The Mysterious Case of the Covid-19 Lab-Leak Theory

The Lancet letter was very effective in terms of defining the narrative and branding lab leak as a conspiracy theory. It took a while for the letter to be recognized as more advocacy than science. Proponents of the lab leak theory (Tom Cotton) were unattractive to the Washington Post and other media sources who were happy to label them as conspiracy theorists.

Though I understand how some traditional media sources and social media companies (like many Americans) may have felt that Trump's reelection had to be stopped by any possible legal means (as per Time magazine's story), I don't understand precisely why suppressing the lab leak theory would need to be part of that.

Most people aren’t researching deep into stuff. Most people are taking cues. Sort of justifiable given how complex the world is.

That’s not a dig at either side though — it’s a dig at both. I’m for vaccines but I’ve heard “just look at the science!” from both sides and I know they’re both equally uninformed, because that is not how you determine credibility. It’s the dumbest line I hear consistently.

The whole thing is a fuckup on an international scale. All the bio-tech organizations from different countries involved in it (including the US and China) are responsible for this. Instead, the governments initially try to hide it and make it look like a natural phenomenon, and then start to blame each other with nationalist propaganda once that doesn’t work. Absolutely appalling.

I made a comment here on hacker news that there were repeated code inserts in the gene sequence that meant it may have come from a lab and everyone criticised me angrily.

I’ll dig out the comment

Censorship is real and very scary.

To be fair, the narrative in the media changed just a little, coincidentally at the same time.

I thought furin cleavage sites naturally occurred in coronaviruses? See https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187350612...