others. Ignore this mask bullshit, even if the sheeple don’t.
Kyle lost the debate the moment he started waiving his arms and raising his voice. Any psychologist knows that. Oh, sorry, he’s not a psychologist, he’s a philosopher (apparently!), just writes for a pop psychology rag.
As we all know from the terrorist laws engaged. It’s not at the point of engagement that these laws are provided, but 5-10yrs from now, where we simply swap the term ‘facemask’ for ‘vaccination’…similar to those trust passports (ie to show who’s been vaccinated) that are emerging in Africa. If you don’t have one, no service for you, comply! Pure control mechanism based on a scary fairytale!
Stop hugging your family and it will all be fine. Every time you put on a mask, a high risk individual becomes immortal.
what on earth could be wrong with hugging? are u psycho?
I should have added a note saying I was joking, I guess.
OCDs don’t do joking.
David Kyle Johnson – what a poor argument he has advanced. He uses a number of classic propaganda techniques within the first two minutes as a foundation to his argument: (1, 2) Agenda Setting – exasperated sigh…personal reservation in being involved YET HE DOES SO DESPITE NEXT STATING “we should not listen to a debate between philosopher and a metals physician… “debate already settled”; PERHAPS SO BUT ONLY IF YOU “Cherry Pick” THE EVIDENCE YOU WANT TO CONSIDER (another propaganda technique). (3) Appeal to Authority – “anyone curious about the effectiveness of mask mandates should listen to current medical and public health experts.” BUT THAT IS PRECISELY THE ISSUE TO BE DISCUSSED: WHETHER THE CURRENT LOT OF STATE EXPERTS IS CORRECT IN MANDATING MASKING. (4) Appeal to Fear — “then I learned how covid spreads and how prevalent asymptomatic spread of covid is …” (5, 6) Bandwagoning – “I changed… Read more »
I wouldn’t consider this shrill little weasel skilled in argument — would you buy a used
philosophy book from him ?
he ended it using the conspiracy theorist ploy. what a dushe? the trick is it is to drive you into the arms of the other one who is still arguing there is a pathogenic virus. heads you lose. tails you lose. he wants people to wave a red flag at a bull.
The Quote I posted is from Arthur Firstenberg’s book: “Unweaving the Rainbow”, in which he shows the correlation between the spread of infectious diseases and the massive spread in the use of electricity and other kinds of electro-magnetic forces. There is now significant evidence of a relation between 5G and coronavirus. Wuhan has 10,000 5G antennae. Milan also has a significant level of 5G antennae. Both are industrially polluted areas.
There’s actually been an editorial published now stating link between fffeyevvvgeeee causing carina in cells
Caronavirus* not carina lol
Correlations are just correlations, nothing more, nothing less. Some of them, sometimes, indicate causality.
Disclaimer: IMO no-one has yet established that 5G correlations are definitively not reflections of causal links to adverse physical or psychological effects and SAR ratings are not clever enough to establish definitively that they aren’t.
Which one is the fanatic? Not difficult to choose …
It’s interesting to note the difference in the extent of COVID madness among grocery stores. The “low end” stores in my area (Maryland) are (OMG!) just a tad careless in their COVID regime. Whereas the “high end” stores are scrupulous in their COVID regime. And, indeed, that coincides perfectly with the categories of COVID adherents: the solidly middle class folks are 100% on board, whereas the lower class folks (like me) are a mite careless.
When exiting the “high end” store this morning (I wanted to buy some organics), I had to walk halfway across the parking lot to get back to my car. Ah! but I felt ever so much safer!
That is interesting. Where I am in the western US, there seems to be a mix socioeconomically. I’m the most educated (book-learnin’ and school-wise) person in my family, but also the only one anti-mask besides my (anti-intellectual) dad. My less educated siblings and mom are all very pro-mask. What’s strange too is that my siblings are pro-mask/anti-Trump, but also behave as though the virus is not a threat at all. For example they have large parties without masks, while talking about crazy anti-maskers. I work for a conservative company, but about half the employees here are pro-mask. But they also behave as though the virus isn’t a thing here at the office.
Even though being in the western US doesn’t automatically mean California, let me go ahead and ask you something anyway. There’s a report making the rounds from the San Diego area about a pro-mask woman using mace on a family having a picnic because they weren’t wearing masks. Do you know if that’s true or “fake” news?
