Impossible Expectations
denialism | February 14, 2015Bill Maher did it again last night, doubling down on his anti-vax nonsense claiming the real problem is we haven't done a controlled population-based trial on vaccination vs non-vaccination. Sadly, I don't have a clip, but I have to say this time at least I was gratified that his panel wasn't composed of complete morons and they actually challenged him on some of his nonsense. This is actually a classic impossible expectations denialist argument, he essentially proposes an experiment that would be wildly expensive, impossible to perform, and highly unethical. Worse, it still is internally…
choofnagle | October 23, 2007John W. Miller reports in the Wall Street Journal about an unusual, insurance company funded program that brings many to Lourdes:
In an unusual scheme, [VGZ] the Dutch company spends about $280,000 a year to fly 600 of its sickest and most disabled clients to Lourdes. The company doesn't expect the Virgin Mary to intercede. It hopes for a different sort of miracle.
"Lourdes leads people to compassion and friendship," says Johan Rozendaal, a VGZ board member. "They remember what it's like to have somebody really care about them."
It's difficult to quote from this article, because it's mainly a…
denialism | May 3, 2007I'm sorry for mixing terminologies. But moving goalposts isn't adequate to describe the full hilarity of the kinds of arguments denialists make. For instance, the goalposts never have to be moved when they require evidence that places them somewhere in the land before time. What I mean is the use, by denialists, of the absence of complete and absolute knowledge of a subject to prevent implementation of sound policies, or acceptance of an idea or a theory.
So while moving goalposts describes a way of continuing to avoid acceptance of a theory after scientists have obligingly provided…