30/05/2020
The wonders of the modern world are many. Technology has enabled us to do so many things and, in many ways, has improved our lives immeasurably. However, as with anything in life, there is the ability for technology to be used for nefarious purposes.
The incredible explosion of memes is, I guess, not surprising. It is easy to create a meme and share it; and that meme can say anything.
These memes are just one way in which some people share lies and deliberately skewed facts, with the aim of leading people to adopt views or beliefs that are contrary to the information presented by governments, scientists and other reputable sources.
Some are aimed at promoting a political, religious or ideological opinion. Others are aimed at creating anarchy or creating mistrust. Many are targeted at creating hatred.
A recent post on Facebook, a medium that has been used extensively for spreading misinformation, included a long series of such memes.
I decided to make an, admittedly childish, comment. My comment was, “You are seriously deranged.”
The response was mild, but it was obvious that others were buying into the nonsense.
I decided to share a separate post in the same group, with a report from the recognised fact checking organisation, FullFact. This then drew derision, saying that anything with the word 'fact' in it couldn't be trusted and shouldn't be believed.
There have been conspiracy theorists, probably, throughout the existence of mankind. But it seems that these people are now more able to get their messages out there and sway the opinions of gullible individuals.
They will now try and convince those who don't buy into these crackpot, and often dangerous, theories that they are the 'sheep' being hoodwinked by governments and media organisations.
So, I decided to have a look through the memes he had shared. What follows is my review of each one.
It's a big headline and, no doubt, would not only appeal to socialists; but also to many people from all political and socio-economic backgrounds.
What follows, is an attack on China and the World Health Organisation (WHO) along with some ridiculous statements.
There has been an ugly outcome from this pandemic, other than the significant numbers of deaths, in that racist attacks on people of Asian background have increased substantially. Many of those attacked, physically or verbally, were born and bred in the West and, significantly, many weren't even Chinese in their heritage.
The idea that China and the WHO have cooperated in a deliberate attempt to enable the spread of the virus is hugely insulting to the people of China and, indeed, to the WHO. No-one is denying that China is a secretive nation and that it can be difficult to trust some of the information it releases. People living in China have limited access to information from the outside world, because the Chinese government censor the information that their citizens can receive. Amongst the websites blocked in China are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
So, I'm not going to try and defend the Chinese government and their record on human rights, but to suggest that they have deliberately promoted the spread of the virus is unfair. It is even more unfair to try and blame the Chinese as a nation; they have no access to the information we have in the West that might cause them to understand the potential harm of some of their traditions.
The second point is one that I have seen several people promote and loads, scarily, accept. Whilst most of us understand that the numbers of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at the moment are on the low side, there are some who seem to believe that the numbers of deaths have been artificially been increased. Indeed, there is another meme that I will cover in this (rather long) blog post that deliberately misrepresents fact checked data to further this belief. The numbers of deaths in the UK that have been attributed to COVID-19 have so far been limited to deaths where a positive test for the virus has been obtained. This means they are currently quoting the number of deaths from COVID-19 as 38,376. The evidence would suggest that the actual number of deaths from the disease is well over 50,000; because there have been many 'excess' deaths (an increase in the number of deaths in the period when compared to historical data) where tests have not actually been undertaken.
"The vaccine is about money, pure and simple" is the next utterly moronic statement. There have been many allegations levelled at the feet of Bill Gates, who has invested $billions of his personal fortune in many charities, including the research into vaccines and the delivery of vaccines to vulnerable people in countries that cannot afford to purchase the vaccines. It may be true that the large pharmaceutical companies make profits from the provision of vaccines, as well as other medicines, but they also invest massive amounts of money in trying to find the medical solutions to the illnesses that affect people's lives. The anti-vaxxer movement is a danger to the health of millions, if not billions of people. It seems that it doesn't matter how many scientists, doctors, nurses and other experts vocally criticise those who argue against vaccines; these people will continue to place their trust in people with no knowledge or expertise, and those who have been shown to have tried to profit from their own criticism of certain vaccines.
The penultimate statement in the meme asserts that the most violent wars and conflicts in history have been financed by rich people. This is a really odd statement. It doesn't state that it was rich people who started the wars, or even influenced them; but that is obviously the intended message. Wars have typically been funded out of taxation, frequently after the war has finished. The fact that most rich people pay more tax than those who are less well off. The most critical thing to remember about the history of warfare, is that the catalyst (or maybe just the excuse) for most wars has been religion.