I ask because I would hate to think the anti-mask people would resort to the same slimy tactics as the pro-mask people (i.e., making things up).
I hope this won’t strike you as an overly stupid question.
I’m in Salt Lake City, so not that far west. I can’t say about that particular story, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were those types of stories on both sides, some exaggerated or completely fabricated and some true. On my local news website, there are regularly comments from people saying things like “teenagers coughed on me for wearing a mask in a grocery store.”
FWIW, I was in Sacramento in May, not wearing a mask anywhere and it emboldened a few local people to tell me how they thought the whole thing was a joke. I think NorCal is quite a bit more different than the bottom half of the state though.
In CJ Hopkins’latest article on OffG, he inadvertently answered my question. He linked to the video in question. I watched it; and it’s about as vague as can be – except for the woman off camera saying “You just maced my husband!” But the husband sure didn’t look like he’d been maced – or else being maced isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
All in all, I would be inclined to write it off as “fake news” – even though I’m very much on the anti-mask side.
I just saw the video and don’t know what to make of it. Assuming it’s fake, do you think it’s just some people who want attention on the internet? Or do you assume that somebody is pulling the strings to drum up indignation on both sides?
The video itself doesn’t appear to be fake – except for the blurred out license plate, which could not possibly have been blurred by the camera/smart phone taking the picture. The whole thing hinges on what the off-camera woman is saying. The alleged perpetrator seems genuinely confused by the incident; and says more than once “I didn’t do anything.”
Being a dog lover, my thought is that the woman – who might very well carry mace or pepper spray – would not do anything that might result in injury to her dog.
Quote: “Efforts by doctors working for the U.S. Public Health Service to prove the contagious nature of the 1918 flu were heroic and resulted in resounding and repeated failure. In November, December 1918 and February and March 1919, they attempted to infect healthy volunteers with influenza in the following ways: They put secretions from the mouth, nose, throat and bronchi from hospitalized influenza patients into the nose, throat and eyes of volunteers; they injected blood from sick patients into volunteers: they filtered mucous material from sick patients and injected it under the skin of volunteers; they had volunteers shake hands with sick patients, talk to them, faces close together, for 5 minutes; they had the patient exhale as hard as he could while the volunteer, 2 inches away, was breathing in, then had the patient cough directly into the face of the volunteer, 5 times. None of the volunteers in… Read more »
The primary determinant is the strength of the immune system – not whether someone wears a mask or not.
RCTs can of course be carried out – just as vaccine trials are done – with participants accepting the risks!
Kyle’s histrionics do him no favours! In my eyes it reduces his credibility enormously.
If Johnson is right – including that asymptomatic carriers can transmit the virus – isn’t the conclusion that everyone should continue to wear a mask for ever?
I suspect that is the plan.
not at all. the best time to catch the alleged virus is in the summer whilst vitamin d levels are high and there is ripe fruits and vegetables available to detox it. it is time for a huge social closening drive.
Just until we’ve all given up talking to each other.
Second wave = masks to be worn at all times to finish speech off all together.
Just caught someone being interviewed on Radio 2 who said something about preparing for the “second, third, and potentially fourth waves of the virus”. (I love that “potentially”.) Gosh – it’s amazing how far ahead some folk can see!
Just BBC propaganda George. Politicians, scientists and the media are peddling the 2nd wave based on what? The latest science? Well what is this science? Can we all view it? Are these alleged new cases leading to an increase in hospitalisations and icu treatment? I read a Real Madrid footballer has tested positive which had Twitter in meltdown. Lo and behold he has announced he is in perfect health and isolating as a precaution. This important detail is left out so we can conclude none of these people are actually ill. The pcr tests are completely meaningless. These tests are alleged to be testing for the virus and not the disease. The important question is how many of these people have been diagnosed by X ray as suffering from alleged Covid19 pneumonia ? As this information is not given we can only conclude nobody. Deaths have been below the 5… Read more »
It’s certainly shocking how blatantly propagandist the BBC has become. They now resemble the stereotypical way that Soviet news channels were portrayed in the good old Cold War. I wasn’t focusing on that radio show, but the guest didn’t come across as some official announcer – and that’s the lethal part. These invited guests are presented as just “regular folks” out doing their bit. But that “second and third and ….etc waves” thing is one of those blatantly ludicrous statements where I wonder if we’re supposed to notice the stupidity of them cf. the bit in Orwell’s 1984 where Winston is directed to see a different number of fingers from what he can actually see. Blatant bullshit presented in a chatty matter-of-fact manner as part of a huge gaslighting campaign.
