Fake Science

This video was recommended by Brendon on his Patreon thread and he invited people to place their comments underneath.  I have added one of the comments as well as my own observations. An important video because it shows you how they use science to muddy the waters. Interesting how they flip the narrative right at the end.

First Comment:

This video ended up being about how the battle of science against science to being used to change narratives. By *systematically* funding special research projects, some even completely "absurd," one is able to use the so-called results as a "distraction" to undermine the science considered undesirable.

The idea is to say there are all kinds of causes. It's an effort to "spread ignorance by clouding the issue with a multitude of data." And "it's an effective strategy" because "it then becomes almost impossible to determine the true guilty party, and that's the point."

A 1969 internal Big Tobacco memo spelled the whole plan out: "Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the minds of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy."

A professor of psychology calls it the "designed playbook" for "science denial," and claims this is "extremely well-understood" because the Big Tobacco scandal inspired its own field of academic study known as Agnotology. Wikipedia says "it's the study of deliberate, culturally-induced ignorance or doubt, typically to sell a product or win favor, particularly through the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data."

A science historian claims this strategy has been used "over and over and over again" for 70+ years with acid rain, the ozone hole, pesticides, climate change, neonicotinoids (class of insecticides), Bisphenol A (BPA), and contraceptive pills.

And the guilty parties continue to profit year after year because there are two types of science: established and on-going. With established science, we no longer question. But, with ongoing science, there is still doubt.

"Doubt is an essential driver of ongoing science" because with this type, we're still proposing hypotheses or doubt that the existing explanation is adequate. The tobacco industry's strategy of turning the "virtue of doubt into a vice" pushed the new idea that "established, accepted science is still subject to doubt." Sound like the Science Is Never Settled narrative?

So ultimately THEY are using science against science to change the narrative, to "manufacture ignorance," or as the Agnotologists call it, "strategic ignorance." With the constant stream of innovations, so-called science now focuses studies on how these innovative products influence our health, asking, "Is this a threat to our health, and what are the safe levels?"

Goes on to discuss the regulatory toxicology scandal around BPA, and how the plastic industry utilized the "skepticism through disinformation" playbook to design studies that purposely would conclude there were no negative effects of this chemical.

27:49 Apparently there's an entire industry for breeding lab animals with specific biological parameters, allowing "illusionists of science" (study authors) to deliberately select and test on animals they know will manipulate their study results. There's an online catalog to order from and they ship the live animals direct. Reminds me of the aborted fetal body parts catalog; it shouldn't exist, but it does.

31:00 An overview of how we're fueling our own ignorance by participating in limited hangouts on the internet (cue clip of Robert David Steele), which is the "new court of opinion." Whoever can push the stronger narrative wins, as science is replaced with the acceptance of "to each their own truth."

Video then accuses climate change deniers and anti-vaxxers of ignoring scientific truth in favor of their opinions and not "reality." Says ultimately the truth does prevail—but I call bullshit. Data and AI, anyone?

Ha! Spoke too soon. The video next discusses how researchers have to generate money and find it, and so "science has turned into a marketplace where everyone is trying to attract attention." In 2000, the buzzward "genomics" would score you millions in funding. In 2010, it was nanotechnology. And in 2020, the money-maker is artificial intelligence. "The market economy frames science in a way that values and privileges science that can be monetized—that's lucrative."

Says competition is pushing science in a specific direction, and whole fields of science have been deserted, known as "undone science," simply because there's no financial benefit to further study or we prefer not to know. I'd say the classic Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated study-that-never-was definitely fits in this category.

Concludes with the (fear-mongering?) claim that "science is under threat," and this is stated alongside video clips of Covid "science deniers" protesting against masks and arguing that "it's not that lethal."

41:36 Thankfully "we have scientists beating back the tide of ignorance." It shows clips of people speaking, but I don't recognize them. Maybe they're Agnotologists?

 

My Comment:

About halfway the doco mentions metabolic disorders,obesity and diabetes hormone-sensitive cancers neurobehavioral disorders and infertility caused by Endoccrine disruptors BPA. BPA stands for bisphenol A, Bisphenol chemicals are endocrine disruptors and xenoestrogens. As a Senior Chemist (industrial) I used to produce (among other things) waste water treatment Liquid Dispersion Polymers in an oil-aqueous phase that required an activator (soap) to allow the polymer to disperse and floculate the waste. We used nonylphenol ethoxolate for years until banned in the EU. The production and use of nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates is prohibited in the European Union due to its effects on health and the environment. Before that it was used extensively in waste water treatment. Does this explain the huge uptick in tranny life? This was a good documentary but the culprits are the corporations and the governments planting the false information. The sting in the tail is that this documentary turns right at the end to debunk climate skepticism. So that was the clue as far as I am concerned. The banks want the carbon trading and green washing so there is a huge conflict of interest. A very clever documentary that turns everything on its head right at the end. You want to know how to determine the true science from the false? Look at the funding and the conflicts of interest. By the way climate change is real and will happen very rapidly but it is natural (not man made) and we will see crop failures and changing jet streams as well as increased seismic and volcanic activity due to the magnetic excursion. Of course they will blame humans. We need to be in permanent lockdown because we cannot be trusted in nature (we spread disease because of population pressure on the environment) and we have destroyed the climate (lolz). So we will be shoved into SMART cities for dumb people. The same people who made this mess are going to save us. Clown world.

act vs. fake – why don’t we trust science any more? | DW Documentary(42 min)