The final point suggests there is lots of evidence that large fortunes are used to corrupt people, businesses and governments. Corruption is an issue, to varying degrees, in most countries and in society as a whole. It isn't only an issue in respect of wealth. Sex and sexuality has always been used as a tool in corruption. The answer isn't to ban sex, or to ban wealth, but to fight corruption itself; something that is done already.
This meme is frankly disgusting, although I can understand how some will find it amusing.
Bill Gates is indeed worth over $100 billion and clearly he has the ability to influence others. That doesn't mean he has or would use his influence inappropriately.
Bill Gates is probably the world's greatest philanthropist; having given huge sums to charity and promised to donate 90% of his estate to charities and worthy causes. Far from profiting from vaccines, he has donated money to help find medical solutions and ensure that people receive the help they need.
Jimmy Saville was, without doubt, an evil and manipulative monster. The BBC were guilty of looking the other way and of enabling him to continue to abuse children and young people.
There are staff in the hospitals where he preyed on vulnerable children who also should have acted upon suspicions and brought an end to his horrendous crimes.
However, it is clear that he managed to disguise his abhorrent behaviour and was very good at self-promotion. He used a level of generosity to deflect attention from the horrors he inflicted on so many innocent people, some of whom were powerless, confused and too scared to tell others about what was happening to them.
There are definitely some who were guilty of preventing the story from breaking, when allegations were made, but it is unclear as to whether this was due to a desire to protect Saville, or (as I think was rather more likely) out of a fear that they would be unable to prove the case against him and would therefore be fighting legal action against them.
Far worse than the media in the case of Saville, are the churches in respect of paedophile priests and abusive nuns.
This is yet another example of twisting facts and ignoring reality.
The lockdown was a tool used by almost every country as a means to reducing the spread of the virus. The initial restriction was quite significant, but did allow people to leave their homes for a number of reasons, including exercise.
As has already been seen since the easing of restrictions, if you allow one person to sit on a park bench, or sunbathe in the park, there will very quickly be too many people doing the same thing and the ability to manage social distancing will be jeopardised. If you look at the recent footage of parks and beaches, it is perfectly obvious that people cannot be trusted to keep their distance from others. If the lockdown wasn't imposed more strictly in the beginning, we wouldn't have managed to 'flatten the curve' and the NHS would have been overloaded with the volume of cases.
During the initial lockdown period, there were people breaching the guidelines and driving significant distances to the beach, to beauty spots and elsewhere. Inevitably, this lead to a number of road traffic accidents and this leads to emergency services personnel having to put themselves at risk. There were numerous instances publicised by my local force, which highlighted incidents where police, fire fighters, paramedics and the air ambulance were all required to deal with crashes; putting significant numbers of first responders at risk - they cannot practice social distancing whilst trying to save someone's life.
What can you say about this?
The image is obviously completely disconnected from the text that accompanies it.
I think it's worth thinking about the the original image, which I believe came from an earthquake incident in South East Asia. It isn't particularly nice to use such a photograph to try and be funny or promote an unrelated conspiracy theory.
As it is complete nonsense, it's almost churlish to finish by pointing out that whoever created this meme doesn't know the difference between 'there' and 'their'.
There is no doubt that uncontrolled and ever increasing population growth poses a threat to the planet. Global warming will be difficult to control if the growth rate of the population isn't addressed.
In 1997, when Bill and Melinda Gates first ventured into public health, they focused on birth control, funding a Johns Hopkins effort to use computers to help women in the developing world learn about contraception. Their logic was that health = resources ÷ people and as resources are relatively fixed, the answer lay in population control.
Gates later came to the conclusion that birth control was not the best approach to achieve the goal of slower population growth, instead realising, counterintuitively, that a reduction in childhood mortality was the best way to limit population growth. This was because most parents didn't choose to have eight children because they want to have big families, but because they knew many of their children would die. By bringing the child death rate down, you can actually slow the rate of population growth.
There is no evil plan. Bill Gates is saving lives, and enriching them, not trying to make future generations infertile.
This is yet another example of manipulative conspiracy theorists trying to create sheep who will accept their twisted anti-logic.