I’m all a quiver just thinking about the sixth wave. Wow, a land without working class pensioners and unproductive workers. ☮️
Neat post. ☮️
Can you imagine as a science student writing a paper and qualifying it with ‘I followed the science’ but failing to site your sources??
Were they of the exceptional lobbies?
Secret to wearing a mask and being able to breathe properly… (see 11 minutes 25 seconds)! (Recent Lincoln Karim video)
the masks reduce droplets so they should reduce transmission. since the rcts show no significant effect the conclusion is that the theory of transmission by droplets is false. there is no influenza virus spread by droplets. the better masks do not work better than the worse masks confirming there is no virus transmission. all the research confirms this but is worded based on the assumption there is a pathogenic virus. if there was virus in indoor air everyone would be infected very quickly. the real issue is people are eating shit, exposed to pollution etc. and the notion of a pathogenic virus a dangerous diversion deliberately made to facilite real causation of health problems.
Brilliant
“Bernard is right; the pathogen is nothing; the terrain is everything.” — Louis Pasteur’s deathbed words Alcyon Pleiades 94: Pasteur fraud. Synthetic DNA vaccine. Quantum tattoo, chip. Luciferase. Cyborg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_61N1zERr0 Alcyon Pleiades 8.53K subscribers Since vaccines were first developed by Louis Pasteur, we have been led to believe that microorganisms and pathogenic germs are the cause of disease and, under this banner, vaccines and antibiotics began being commercialised, along with all kinds of dangerous chemical pharmaceuticals. Despite this fact, scientists of the day, such as Dr Claude Bernard, discovered that these theories were erroneous and sounded the alarm about the danger of vaccines, whilst emphasising the importance of nutrition and the immune system in achieving good health… Although evidence suggests that vaccines have failed to prevent disease, the manipulation of statistical data and propaganda has successfully convinced most people that they protect the human body from illness and death. Those… Read more »
Do you mean Claude Bechamp?
Read and weep. This is what’s going on in rainbow-unicorn-turdaux-land. I would home school my kids if I had any rather than have them psychologically damaged by fifth-rate creatures like these.
https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2020/07/some-teachers-are-preparing-school-preparing-their-wills
They’re not teachers. They’re pathetic human specimens (today I suppose that had better be a gender-neutral humiX speciX). They are not victims of Lockdown, social dislocation and disfunctional human relations – they are driving it, just as they were before COVID was a thing, Most corners of the animal would care first for its young. Instead we have two iterations of Generation Me – and here I stop wasting time, electricity and bandwidth on these losers. Home school if possible. Counter the brainwashing of children. Bothersome babushkas is what we need. Bring back the era in which older people were not afraid to step in to help children and tell off feckless adults. Justification: Most countries will see something similar to this: The Guidance for Public Health Officers – Potentially Infectious Persons, released on July 8th, 2020. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-potentially-infectious-people gives officials (same types as the teachers) authority to seize children in… Read more »
I look around the world and there’s literally nowhere to escape these two-legged malignant tumours.
He goes off on one at the end of this video but the rest of it is spot on.
…and still on the subject of masks…
I consider it misguided to make such a deadly serious matter into a Republican vs. Democrat issue. The greedy and corrupt in both parties support Fauci, Gates and the rest, because of the money. Democratic principles really have nothing to do with it, and neither do Republican principles.
Today, both parties are equal shareholders in greed, and those shareholders don’t even need a president to authorize their corruption. If they answer to anybody, it is certainly not the President.
I agree with you, it’s humour and anti-mask, telling people to stop giving their power away, but it’s old school with the Republican Democrat split, these particular videos seeing the Democrats as being to blame for the world’s woes.
I propose the following. The corona scare has lead to a storm of policies, leading to all kinds of greater and smaller dammage, injustices and absurdities on many levels. Al kinds of lower governing and managing levels tumbling over each other, agreeing and disagreeing to apply a mix of policies. Now, while the storm is raging and after this storm has ceased somewhat, there will be much critique and debate. There also will be admittance of faults, there will be admittance of wrong policies. Even the obligated face mask might be on hindsight admitted as ineffective or even damaging, or partially admited as such. The admittance of errors, things which are not neceassy, things which are damaging to people and the economy, things which are absurd, etc. then logically leads to the idea of the argument that societies where to a great extent unprepared, which then logically leads to the… Read more »
This is not a coincidence.
