‘You must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool’

Sometimes people make mistakes that are so horrendously destructive, that no one could ever live with the realization, no matter how innocent was the original mistake. And so it is better for one’s own wellbeing to simply never discover such a consequential error. This is what Megan McArdle calls an Oedipus Trap: mistakes that no one can live with.*

Ignaz Semmelweis Did Not Follow The Science™ and Became the ‘Savior Of Mothers’

The “Semmelweis effect” or “Semmelweis reflex” refers to the tendency to reject offhand any new scientific evidence, discovery, knowledge, or analysis that contradicts the dominant paradigm or perceived scientific consensus (I write “perceived” because in reality there is never a full consensus in any field of science, despite what the media or politicians may insist). In Robert Anton Wilson’s book, The Game of Life, Timothy Leary defines this reflex as “Mob behavior found among primates and larval hominids on undeveloped planets, in which a discovery of important scientific fact is punished.” Thomas Szasz referred to it as “the invincible social power of false truths.”

Bad Faith Fact Checking

In multiple attempts by “fact-checkers” to debunk the claim that Denmark effectively banned the Covid mRNA vaccines for those under 18 years of age without a doctor’s recommendation, a certain type of semantic tightrope walking has been employed. You see it’s not technically an outright ban we are told.

Some Misinformation Is More Equal Than Others

The CDC recently presented misleading data to the FDA on the risk of COVID-19 to children, this apparently to justify the vaccination of those as young as 6 months old. Our health authorities have fully established that they are willing to lie to us for our own good, but now they are apparently willing to lie to each other as well.