I am not complying with the lockdown out of fear. I really haven't felt any fear in respect of the COVID-19 pandemic; even when an idiot on a bicycle deliberately came close to me as I sat in the passenger seat of my daughters convertible, roof down, and made a big thing about coughing at me.
I complied with the lockdown in order to do exactly what was intended; bring the rate of infection, the 'R' number, down from the level it was at, slow the number of infections and reduce the pressure on our hospitals and health workers.
I don't believe I am better than anyone else. If I were to form such a selfish attitude, it certainly wouldn't be related to the existence of, or lack of, fear. Fear isn't a virtue. Honesty, compassion, ethical behaviour and random acts of kindness are virtues.
This doesn't present fact.
It probably started life as a joke by a stand up comedian.
There really isn't anything worth saying about this particular meme that isn't more appropriately covered elsewhere in blog this post.
I'd be interested to know if there are any scientists on the planet who would agree with the suggestion that this is a scientific fact.
I'm sure that even the author of this would agree that they wouldn't.
What is amusing is that many people complain about the BBC; those who vote Conservative say it's left wing and anti-government, whilst Labour supporters claim it to be a de-facto government news merchant, constantly promoting whatever message the Prime Minister asks them to.
The fact that both extremes of the political sphere in the UK complain so bitterly, suggests they might actually be doing their job reasonably well. Although, I have to say that many of the 'journalists' we have in this country seem incapable of adequately performing that role.
However, when moaning about the press in this country, it might be worthwhile people stepping back for a moment and watching clips of President Chump (the orangutan president) whining about 'fake news' in America.
What if I told you: that conspiracy theorists are wasting so much of their time reading complete nonsense that has been written by anti-vaxxers and flat-earthers, gorging on the misinformation and then sharing it with others;
They are wasting the opportunities to embrace life and make a meaningful contribution to society?
To be honest, I wouldn't really try telling anyone that. It's pointless. The sheep that lap up the conspiracy theories are probably managing to enjoy their lives just the same as the rest of us. And you know what they say:
"When you are dead, you don't know that you are dead. But, it's painful for the people around you. It's a bit like when you level of stupidity have reached 'conspiracy theorist'."
There is absolutely no doubt that Donald Trump is a xenophobic bigot. Even many of his supporters admit this to be the case.
Trump has assembled a long record of comment on issues involving African Americans as well as Mexicans, Hispanics more broadly, Native Americans, Muslims, Jews, immigrants, women, and people with disabilities.
His statements have been borne out through his behaviour:
He placed adverts calling for the execution of five young black and Latino men accused of rape; who were later shown to be innocent.
A former employee of Trump’s Castle, in Atlantic City apparently said, “When Donald and Ivana came to the casino, the bosses would order all the black people off the floor.”
Trump emerged as a political force owing to his full-throated embrace of 'birtherism'; the false charge that America's first black president, Barack Obama, was not born in the United States.
His presidential campaign was fueled by nativist sentiment directed at nonwhite immigrants, and he proposed barring Muslims from entering the country.
So, whilst the writer of this ridiculous meme might be a Trump fan, he most certainly doesn't understand the orange faced buffoon.
So This is something written by a well known fantasist named Bobby Joe Fannin; Duncan O'Finioan is a name he used in a fictional book he wrote, which he later claimed to be auto-biographical.
So, he's another 'nobody' claiming to be someone special. I guess he is a shepherd; and those who get taken in by his nonsense are his sheep.
This meme itself is completely pointless.
It doesn't actually have a message to fact-check.
And yet, people will share it.
And, sadly, they will then use it to 'support' whatever far-fetched conspiracies they are 'following'.
Because it (the meme) doesn't actually contain any meaningful content, the reader can 'believe' it means anything they want.
I haven't once worn a mask on my face when out shopping.
I don't think that's disgraceful and, in fact, the vast majority of people aren't wearing masks.
The sort of masks that some people are wearing would offer some protection to others around them, if the mask wearer had COVID-19.
They would likely increase the risk for the wearer, if they are not carriers or suffering from COVID-19. This is because particles from other infected people could get trapped in the fabric of the mask, meaning the wearer would be breathing that contamination in for longer.
For an infected person, the mask would go some way towards trapping the infection (the spores being breathed out / coughed) and slowing their possible path into other people's breathing space.