This is a huge psychological operation by governments on their own people.
They know exactly what they’re doing.
“Disposable medical masks (also known as surgical masks) are loose-fitting devices that were designed to be worn by medical personnel to protect accidental contamination of patient wounds, and to protect the wearer against splashes or sprays of bodily fluids (36). There is limited evidence for their effectiveness in preventing influenza virus transmission either when worn by the infected person for source control or when worn by uninfected persons to reduce exposure. Our systematic review found no significant effect of face masks on transmission of laboratory-confirmed influenza.”
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article
how do they know the persons didnt have laboratory confirmed influenza before the studies? you cant establish transmission occured at all with such pseudoscience.
Ask FAUCI. It’s a CDC published study. Volume 26, Number 5—May 2020
They missed a chance for some fun.
Surely the problem with masks is we could make them half a century ago but we’ve lost the technology to make them today.
Like those Playtex “Cross Your Heart” suits that they wore on the Moon… with their Van Allen radiation girdles.
280 pounds of Ortho-Fabric, aluminized Mylar, neoprene-coated nylon, Dacron, urethane-coated nylon, tricot, nylon/Spandex, stainless steel, high strength composite materials.
Surely we can make a simple mask?
Or must we first “remove one of Truth’s Protective Layers”? © Neil Armstrong, 1994
Going to the moon was a relatively benign lie. As a kid, it was a version of Santa Claus, but better. Going to the moon did not make you a shopaholic (as provided by the conspiracy of the shop owners who make children addictive to buying stuff through the children’s best friend). What going to the moon did to kids (like me) is to understand science! Well, not the science in how to hoax a population into something that does not exist (like the moon landings), but the science of how you could launch spaceships: physics and astrophysics. It made school more endurable: the idea that if you were good in math, physics, chemistry, you might become a rocket scientist. But the moonlandings never happened as anyone can figure out for himself if he takes 2 minutes for himself thinking about how they could do it (they couldn’t). I never… Read more »
Willem, whether the moon landing is a hoax or not is not clear: there are arguments on both sides. It would also involve various people having deliberately lied, and not just any people, some otherwise extremely decent people from the physics community. They cannot be judged by what the world has become today. Im sorry but Ive known from early childhood physicists, some of the very best, some of the last giants physics produced, some of them extremely good peoples, and physicists from all countries and cultures, including the former Soviet Union. None of them are living anymore, but those that were close friends of my family were extremely honest people and truly scientific. They certainly were no liars, they certainly were too good physicists to not be able to tell such a lie or stand for one. For the covid thing, its different. There is clear factual evidence that… Read more »
‘Someone would have talked’ is a common refrain to which the answer is always the same: some did, some died mysteriously, many remained silent. http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/topic/12152-apollo-whistleblower-revealed-at-last/?do=findComment&comment=135713 hope – your account of scientist academics being “puny” compared to past generations is a valuable perspective, but I disagree regarding evil being of a different dimension today. Evil remains a constant: the degree to which people collaborate and lie may vary. We have just witnessed an illustration of how the majority went along with the rise of Nazism. This year’s experiment was population wide and global. You don’t get more evidence than that and scientists ARE studying it. Perhaps they will REVEAL PUBLICLY what it shows.* It seems to suggest that western countries are much more conformist, perhaps brainwashed, yielding many self-appointed beadles eager to sanction others. The leaders of Sweden, Belarus, Burundi and Tanzania could not have demonstrated such independence of mind unless… Read more »
I take your point, but here I am not talking of leaders, of people one hears about. I am talking of people that I personally knew, I am talking of my own family. I know the point to which they were honest, I also know I have since never met a single person matching the intelligence of some of them, I know what they did for their values, the incredible sacrifice they endured because of them and personally suffered from. I perfectly agree that evil and goodness are never more nor less. Here I am talking of a very specific group of people, those to whom we owe the best of science, those to whom we owe that the scientific spirit continued to be upheld after ww2 and during the cold war. These are precisely those who have contributed to our still be around today, they are those known and… Read more »
That’s indeed a testament to people worth emulating – and I can believe the motivations have changed, though I know fewer scientists. I have an uncle with many semiconductor patents to his name. He walked away from a good job at Plessey (UK defence manufacturer) in the 1970s because of management practices. The company soon entered a spiral of decline confirming his judgement and he found an American company that matched his skills and ideals.
