We hear the phrase ad nauseam from the COVID-9 doomsayers who would vaccinate everyone and anything (watch out, Fido) every few minutes: “We’re just following the science.”
In this case the word “science” seems to be vague. More accurate would be “the pseudo-science that supports our preconceived notions.”
And that runs contrary to the basics of the scientific method. In that long-held, tried-and-true process, which now seems to have been thrown on the same ash heap as moral values, patriotism and good citizenship, there are defined steps.
Observe. Ask a question. Form a hypothesis. Test that hypothesis by gathering data. Examine the data gathered. Draw conclusions.
The doom and gloom crowd jumps to the last step and draws the conclusion that each and every COVID-19 strain is worse than what came before — we’re all going to die and we must have so many vaccinations we will come to resemble human pin cushions.
They come to their conclusions without bothering to gather data or analyze it; again unless the data confirms their dire predictions. And this becomes an infinite loop of self-serving cherry picking of data.
So, let’s follow the data from South Africa, alleged ground zero for the Omicron strain of COVID.
Scientists from South Africa (presumably those not on, or about to be on, payrolls of major pharmaceutical firms) say Omicron has been over-hyped.
Symptoms are relatively mild, an observation also shared by scientists in Norway, among other places. Case numbers are high, but serious complications are rare and deaths seem to be about non-existent.
If we follow the science, not the doom porn opportunism, Omicron is no big deal.
While we’re here, let’s examine other “science.”
Criminal science prevailed in the case of Jussie Smollett, the C-list television actor who has been convicted of concocting a story about being attacked by racist, homophobic Trump supporters in Chicago in January 2019.
Smollett apparently thought he had the thing wired considering he is both black and gay.
Social media – megaphone of morons – was rife with self-proclaimed experts weighing in immediately on how despicable the act had been. It began at the top with clueless Joe Biden and trickled down through other usual suspects eager to virtue signal their disgust at this “hate crime.”
Now that the legal system says it was all made up, like Tawana Brawley’s similarly ballyhooed 1971 fictional racial attack, we eagerly await some apologies from the experts who were dead wrong.
From the realm of economic science, perhaps you’ve heard that the “Build Back Better” social spending giveaway program the Democrats are so eager to ram through into law is supposed to be revenue neutral. That’s government-speak for it won’t cost any additional money.
But the Congressional Budget Office was out today with a report that the plan figures to add $3 TRILLION to the deficit from 2022-2031.
I know politicians spending other people’s money tend to fudge. But there’s a lot of room between zero and $3 trillion.
Lastly, we offer a doubleheader of bastardized political science.
First example: New York City will allow non-citizens to vote in its municipal elections – a number put at 800,000 by some. I’m sure the fact that these could be counted on to vote overwhelmingly Democratic has nothing to do with this. Just ignore the blatant Constitutional questions raised by it.
Second example: Facebook’s lawyers, in fighting a defamation case brought by someone who felt wronged when his video was labeled misleading by the social media site’s “fact checkers,” have argued there are no facts used in fact check, but rather just opinions.
When we’re talking opinions, it matters greatly whose opinion is being used as the basis for censorship. The fact that social media is controlled by far-left types, it’s fair to presume that their opinions would tilt far-left, too.
This tends to confirm what has long been argued by conservatives who are randomly blocked, demeaned and otherwise treated as second-class citizens on social media.
Social media needs someone along the lines of Joe “Just The Facts” Friday from the Dragnet TV series as a fact checker.
Some day, perhaps. Maybe when politicians stop misrepresenting costs of their giveaway programs, when COVID data is reported in an even-handed fashion and when race-baiters end up getting their just desserts.
Don’t hold your breath waiting.
Sam Ross Jr's site 