Proper clinical masks would work, but these obviously need to be saved for the front line health workers who are exposing themselves to increased risk, treating patients who are suffering from the worst cases of the virus.
Kary Mullis did indeed win a Nobel prize for his work on developing polymerase chain reaction (PCR). He subsequently become well-known for his eccentric views. He disagreed with the scientific consensus on the causes of climate change and believed that the connection between HIV and Aids was a conspiracy. He was a known user of LSD.
Whilst he expressed some pretty strange views, such as those above, I have found nothing to substantiate the allegation that he said PCR shouldn't be used to diagnose a virus. And I have searched. I have read extracts from people talking of his death (he died last year) and I have read his own writings on his website; including his journey in developing PCR and how it was being used.
As it is, there are multiple diagnostic tests for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) that are available so far. These tests are largely based on four different techniques: 1) reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) – the current standard test for COVID-19; 2) loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) – a simple, but less developed testing method; 3) lateral flow – hand-held single-use assays providing results for an individual patient in as short as 15 minutes: and 4) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) – quick and technically simple assays that are easily read and offer relatively high throughput.
There is a lot of work being undertaken to understand COVID-19 and how to defeat it.
The people do indeed have the power; the power to use their judgement in how they deal with life on a day to day basis, the power to use common sense when receiving information from various sources and, quite importantly, the power to have their say at the ballot box every five years (here in the UK) and elect a new government.
Another ridiculous meme.
I do not understand why some conspiracy theorists cling to the belief that there isn't a virus and that many tens of thousands of people are dying in countries across the globe.
But, why would anyone imagine that the existence of a deadly virus, one that is likely to kill between 1% and 5% of those infected, would be cause for police officers to wear kit like shown in the image above?
Do you really think the police would be comfortable wearing such protection? Do you think they would be able to communicate effectively with members of the public if they were wearing that?
And, if they required such protection, would you suggest that our shop workers should also be hidden from view by such over the top protection?
Julian Assange is indeed an alleged criminal. The sharing of other people's confidential data without their permission is wrong. The theft of information is wrong. Rape, one of the crimes he is alleged to have committed, is abhorrent and obviously wrong. Hacking computers is wrong.
Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly been attacked by the media, and by governments, and by conspiracy theorists.
His social media platform has brought a lot of harm, as well as a lot of good. In times like this pandemic, it has enabled people to keep in touch with loved ones in a way that emails, phone calls and texts can't replicate. It also offers a platform for people to share repugnant views and spread disinformation; such as this meme.
Zuckerberg has clearly made an incredible fortune from Facebook and the other ventures he has entered into. And yes, many companies, governments and individuals have used it for illegal or immoral purposes.
But the platform is also repeatedly asking users to check their security settings and ensure they protect themselves from fraudulent approaches.
This is another case of stating the obvious.
In the western world, and in other countries with a functioning democracy, the people have the power to elect their representatives in government; both locally and nationally.
In certain countries, this really isn't the case. North Korea is the most obvious example, but nations like China, Iran and Syria are also guilty of not providing their people with the power to influence their futures effectively.
As for the 1%, who are they supposed to be? Is that the actual conspiracy theorists who herd their followers around like sheep?
It's quite laughable that this one is here.
One of the catalysts for me addressing this series of memes, was a woman stating that Full Fact were not a reliable source of information and that anything with the word 'fact' in it should be mistrusted.
But, here we go again. The aim of the conspiracy theorist is to take a piece of information and misrepresent it in a manner that serves their own purpose.
Full Fact did indeed investigate the claim that 96.3% of Italy's COVID-19 deaths were actually caused by other diseases and found it to be false.
In sharing just this part of their report, the author of this meme is trying to convince the reader that 96.3% of Italy's COVID-19 patients did die from other health issues.
If you actually look at what they found, they were completely right to state that the allegation was incorrect.
If we looked a sample of road traffic deaths over a given period, we would find that a certain percentage were female and a certain percentage male. That wouldn't mean that those individuals died from being male, or from being female. If I were to allege it did, you'd rightly suggest I was being stupid.
And yet, this meme is effectively trying to convince the reader of something very similar.
