How to Talk to a Science Denier | Center for Inquiry

A generation ago, the flat-earther at the end of the bar or the anti-evolutionist in front of a congregation could be ignored. But today's science deniers—climate change skeptics and Covid anti-vaxxers—threaten all of us: solutions to both global catastrophes require the public's collective buy-in. Drawing on the latest academic research and his own experience speaking with those doubtful of established facts—including at a recent Flat Earth convention in Denver—McIntyre outlines the common themes and psychological roots of science denialism, illustrating a throughline from the disinformation campaigns created by tobacco companies in the 1950s to today's climate deniers, anti-vaxxers and Covid-deniers. Importantly, he also offers tools, techniques, and reasoning strategies that are effective in mitigating the effects of scientific disinformation. When science denial becomes a public health threat, all of us—laypeople and experts alike—have a responsibility to help combat it
https://centerforinquiry.org/video/how-to-talk-to-a-science-denier/

Public health v. “liberty”

	Scott R. Stroud ⁦‪@scottrstroud‬⁩ A great night to watch the world-class debaters from ⁦‪@utdebate‬⁩ argue over balancing public health and liberty in the age of COVID-19 as part of ⁦‪@UTexasMoody‬⁩ #freespeechweek. ⁦‪@UTcommstudies‬⁩ ⁦‪@FreeSpeechWeek‬⁩ pic.twitter.com/ipwego9Ni7   10/19/21, 7:14 PM

Public Health Is in Crisis

Threats, Resignations and 100 New Laws: Why Public Health Is in Crisis

An examination of hundreds of health departments around the country shows that the nation may be less prepared for the next pandemic than it was for the current one.

PORT ANGELES, Wash. — As she leaves work, Dr. Allison Berry keeps a vigilant eye on her rearview mirror, watching the vehicles around her, weighing if she needs to take a more circuitous route home. She must make sure nobody finds out where she lives.

When the pandemic first hit the northern edge of Washington's Olympic Peninsula, Dr. Berry was a popular family physician and local health officer, trained in biostatistics and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. She processed Covid-19 test kits in her garage and delivered supplies to people in quarantine, leading a mobilization that kept her counties with some of the fewest deaths in the nation.

But this summer, as a Delta variant wave pushed case numbers to alarming levels, Dr. Berry announced a mask mandate. In September, she ordered vaccination requirements for indoor dining.

By then, to many in the community, the enemy was not the virus. It was her.

Dr. Berry should be attacked "on sight," one resident wrote online. Someone else suggested bringing back public hangings. "Dr. Berry, we are coming for you," a man warned at a public meeting. An angry crowd swarmed into the courthouse during a briefing on the Covid-19 response one day, looking for her, and protesters also showed up at her house, until they learned that Dr. Berry was no longer living there... (continues)

Dr. Eric Cassell, Bioethicist Who Put the Patient First, Dies at 93

Dr. Eric Cassell, Bioethicist Who Put the Patient First, Dies at 93

"the spoken language is the most important tool in medicine"

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/14/science/eric-cassell-dead.html?referringSource=articleShare

Public Health Ethics

At its core, public health is concerned with promoting and protecting the health of populations, broadly understood. Learn more about Public Health Ethics here: https://t.co/1e8SLW7src
(https://twitter.com/dailySEP/status/1448924328712708098?s=02)

Anti-vaccine chiropractors rising force of misinformation

Anti-vaccine chiropractors rising force of misinformation
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-10-09/anti-vaccine-chiropractors-rising-force-of-misinformation

Phil.Oliver@mtsu.edu

👣Solvitur ambulando

💭Sapere aude

‘You’re Dying,’ I Told My Patient. I Wish I Hadn’t.

Why a patient in denial is such a challenge for doctors.

My patient's chart was brief. A diagnosis of colon cancer that might have been cured had he not disappeared from medical care to return, nearly a year later, with cancer so advanced that it had torn through his intestines.

Colleagues at the hospital had called him to schedule appointments, to get follow-up and to start chemotherapy, but he never responded. Now he was back, but there was nothing the surgeons could fix, and so he would remain in the intensive care unit until his death.

When he arrived in our unit one night last winter, his cheeks were gaunt, his body wasted and abdomen protruding. He was also angry. As I remember the events of that night, as soon as the doctors in training and I gathered at his bedside to explain his prognosis, he lashed out. There was nothing wrong with him, he insisted. All he wanted was for us to treat his pain so that he could go home. He had things to do: a game to watch on television later that night.

As a critical care doctor, I am familiar with denial in its many permutations. I know how it feels to sit at a bedside and in windowless conference rooms, talking with families who cannot or will not let themselves acknowledge what is unfolding in front of them. We learn language to show that we are on their side, while also making it clear that things are not going to be OK. "I wish that the antibiotics were helping, but I worry that your loved one is dying," we say...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/opinion/doctor-patient-death-truth.html?smid=em-share

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