If we want to know the facts about something, then we should look at the scientific research that has been done on the topic.
There has never been a disease that has been researched as extensively as COVID-19. Like everyone else, I wanted to know the truth, so I looked at the scientific papers I could find on the Internet. These days, you can find answers more quickly by asking AI to summarize the research that has been done.
What I have read has led me to the conclusion that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and mostly effective. There is a small chance of complications, which are generally treatable and much more likely to occur as a result of the disease itself.
It is my observation that every single anti-vaxxer is a conspiracy theorist who believes that there is a cabal that wants to hurt us.
About half of my friends believe in conspiracy theories, and this has become so prevalent that I am starting to become alarmed by it. Hardly a week goes by without my hearing COVID-19 theories that aren't supported by scientific research.
Even government websites are promoting COVID-19 conspiracy theories. Multiple government officials are promoting the idea that COVID-19 originated in a lab, but the evidence is overwhelming that the disease had a natural origin.
The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is basing government policy on conspiracy theories. He is a terrible choice for this job.
We recently passed the third anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attack in Israel. The amount of antisemitism and the number of conspiracy theories about Israel have increased dramatically. The number of anti-Israel posts online has been overwhelming. However, these posts make claims that fail to take into account the actual history of the region and make extremely exaggerated claims about Israel.
In the past, conspiracy theories like these seemed to be much more prominent in other countries. However, since COVID-19 emerged, it feels like many Americans have gone bat-shit-crazy.
Brint Montgomery wrote:
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Coffey, I completely agree with you. What troubles me most is that we've reached a point where large numbers of people no longer regard scientific evidence as particularly important when deciding what to believe. On my view, several things have brought us here. First, trust in our institutions has collapsed, sometimes for legitimate reasons. Second, social media has made it possible for people to surround themselves with information that confirms whatever they already believe (aka. 'the echo chamber effect'). Third, we've turned questions of fact into questions of political and cultural loyalty. People increasingly decide what is true based on who says it rather than what the evidence shows. And I think there's a deeper problem: most people have little understanding of how science or evidence-based thinking actually work, particularly the distinction between bare evidence, probability, and certainty. When scientists revise their conclusions in light of new evidence, many people interpret that as proof that science can't be trusted, which is a misunderstanding of induction. Yes, yes, of course, scientists and public health officials make mistakes, and we ought to question their conclusions. But questioning a conclusion and simply dismissing the evidence are two very different things. What worries me is that we've created a culture in which personal conviction is increasingly treated as the equal of careful investigation. That's a dangerous direction for a society that depends so heavily on science and technology, or maybe better: a dependence on technology *without* an understanding of science.