If I have an irregular heart murmur, and I die from a brain tumour, it doesn't mean that my heart condition should be treated as the cause of my death. If I have a brain tumour (and I actually do have one of those) and I die from an asthma attack, it would be wrong to say that I died from a brain tumour.
The same is the case for those 96.3% of COVID-19 deaths in Italy. Just because they had other health conditions, doesn't mean that they were going to die from them; let alone that the other condition caused their death that day.
You can read FullFact's report here.
As far as I'm aware, it is only in America that the police motto is 'to protect and serve'. That fact alone is quite ironic, as the evidence would suggest that their motto should be, 'to protect and serve white people'.
But, that aside, it is true to say that the purpose of police forces in almost all countries is indeed to protect citizens.
They do this by enforcing the laws laid down in parliament (in whichever country or state they work), which are created by the politicians we, 'the people' elect.
The vast majority of police officers do not look anything like the images shared in this meme, which actually seems to show (in some cases) pictures of soldiers, not police officers.
I'm not sure if the author of this meme actually wants a world without laws and without the protection offered by those laws, but regardless of that, it's a pretty stupid meme.
Many of the conspiracy theorists' favourites all rolled up into one nonsensical meme.
First up, if you're poisoned and become unwell, you are obviously sick. If you weren't sick, there would be no concern about the poisoning.
This is simply a group of well know and disproven assertions and it's pretty pointless spending much time arguing against them all individually; I've spent far too much time on this 'project' already over several days. But it is interesting that they include 'G5 TOWERS', which I assume is supposed to be 5G Towers and would relate to the stupid theory that the 5G masts are the cause of the COVID-19 virus; which the people sharing these memes denies exist.
Coronavirus (it's one word, not two) is actually a term used for a large number of viruses; not just COVID-19.
I haven't seen anyone in society behaving like the girl in the top photo, although there's no denying that some people are seriously scared.
I, like most people, have no interest in whether Jeffrey Epstein was murdered of committed suicide. The fact is, he was a paedophile who used his power and money to take advantage of teenage girls, to abuse them and to enable others to abuse them too.
If he was somehow murdered, more likely it was due to people's views of his own crimes than because of a fear he would provide information about others who had attended his parties and abused children.
Personally, I haven't found the need to wear masks or gloves when out and about during this lockdown period. I know that many people do, although those wearing masks in the UK whilst shopping are definitely in the minority. The same goes for the numbers of shoppers wearing protective gloves.
The wearing of masks will have no effect on the wearers immune system, in the same way as they have no (or minimal) effect of protecting against the COVID-19 virus. In fact, it might actually increase the chances of becoming infected, because spores containing the virus may get trapped in the fabric of the mask, increasing the time you spend breathing in the pathogen. The masks worn by people in the street have some positive effect in reducing the risks of someone infected, passing that infection on to others; simply by reducing the speed of any infected particles leaving the individual's mouth and nose.
The government have not, at any stage, said that people should avoid the sun. They had said that sunbathing in public spaces was not permitted for a period of time, to help stop the spread of the virus in packed parks and beaches.
Fear cannot suppress the immune system. Frankly, that's a pretty stupid thing to suggest.
Vaccines do not make the patient sick with the disease and they do not weaken the immune system. Vaccines introduce a disabled antigen into the body so the immune system can produce antibodies against it and create immunity to the disease. The vaccine does precisely the opposite to what is suggested in this meme.
Washing your hands with soaps, including synthetic soaps, does not suppress your immune system. Getting sick from the a germ on your unwashed hands may make you immune to that particular strain, but will not mean you are immune to later versions that have evolved. So, avoiding washing your hands can lead to you getting a pretty nasty bug; with some pretty unpleasant outcomes, but offer no tangible benefits.
I could go into a lot more detail on this particular point, but this blog post is already incredibly long and there's more of these ridiculous memes to cover.
There have definitely been instances where people have the fact that there is a significant piece of news, which is attracting the attention of the general public, as a screen to try and sneak some other news out.
Whether it has been effective is open to debate.
The attempt by the then Labour government to release bad rail figures on the day of Princess Margaret's funeral didn't work and Jo Moore's suggestion that the 9/11 attacks in America created a 'good day to bury bad news' led to her having to resign.
Right now, with the COVID-19 pandemic monopolising the news on a daily basis, I actually look out for other stories; surely there is non-pandemic news.
