In fact my feelings about this are probably best expressed on a Roman tombstone. It has been translated in different ways, but my favourite version is the following:
I was not
I was
I am not
I care not
However, whilst my removal from Wiki is, in one way, completely irrelevant in the greater scheme of things. In another way it is hugely important. As Saladin said of Jerusalem, whilst he was battling with the Christians during the crusades. 'Jerusalem is nothing; Jerusalem is everything.'
My removal from Wikipedia is nothing. My removal from Wikipedia is everything. Not because it is me, but because of what it represents. No to beat about the bush, there is a war going on out there between scientific enlightenment, and the forces of darkness.
You think that is too dramatic? Well, this is what Richard Horton - editor of the Lancet for many years - has to say.
'The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue...science has taken a turn towards darkness.' - Richard HortonScience has taken a turn towards darkness... Of course science cannot really turn anywhere. It is not an entity. Science is simply made up of people. The scientific method itself, is simply an attempt to discover what is factually true, by being as objective as possible and removing human bias. It is, like everything humans do, imperfect. Bias is always there.
What Horton means is that the methods used to pursue science have increasingly moved from the pure Olympian ideal, a disinterested quest for truth, to something else. Distortion, manipulation and bias. In some cases downright lies. I hesitate to use the term 'fake news', but that is what it is. What it is becoming.
As John Ioannadis had to say in his seminal paper 'Why most published research findings are false',
'Moreover, for many current scientific fields, claimed research findings may often be simply accurate measures of the prevailing bias. It is more likely for a research claim to be false than true.'I think, in truth, this very much depends on the area of science you are looking at. Some are highly contentious, for example, Global warming, and here you can see dreadful science being done on all sides, as people desperately try to prove their point.
Moving closer to my area, nutritional science is awful. A complete mess. I have virtually given up reading any paper in this area as they just annoy me so much. Ioannadis has looked at the area in some detail. To quote from The American Council on Science and Health:
Dr. Ioannidis bluntly states that nutrition epidemiology is in need of "radical reform." In a paragraph that perfectly captures the absurdity of the field, he writes:How did this garbage get published? How does the garbage get published? On the other hand how did a major study on replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat (The Minnesota Coronary Experiment) NOT get published.
"...eating 12 hazelnuts daily (1 oz) would prolong life by 12 years (ie,1 year per hazelnut), drinking 3 cups of coffee daily would achieve a similar gain of 12 extra years, and eating a single mandarin orange daily (80 g) would add 5 years of life. Conversely, consuming 1 egg daily would reduce life expectancy by 6 years, and eating 2 slices of bacon (30 g) daily would shorten life by a decade, an effect worse than smoking. Could these results possibly be true?"
The answer to his rhetorical question is obviously no. So, how did this garbage get published?
Because it found that polyunsaturated fat did lower cholesterol levels, but the more it lowered the cholesterol level, the greater the risk of death. That is in the results, this was the conclusion:
Available evidence from randomized controlled trials shows that replacement of saturated fat in the diet with linoleic acid effectively lowers serum cholesterol but does not support the hypothesis that this translates to a lower risk of death from coronary heart disease or all causes. Findings from the Minnesota Coronary Experiment add to growing evidence that incomplete publication has contributed to overestimation of the benefits of replacing saturated fat with vegetable oils rich in linoleic acid. https://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i1246The results of this study were, eventually found in the garage of the son of one of the lead investigators. It was recovered and published forty years later. Long after one of the lead investigators, Ancel Keys, had died.
I wrote the book Doctoring Data to try and shine some light on the methods used to distort and manipulate data. I try, as best as I can, to follow the scientific method. That includes discussion and debate, to test ones ideas in the furnace of sustained attacks.
However, if you try to do this, the forces of darkness come after you, and they come hard. Especially if ever dare to suggest that animal fats, saturated fats, are not in the least harmful. At which point you waken the vegan beast, and this beast is not the least interested in science, or the scientific method,or discussion or debate.
It has one aim, and that is to silence anyone, anywhere, who dares to question the vegan philosophy. Aided and abetted by the Seventh Day Adventist church. Below is a short list, non-exhaustive list, of those who have suffered their wrath.
Prof Tim Noakes - South Africa
Dr Maryanne Demasi - Australia
Dr Gary Fettke - Australia
Professor John Yudkin - UK
Dr Aseem Malhotra - UK
Dr Uffe Ravnskov - Sweden
Dr Andreas Eenfeldt - Sweden
Dr Zoe Harcombe - UK
Dr Robert Atkins - US
Nina Teicholz - US
Gary Taubes - US
Dr. Anna Dahlqvist - Sweden
Several of these doctors have been dragged in front of the medical authorities, usually by dieticians, who claim that patients are being damaged. So far, they have all won their cases - often after prolonged and expensive legal hearings. Luckily, the courts recognise logic when they see it.
Uffe Ravnskov has his book, the Cholesterol Myths, questioning the cholesterol hypothesis burned, live on air. All of the brave souls on this list have been accused of 'killing thousands' at one time or another. Maryanne Demasi lost her job with the Australian Broadcasting Company.
Now, it seems, the attacks have moved into a different area, such as a determined effort to remove everyone from Wikipedia. When the vegans find someone they don't like, they work tirelessly to extinguish them from the record. They call them kooks and quacks - but they never ever reveal who they truly are. They exists in the shadows.
They got rid of me from Wikipedia, they are currently attacking Aseem Malhotra, Uffe Ravnskov, Jimmy Moore, and the entire THINCS network. (The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics). There are even worse things going on, that I cannot speak about yet.
Yes, this is science today. At least it is one part of science - which is not science, and it has definitely turned to the darkness. You can be accused of being a kook and a quack by someone who hides behind anonymity and never dares to show their face. In truth, I know who it is. Someone found out for me. Yes MCE, it is you.
You want a debate, come out into the open, reveal yourself, your motives and your arguments to the world. Then we can do science. Until then please expect me to hold you in the contempt that you deserve.
Reader Comments
When dealing with the second type, allowing them a face-saving out is important. Such people who lack the courage to face down Orwellian herd dynamics, generally are going to feel a lack of courage to admit they are wrong; they will either pass the buck or double down and flee into the herd. BUT, if you can demonstrate effectively that their argument is flawed in a way which they cannot directly or rationally dispute, (no easy feat, to be sure, but if you manage to get that far), a curious thing will happen afterwards with no effort on your part...
Your debate opponent will often seek out some arbitrary side issue to be correct about. It may be something as small as a point of grammar, or they may try to re-define the terms of the debate post hoc. Or (when it works best) it may be some element you were truly ignorant about.
If you allow them to win that point, if you accept the correction after some token (or even real) struggle, and allow them to pretend that the primary emotional import of the debate turned on that singular point, then they can retreat with a feeling of victory, of having saved face, BUT in doing so, in order to own that victory, they must by default also have accepted your original premise.
It's not as complicated as it sounds. Basically you win the argument and then let them win the followup, "yeah, well you're also stupid!".
-Which establishes common ground. You're both idiots. People concerned with fitting in above being correct value sameness.
Whether or not it sticks after that is up to them. We cannot be responsible for other people's level of awareness.
Nutrition is a good example of a field where propaganda and evangelization has taken over. May I suspect the depopulation agenda in the background ? Paranoid or not, I have now switched to a paleo/carnivore diet, after undergoing the dire consequences of veganism.