His son, my cousin, followed his father but has had a much tougher time of it, meeting incompetence and corruption at several major American/global companies.
Voting is becoming impossible for me on the site:( buttons don’t work
About the issue of how to get to know one other, which you and another commenter had wondered: because of that widespread evil around today, which I mention in my previous reply to your comment, an evil deliberately set to destabilize people who are trying to do their work honestly, and therefore may dig out untruths, so they are unable to continue working, and of which Im sure the OffG editors are much more aware of than academics who have lived relatively protected lives even when their honesty forced them to take a stand, Willem, you cannot expect these editors to take the responsibility of helping the readers of their site exchange emails and come to know one other. This is a major problem with the internet, especially of the sites presenting an alternative opinion. The virtual world of the internet certainly provides a global medium to inform. But I… Read more »
‘ Willem, you cannot expect these editors to take the responsibility of helping the readers of their site exchange emails and come to know one other.’ I agree. I also agree with the evil that you can find below the line (but not always easy to spot and potentially poisonous) and that you should be careful in reading everything BTL. I also agree with your potential solution to the problem (writing above the line) You have a book coming out and that may be a way of becoming to know who you are (as I would love to buy your book, based on the comments you give here). And perhaps I should try to write something above the line under my real name so you could write to me. Not sure if that is possible though (my English skills are not flawless and thinking in Dutch is easier for me… Read more »
Willem, let me suggest this: I have created an account for the purpose. Its [email protected] If you email there. I believe your email will be an institution account with your proper name. I will also then reply from my institution mail account. As academics, former and current, and our real emails, we will be able to trust we are who we claim to be, especially if you google my real name, you come across too much information about me (eg. as you know as an academic, former publications both as academics and in my case in the last few years, talks we’ve given, and so on and so forth are on the internet): I had erased all personal site connected to an institution, as I do not like this transparence. The other day I googled my name after my unfortunate experience recently and was flabbergasted to see how much is… Read more »
What’s the point of believing in science that is not true?
The same people who would raise children as ‘rational’ Atheists, would protect them from the cruel and hard reality that the moon landings were a hoax.
This suggests that many people simply swap one religion for another: power of God for power of “The Science”.
Apollo faced insurmountable difficulties, but consider what if anything has changed in 50 years regarding the technology to take men to the moon, and back to Earth. Or into orbit. Or to take probes to distant objects. These are engineering questions that I cannot answer, but know them to be valid questions. 1. Can an air cooled re-entry be performed (if at all, with low risk)? Calculations I did showed that heat radiation and heat shield ablation only dissipate a very small part of the kinetic energy. 2. Can the accuracy of trajectory required by the astronomy be achieved in a one shot departure at low risk of error? This includes the orbit plane, attitude, timing, thrust control and velocity. Remember risk multiplies. 3. If not how is navigation performed ? Measuring position, velocity, attitude, timing, mass (loss of fuel), and calculating a new trajectory in varying gravity. In 3 dimensions. Remember it is not… Read more »
Pr Rancourt has valid points backed by science. Great and very well mannered towards his opponent that wasn’t Dr like in his approach. His arrogant tone and ways had no place in this debate. He was very defensive. Thank you Pr Rancourt for this debate and for your courage
A COTTAGE INDUSTRY To mask or not to mask that is the question… In the US many businesses won’t accept the maskless– face coverings are mandatory, unless of course you’re at a restaurant. The killer virus kindly takes a nap so you can consume your dinner. It’s an empathetic virus allowing humans a nutritional respite. And how about the “contagion moratorium” occurring during Black Lives Matter demonstrations which are now 99% white. I guess, viruses become less infectious during political protests. Another interesting phenomena is “intersocial mask wearing.” Friends can walk shoulder to shoulder with masks flopping beneath their chin, however, if someone they don’t know walks by the face coverings are quickly readjusted. Masks have morphed into a viral security blanket. Make sure you cover your nose and mouth in front of strangers……. By the way, isn’t it peculiar mainstream media news commentators are obsessed about masks, but not about goggles. Theoretically, if COVID-19 is in the… Read more »
They are really rubbing the bullshit into our faces. When will the population at large have enough of it and say: Enough! – It seems they can go on until infinity with their bullshit, without having to be afraid for some blowback. But then, their models of how mass psychology works could prove wrong.