But, with so many people looking, it is unlikely that governments or media organisations are realistically going to be able to successfully distract the populous in such a manner.
Of course, conspiracy theorists are actually trying to do this all of the time.
It is so easy for conspiracy theorists to allege that the world is actually run by a cabal; a group of insanely wealthy individuals.
It is the sort of thing that's almost impossible to disprove; much in the same way that, whilst I am an atheist, I realise it's impossible to prove that god doesn't exist.
The existence of god isn't based upon credible evidence, in much the same way that the existence of the New World Order lacks any supporting information worthy of belief.
This is one of those theories that has even some normally rational people questioning their views.
I find it staggering to believe that anyone really believes that the US government colluded with the bombers or had, in any other way, an involvement with the collapse of the World Trade Centre (WTC) buildings that day. It really is just one of those events that, no matter what happened and what the impact was, conspiracy theorists were guaranteed to spin some story about it not being what it was.
On that day, I was sat at my desk in Canary Wharf and we were watching the news unfold on various news websites. The ability to actually stream the news at our desks hadn't actually developed at this point, so it was a case of refreshing the page every few minutes to get an idea as to what was happening. Whilst sat there, I had a call from one of my brothers who questioned why I was at my desk when Canary Wharf had been evacuated. It hadn't been evacuated was the simple answer, even though many news outlets were reporting that it had.
Then, a long, long time before any news outlet mentioned Bin Laden as a possible individual responsible for the attack, Graham (the aforementioned brother) said he was pretty sure it was indeed the Al Qaeda leader. Graham was a lecturer on politics and hate crime, and he referenced Bin Laden's previous attack on the WTC and an (at the time) recent attack on an American Navy ship.
In my opinion, any suggestion that the government coordinated a simultaneous bomb attack on the buildings is ridiculous.
In reality, plane debris sliced through the utility shafts at the North Tower's core, creating a conduit for burning jet fuel and fiery destruction throughout the building. Burning fuel traveling down the elevator shafts disrupted the elevator systems and caused extensive damage to the lobbies. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) heard first-person testimony that "some elevators slammed right down" to the ground floor. "The doors cracked open on the lobby floor and flames came out and people died," says James Quintiere, an engineering professor at the University of Maryland and a NIST adviser.
Jet fuel burns at 800° to 1500°F, which is not hot enough to melt steel (2750°F). However, experts agree that for the towers to collapse, their steel frames didn't need to melt, they just had to lose some of their structural strength, which will happen with exposure to much less heat. "I have never seen melted steel in a building fire," says retired New York deputy fire chief Vincent Dunn, author of The Collapse Of Burning Buildings: A Guide To Fireground Safety. "But I've seen a lot of twisted, warped, bent and sagging steel. What happens is that the steel tries to expand at both ends, but when it can no longer expand, it sags and the surrounding concrete cracks."
"Steel loses about 50 percent of its strength at 1100°F," notes senior engineer Farid Alfawak-hiri of the American Institute of Steel Construction. "And at 1800° it is probably at less than 10 percent." NIST also concluded that a great deal of the spray-on fireproofing insulation was likely knocked off the steel beams that were in the path of the crashing jets, leaving the metal more vulnerable to the heat.
And, jet fuel wasn't the only thing burning. The jet fuel was the catalyst for the WTC fires, but the inferno was intensified by the combustible material inside the buildings, including rugs, curtains, furniture and paper. NIST reports that pockets of fire hit 1832°F.
This is simply nonsense.
A few examples of viruses caused by 'nature', but for which the vaccine was developed in a laboratory, include:
Yellow Fever - a disease caused by a virus that is spread through mosquito bites. The first recorded yellow fever epidemic was in Mexico in 1648. The vaccine, which is safe and effective, was developed by virologist Max Theiler in 1937.
Measles - a disease first noted in the 9th century which occurs due to an infectious agent in the blood. It is naturally occurring and the first effective vaccine was created and licensed in the US in the early 1960s. This was then improved upon in 1968.
Rubella - a naturally occurring virus for which a vaccine was developed in the 1960s.
Polio - a naturally occurring virus that I recall my old maths teacher suffering from, was dealt with by a vaccine developed in 1953.
There are many, many more examples. The key message though, is that it is factually incorrect to suggest that vaccines only work for viruses created in laboratories.
