It took them 18 months, but the Washington Post finally went back and edited its hit piece on Sen. Tom Cotton repeating the "debunked" conspiracy theory that COVID-19 had originated in a lab in Wuhan. As recently as March, the New York Times was reporting on a team of scientists who'd said they'd traced the origin of COVID to raccoon dogs.
Pollster Nate Silver considers the origin of COVID to be a "high stakes" controversy:
Regarding both some low-stakes (Harvard plagiarism stuff) and high-stakes (COVID origins) controversies, it seems like progressives are staking out a position to save face in the short run that's inevitably going to lead to a bigger loss of face in the long run.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) December 26, 2023
Glad your eyes are finally opening.
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) December 27, 2023
Silver's tweet sparked quite a discussion, but it really got interesting at this point — here's Raw Story's Matthew Chapman:
The weird thing about these people who insist — adamantly insist — that the "COVID origin debate" is so important is that they can't articulate a reason why.
— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) December 26, 2023
What consequence, exactly, would lab leak being true have on our public health policy? https://t.co/Ex0Km8Jbl2
Seriously? People who think COVID-19 was a gain-of-function experiment at the Wuhan Institute of Virology that escaped the lab can't articulate why they think the origin of COVID is important?
Well, it's pretty important on its own terms to learn why so many people died. But apart from that, if LL is confirmed:
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) December 27, 2023
* Ban or substantially limit gain of function research
* Substantially reform the scientific publishing system
* Become substantially less trusting of China https://t.co/J08ut7vgie
Become substantially less trusting, period.
His take is the dumbest take I've seen in quite some time.
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) December 27, 2023
* Become significantly less trusting of our own scientific institutions (ie, the ones that paid for this research and then covered it up) and our press (ie, the ones that carried water for the above institutions).
— Ken Smith (@smithkl42) December 27, 2023
Dr. Fauci's underlings suspected gain of function research might be performed if they approved the Wuhan funding. After a cursory check, they approved it.
— Andrea E (@AAC0519) December 27, 2023
Might these so-called experts be more judicious in their funding?
I wonder why it’s always the people who were wrong about the origins of Covid who think it’s no longer important to discuss/explore the origins of Covid? 🤔
— Colin Duffy (@TheRightDuff) December 27, 2023
Exactly.
Are you fucking for real dude?
— EducatëdHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) December 27, 2023
“Why should we care that a virus came from a lab that was researching how to create bioweapons” is a helluva take, my dude. It says a lot about you; none of it good.
— Zanshi 惨死 (D - Jar Kitteh) (@zanshi1) December 27, 2023
Why would need to know if a disease that killed millions of people was a natural one or the result of some kind of unsafe scientific process which was then covered up by a government that is hostile to us, a coverup in which our politicians assisted? Is that what youre asking?
— HowlingMutant (@Howlingmutant0) December 27, 2023
Thankfully, labs no longer exist, so if a lab leak did occur, we have no concern about discovering the mechanism of the leak in order to prevent a future one.
— Damin Toell (@damintoell) December 27, 2023
So first off there is the entire calculus surrounding future gain-of-function research and how much latitude scientists should be allowed.
— Karl Smith (@karlbykarlsmith) December 26, 2023
Second, there is our cooperation with China. The fact that China may have deliberately mislead the world on this alters those terms.
The weird thing are these people who insist - adamantly insist - that admitting error in any portion of the current state approved history of the C19 health/political crisis is an L they just can't take after staking so much of their credibility upon creating and reinforcing it.
— Rhode Islander (@rhodeislander) December 27, 2023
Easily the most insane take I’ve read all year
— nic 🌠 carter (@nic__carter) December 27, 2023
Right now, we are funding the same type of research that possibly caused the biggest pandemic in 100 years.
— Jonatan Pallesen (@jonatanpallesen) December 27, 2023
Lowering the risk of this happening again is among the most important political issues.
Yes, thank goodness that, after the COVID pandemic, gain-of-function research was banned worldwide, and no one conducts it anymore, even though it was never proven to be the cause.
— The Galaxy's Shortest Wookie (@Crapplefratz) December 27, 2023
Admitting you cannot answer your last question is a stunning thing to do in public, even beyond the idiocy of implying if there was no such impact one ought not care about the origin
— gfodor.id (@gfodor) December 27, 2023
This has to be satire
— Jonathan Chames (@JonathanChames) December 27, 2023
The grants would stop. That’s the consequence.
— AmishDude (@TheAmishDude) December 27, 2023
I, for one, think it would be a good thing if we held accountable those responsible for unleashing the worst pandemic in a century.
— VictoryRed (@FreddyMagnus) December 27, 2023
But that’s just me. 🤷🏻♂️
Are you daft? The is the most illogical premise for a question, especially one of this gravity, that I've ever even heard. Are you being sarcastic? It's fundamentally important across all spectrums. The implications are massive. Globally. Across nearly everything.
— JK (@jk_seriouslyjk) December 27, 2023
It could just be as simple as the lab leak theory started out on the right and they don't want to say they were correct. https://t.co/uE63jEex33
— Holden (@Holden114) December 27, 2023
They called it a racist conspiracy theory and deified Fauci. They can't go back on that. Pretty simple. https://t.co/WtC7RQgVKq
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) December 27, 2023
The first reason why people want to know about the origins of COVID is to keep the same thing from happening again. Is that a good enough reason?
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