In the end they are just oil snakes men personified as the Duke and the King in Huck Finn. They can only play one game: hit and run. But sometimes they forget to run since the hitting gives them so much ‘fun’ or because the hit can lead to tremendous prosperity. Seems to me we are in that stage now..
Funny you should mention snake oil salesman–the Rockefeller fortune was amassed by a con-artist: William Avery “Devil Bill” Rockefeller Sr. (November 13, 1810 – May 11, 1906) was an American businessman, lumberman, herbalist, salesman,
and con-artist who went by the alias of Dr. William Levingston. He worked as a lumberman and then a traveling salesman who identified himself as a “botanic physician” and sold elixirs.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rockefeller_Sr.
Here’s another link you might find informative:
https://moralvolcano.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/rockefellers-snake-oil-salesman-yes-the-original-snake-oil-salesmen/
Can’t vote you up either – button not working 🙁
No, because there is no virus.
Dr. Johnson’s opening statements TOLD ME THAT HE’S PSYCHICALLY BLIND AS A BAT and therefore spiritally unconscious… reading pre-scribed LIES. I am unable to listen to his voice because of the total lack of sincerity … and I’ve already heard Dr. Rancourt speak elsewhere <3 so I’m signing off to this “debate”. P.S. I do not wear a mask (save for a loose cloth when go into a shop).
The most powerful study Dr. Rancourt cites is the one in which households with an infected person are compared based on whether masks are used by the infected individual, the healthy individuals or neither – if I got this right that study seemed to show NO difference in infection rates for the healthy persons in all households. Wearing/not wearing of masks had no effect on transmission of CV.
This site is great in producing factual information to challenge the bullshit we have been fed for the last 4 months and it’s great to share ideas and information with each other. But now we need to take action ourselves and start challenging our MPs and governments. It’s the only way to make a difference. Here in Northern Ireland I sent a freedom of information request about the accuracy of the Coronavirus tests and can other Coronavirus yield a positive result. The response was ‘the tests are not 100% accurate as they are prone to false positives and false negatives. A positive result indicates the presence of SARS-CoV 2 and other Coronavirus would not produce a positive test result’. A bit washy and open to interpretation. Today I’ve sent them another Freedom of Information request with the following questions: 1. When the health minister Robin Swann announced in late February/early… Read more »
Fantastic questions, 🤞 you get answers, please share if you do (I’ll come back to check) I’ll also send onto my local MP’s and share the spin.
Distrust the government
Avoid the media
Stop the LIES:
I’m sure readers here are familiar with The Old Man in a Chair. https://youtu.be/A-ZA8r6EcO0
LIke I said, Kyle is a shill.
It’s telling that Professor Johnson begins by deferring to “current medical and public health experts.” The key word here is “current” – key precisely because many medical and public health experts who have questioned the effectiveness of face masks are no longer “current” because their views have been marginalized and largely removed from public consideration.
One generally begins a debate by attempting to narrow the focus of the narrative, thus providing a more substantial base for one’s particular view. In this Professor Johnson has been greatly aided by the media – which only strengthens his argument in the eyes of those who depend on the media for the stuff of their thinking process.
they are a terrorist group not public health nothing. these entities have no place on this planet.
Great post, Howard. That prick is not appealing to logic or even science. Just pandering to his audience.
DK Johnsons uses the #3 strategy of Karl Rove; accuse the oppositon with what you’re doing i.e. that they couldn’t get a medical person to take the anti mask arguement. . Exactly, they couldn’t find a medical expert to take the pro mask side without repercussions from their peers who know better. DK is a shill for the powers that be. #no mask, no vaccine.
Here is the problem with the discussion. To debate whether “masks” “work,” you need a definition of “masks,” and “work” and especially “work for whom.” Then there is the question of whether the defined mask works well enough to become mandatory public policy. An N95 is different from an old bandanna, but we are attempting to reason about them at the same time. If the goal is to get a public health benefit, and an N95 gets that benefit but an old bandanna does not, then why can public health authorities insist on a “mask or cloth face covering”? We then need a second discussion of the rationales used by public health authorities for their policies, contrasted with the rationales under previous public health recommendations specifically against the use of “masks” by the same public health officials. Was there some scientific breakthrough in April that we don’t know about? We… Read more »
The logician professor commits half of the fallacies in the first 45 seconds! That’s incredible!