Again, it is completely untrue to say that the planet contains plants that can cure every human illness.
What we quite rightly do, when we are ill, is get advice from those who are qualified to help us; mostly doctors and nurses.
Your average GP or hospital nurse doesn't have the time and expertise to find all the solutions, which is why scientists and doctors have collaborated to find cures for diseases and illnesses.
The research, testing and approval of medicines takes many years in most cases and can frequently involve failed solutions (which cannot therefore be sold to help cover the cost of the research and development), before any success is achieved.
If this man, or you, really believe there is a natural remedy for all human illnesses, why don't you go out there and find them? Have the courage of your convictions. Become a snake oil salesman.
In Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus first emerged, officials didn’t just need to build new hospitals for the influx of patients; they had to construct a new medical waste plant and deploy 46 mobile waste treatment facilities too. Hospitals there generated six times as much medical waste at the peak of the outbreak as they did before the crisis began. The daily output of medical waste reached 240 metric tons, about the weight of an adult blue whale.
Here in the UK, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) used by NHS staff treating COVID-19 patients is considered 'infectious waste'. This equipment is placed in dedicated thick plastic bags, which are then sealed and placed in large plastic bins. These bins are kept locked and collected by a medical waste management company.
In the UK, as with many other Western countries, there is specific protection offered to people who expose crimes. If a whistleblower exposes wrongdoing in the correct manner, they will not be adjudged to have committed a crime and should not face discipline or discrimination for their act.
The key to avoid becoming a criminal, is to comply with the rules on whistle-blowing. It is quite simple and there is plenty of guidance available.
Rather than look back at past cases, I think it's just as easy to discount this meme by focussing on the COVID-19 example.
Professor Ferguson did not predict millions of deaths. He actually said that his modelling indicated there might be more than 500,000 deaths; if the government did nothing.
Obviously, the government did many things, including introducing the lockdown in order to 'flatten the curve' and reduce the 'R' number down from 3+ to less than 1. They also increased the number of critical care beds and ventilators available, so that if efforts to slow the spread of the disease failed, the NHS would have the space and the equipment necessary to try and save lives.
By all means criticise him for flouting the lockdown rules and having his lover visit him, which resulted in his resignation from SAGE, but introducing manipulated figures and made up facts is plain wrong.
"Truth Hits Everybody"; but then conspiracy theorists don't care about truth. They know they can post a picture of anyone with a random and unsubstantiated claim and their sheep will believe it.
FullFact is a UK based charity and non-profit company, which discloses it funding sources on its website.
Hoax-slayer is the Australian site owned and run by Brett Christensen, and derives its income from advertising.
Snopes is independent and gets its funding from a mixture of advertising and donations.
PolitiFact is a US based fact checking organisation. It lists where it gets its revenue from and did actually receive some funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2015 ($70,000) and 2016 ($126,650) to help it fact check check claims about global health and development in partnership with Africa Check.
But, the sheep will continue to lap up such nonsense.
There is no doubt that Bill Gates is a man of great influence. He's the co-founder of Microsoft and was the man that had the vision of most households having a computer; something he was mocked for at the time.
He is also one of the world's greatest ever philanthropists.
Indeed, this meme pays tribute to some of the incredible gifts he has, through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, made to organisations that help people.
Then, in typical form, the meme navigates away from facts and tries to convince the reader that his benevolence is in fact evil in nature.
It trots out some of the lies referred to elsewhere in this blog post, such as the lies about Professor Ferguson's COVID-19 modelling, and even spouts the nonsense about vaccines being used as a way to microchip the people of the world.
It is fact being used to tell lies.
This post has no real content.
It doesn't try to push any particular (non) facts, just tries to suggest that activists (better known as conspiracy theorists) have been predicting our current reality.
That is, of course, complete nonsense. If it were true, they'd be sharing the evidence rather than an image of a man staring at an apparently fake flame.
If you want evidence of someone who had warned us of the potential impact of a pandemic, watch Bill Gates' 2015 TED Talks speech.
Or, for entertainment value, watch Contagion; the 2011 movie starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Yet again, the meme tries to suggest that those who won't absorb the conspiracy and follow along like sheep, are scared. It's nonsense, but here must be a reason for this consistent messaging. Is it that they are trying to convince their sheep that they are actually being brave?
