Bret Weinstein's Anti Vaccine Contrarianism
Added 2021-04-23 22:05:40 +0000 UTCHi everyone,
The video linked is a short (honestly!) discussion between me (Chris) and friend of the pod/real life academic collaborator Rohan Kapitany about Bret Weinstein's recent DarkHorse podcast episode on coronavirus vaccines.
I found this to be a remarkably irresponsible episode by Bret and wanted to get some thoughts down while the content is still clear.
We will probably cover some of this on the next episode focusing on Peterson and Bret's content so consider this a Matt-less preview!
Rohan has a lot of great insights on the topic too so worth a listen for him alone.
Comments
As much anti-Weinstein content as possible please =)
Bertrand Sperling
2021-04-29 18:49:18 +0000 UTCYeah I think it’s a bit of a shame. They intentionally stay away from politics but that’s where so much pseudoscience and conspiracy theories live now.
Christopher Kavanagh
2021-04-25 08:48:08 +0000 UTCI have been listening to these IDW guys since Dave Rubin started his show. I've been frustrated because it seems most of the big skeptics ignore this. It was great to hear the skeptics guide mentioned and that Steven Novella has hear about this. I would love it if you guys were guests on the SGU. Keep up the good work, at least I'm not alone in this hobby of listening to gurus
MaxPlan
2021-04-25 04:49:38 +0000 UTC@Charlotte Lord of the Flies. 100% agree.
LTO
2021-04-24 11:59:03 +0000 UTCI think Evergreen was not so surprising really. I think of Elias Canetti’s Crowds and Power, or even Lord of the Flies. This sort of outcome has been long known to occur in unregulated spaces where peer pressure and bullying is normalised and approved. I don’t think what happened at Evergreen is the special canary in the coal mine event that Bret et al want it to be. I do think he’s a certain type of grifter and perhaps the fact that he was employed by Evergreen suggests that he was untouchable to more “normal” institutions. What gets me about the analysis that’s come out from the IDW types is that it ignores the decades of research on peer pressure since ww2 and instead jumps straight to culture war conspiracy.
Charlotte Goodall
2021-04-24 10:31:13 +0000 UTCYeah, I did a deep-ish dive and it was such a weird model. They have the same teachers year-round, I think. I work in academia so my hackles go up when I hear about incidents like this - I see some potential in other more traditional places - but I need to keep that in check bc if you look for something it’s going to show up regardless if it’s true or not. But yeah. Seems odd (and I kind of want to go visit it :)
LTO
2021-04-24 10:07:12 +0000 UTCBut it seemed that academics were in danger of teaching their own pet perspectives to excess.
Nina Davies
2021-04-24 09:55:24 +0000 UTCDo you think Evergreen itself is a bit of an odd place? Bret raved about it being unique.... Bu
Nina Davies
2021-04-24 09:54:03 +0000 UTCMaybe it’s the trauma of what happened at Evergreen? Anyway, guess it’s irrelevant. Bottom line is I think he’s irresponsible and not intellectually curious.
LTO
2021-04-24 09:05:02 +0000 UTC**because
Nina Davies
2021-04-24 08:04:31 +0000 UTCJust to reassure you, as a non-scientist I am completely unconvinced by anything Bret says. I suspect it is only people with some scientific knowledge that may be vulnerable to the arguement. I immediately ask the question 'what vaccine has ever caused an illness to mutate?' and be abuse I have no knowledge of any or an understanding of the differences between the smallpox virus and the corona virus, I naturally conclude that they are talking bilge.
Nina Davies
2021-04-24 08:04:11 +0000 UTCMe too. I was fascinated and horrified by Evergreen as an academic myself. I watched Boyce’s series with incredulity and wonder. I started following Bret mainly out of curiosity about how he would manage his career. I started to get strange vibes around the time he started his covid conspiracy lite, and made excuses for him when he was being an apologist for Derek Chauvin. Then I came to my senses and realised what a nut job he really was. Evergreen remains horrific but the story needs to be told about how Bret himself was radicalised or if he was always thus and social media allowed it to play out in a public space. Anyway, thanks to Chris and Matt for all their work and for being the only patreon that I’ve ever subscribed to!
Charlotte Goodall
2021-04-24 07:53:51 +0000 UTCCheers!
Christopher Kavanagh
2021-04-24 06:23:01 +0000 UTCI love extra content like this, really fun listen! It makes me feel like it's definitely worth it to support y'all!
Nick Brouwer
2021-04-24 05:22:09 +0000 UTCGlad you got that off your chest. I’ve been following Weinstein and at first thought he was a little interesting, a little fun. The Evergreen thing to me was pretty horrifying and I did think he sounded pretty brave. Then I wondered if he may have been just a jerk and so I checked out rate my prof but the reviews were glowing (I know that’s not hard evidence but it’s something). Now I’m absolutely fascinated by what may be motivating him - does he need money? Is he bored? Is this just a fun thing to do with his wife? Or is he like his brother, who thinks he’s some type of mega-intellectual superhero? I feel like Eric has superimposed his head on Batman’s body. Anyway, love the podcast. Super funny and cynical-lite. Perf.
LTO
2021-04-24 00:00:55 +0000 UTC