One has to wonder why “Professer Kyle is so angry in het rebuttal.
One has to wonder why ”Professor” Kyle is so angry in his rebuttal.
The philosopher makes a great Argument for the idea that common sense should determine whether or not to wear a mask. The scientist makes a great argument for why masks don’t work. I suppose that is because the philosophers have pickled their brains By rebreathing their own exhaust.
This is a matter for experienced epidemiologists.
With respect, this is not the time to defer to perceived ‘experts’. It’s clearer now than ever before, surely: the priests and priestesses of science aren’t, for the most part, working with our interests in mind. I believe we are all capable of checking these things out for ourselves, thinking for ourselves and reaching an informed decision based on the data out there. A2
epidemologists simply analyse data generated out of germ theory. it is taking the cart before the horse to suggest they have some special knowledge. this is a matter for you to stfu. https://youtu.be/o9iQ8lIfyEs
Which ones? The ones you Stasi tools like?
You and Dr. Johnson both can’t seem to recognize the logical fallacy of appeal to authority
“Debate?”
I will never willingly wear a mask.
we dont negotiate with terrorists. yeah tell it.
There are a number of sub-threads below on the dissident US doctors and HCQ. The following are links to related material which I’ve previously posted, and they include a number videos by Del Bigtree (The Highwire). 600 Physicians Say Lockdowns Are A “Mass Casualty Incident” https://off-guardian.org/2020/07/13/nhs-consultant-says-staff-are-being-silenced-over-covid19/#comment-204330 The Zelenko Protocol https://off-guardian.org/2020/07/07/second-wave-not-even-close/#comment-201065 I’ll also repost the following: https://aapsonline.org/preliminary-injunction-sought-to-release-hydroxychloroquine-to-the-public/ Preliminary Injunction Sought to Release Hydroxychloroquine to the Public June 22, 2020 Today the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons filed its motion for a preliminary injunction to compel release to the public of hydroxychloroquine by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), in AAPS v. HHS, . . . Nearly 100 million doses of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) were donated to these agencies, and yet they have not released virtually any of it to the public. Millions of Americans fear attending political gatherings, religious services, and even… Read more »
Dr. Stella Immanuel launches: #HCQWorks
https://twitter.com/stella_immanuel/status/1288149788534493184
WE NEED YOUR HELP.
We are being attacked, ridiculed and discredited. We need our patients to SPEAK UP.
If you have been cured by this drug, share your story online using this hashtag.
#HCQWorks
Twitter says: This Tweet is no longer available.
But the hashtag is still there:
https://twitter.com/hashtag/HCQworks
From Gateway Pundit:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/07/frontline-covid-doc-stella-immanuel-locked-twitter-6-days-asking-patients-cured-hcq-share-stories-online/
Frontline COVID Doc Stella Immanuel Locked Out of Twitter For 6 Days For Asking Patients Who Have Been Cured by HCQ to Share Their Stories Online
July 30, 2020 at 11:25am
NB: this vid is > 3 hrs
—
America’s Frontline Doctors Summit – Session 1
Streamed live on Jul 27, 2020
TPPatriots
American life has fallen casualty to a massive disinformation campaign. We can speculate on how this has happened, and why it has continued, but the purpose of the American Frontline Doctor’s Summit is to empower Americans to stop living in fear. Join the summit live as we:
– Create the opportunity for frontline doctors to talk directly to the American people.
– Educate and inform Congresspersons, who have also been subject to widespread misinformation.
– Build alliances, as it falls to us physicians to heal our nation.
first you would need evidence of a virus a mask could have an effect on. failing that then the only debate is about how harmful they could be rather than whether they work. without evidence it is plane terrorism like issueing threats or recruiting people to carry kkk torches.
john rose has a new video on scientific proof colds and flus not being contagious. he also has a recent one on how he predicted the ‘pandemic’ 4 years ago. the terrain theory is that important that the world wars, spanish ‘flu’, untold medical deaths and abuse etc. could have been averted so think twice before spreading terrorist propaganda about there being a “deadly virus”. https://youtu.be/HtJh7y7V9MI