Every missing child is a problem.
Exaggerating the issue offers no benefit to anyone.
The statement that anyone who believes such inflated statistics constitute 'fake news' are 'part of the problem' has no merit at all.
Pointing out inaccuracies in such memes, doesn't make me a child kidnapper, or an enabler. It simply means I'm not one of your sheep.
The actual statistics for child disappearances in the US for the last two years, as provided by the National Center* for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) are 421,394 (2019) and 424,066 (2018). NCMEC get their data from the FBI.
This number represents reports of missing children. That means if a child runs away multiple times in a year, each instance would be entered into NCIC separately and counted in the yearly total. Likewise, if an entry is withdrawn and amended or updated, that would also be reflected in the total.
As I said above, every missing child is a problem. Misrepresenting such information is also a problem.
* The NCMEC is an American organisation, hence the misspelling of Center.
We actually do still have a problem with domestic slavery in the Western world, including within the UK.
Those slaves don't tend to be held in chains, but are coerced into working through various means.
So, the premise of this meme is rather insulting to those who actually are dealing with slavery. This can include victims of human trafficking; forced to work on fishing boats or, in the UK, in cannabis farms and the sex industry.
If you build up debt, as I have myself, it doesn't make you a slave in the real meaning of the word. Your employer is not forcing you to work for little or no payment. It's just that you have found yourself in a position whereby too much of your money is required to pay off loans. This is not always the fault of the individual, but it is rarely the fault of their employer.
This looks like a poster used by protestors complaining about the lockdowns imposed as a result of the COVID-19 virus.
People are not being conditioned to view their freedom as selfish, they are simply being asked to be mindful of the impact of their behaviour on others.
In the UK, the government have repeatedly praised people for the action the majority have taken in complying with the lockdown. They have expressed understanding at how the restrictions have really affected people, but explained why it was considered necessary in the UK, as indeed it was in most countries that have been affected by the pandemic.
What is selfish, is ignoring the impact of the virus on those who have had to continue working; shop workers, refuse workers, teachers and other council employees, bus drivers, train drivers, delivery drivers and, of course, those working in the NHS, Fire & Rescue Service, Police Force and other front line workers.
This would appear to be an incitement to commit a crime.
The ridiculous claim that COVID-19 is caused by 5G masts has already been debunked and this is just trying to stoke those fires.
You should be ashamed to share such a meme, without admitting that it's complete nonsense and stressing that people should not copy the idiots who have already damaged some 5G masts.
This one is quite funny.
It is actually describing the actions of the conspiracy theorists. The numbers of conspiracy theorists is, sadly, too high; but I would say it's not quite 'monolithic'.
It is good if you to admit your part.
This is just yet another example of a meme that doesn't actually say anything.
It's purpose is simply to get the sheep to think they're going to find some enlightenment by buying into the belief that there is something sinister behind every organisation, government or other body.
Just more nonsense, with no facts to back it up.
We can all pick a quote from famous people of the past and use them to support our narrative today.
This is especially the case when the author has long since passed, so cannot speak as to whether or not he agrees with its use.
In this particular case, I would say that we have indeed moved (sadly) into a period where many people don't place high regard on the truth.
That is the case whether it is the sheep believing the drivel posted by conspiracy theorists, or the fact that our politicians are getting elected and changing our lives by lying profusely and, it seems, disregarding the need for any truth in what they say. That is how we have ended up with Britain leaving the EU and with a Conservative government that has a significant majority.
This was actually started in America and there's people who have dismissed the meme because, in their words, the owners don't care about the content of the media they own, as long as they make a profit.
However, I don't agree with this. Some of these media barons do indeed hold sway over the editorial style, and even the content, of their publications.
That's why it is important to have a healthy cynicism when receiving news stories from newspapers and some other media outlets. Many articles present opinion disguised as fact, although some of them do include the actual facts but express them in a way to mislead the reader.
In that way, they are very similar to conspiracy theorists.
[UPDATE: 02/06/2020] This article was updated to correct a number of typographical errors, which were pointed out to me by a friend, Sally. Sally also pointed out that the date I had given to the article was 30/03/2020, which was an error. I started researching the information on 29/05/2020 and commenced writing the piece on 30/05/2020.
Thank you Sally.
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