6 wild anti-science theories that won't go away
When people mistrust modern science it can lead them to embrace extreme world views: a hollow Earth, mind-control drugs sprayed from airplanes, poisonous vaccines, and more.
Here are six wild theories that persist, even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
1. Vaccines
The theory: Measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine will cause autism, or will cause severe infection.
Where it came from: British doctor Andrew Wakefield and others published a paper in The Lancet, based on 12 children, in 1998.
The fallout: The study has since been retracted by the journal (which called it “utterly false”) and by all its authors except Wakefield. A lengthy hearing concluded he lied extensively, taken money under the table from lawyers planning to sue a vaccine maker, done lumbar (spinal) punctures without consent and faked the results. He was stripped of his medical licence in 2010 but continues to be an anti-vaccine activist.
While many people don’t entirely believe the vaccine is dangerous, some avoid having their children vaccinated because it might turn out to be true.
Meanwhile a recent summary of known MMR studies by the Cochrane Collaboration, a medical body that summarizes evidence on specific topics, combined the results of research on 14.7 million children. It found no evidence of autism risk. It did confirm that fever (a common effect of the vaccine, but usually mild) can cause temporary seizures in infants.
2. Reverse curvature
The theory: Earth is hollow. We live on the inside of its shell, with the sky at the centre. The stars are an illusion.
Where it came from: Videos on YouTube are at the centre of it and show a cut-away Earth with the continents and oceans inside and a light source in the centre.
The fallout: People believe there is a conspiracy on the part of governments and scientists to suppress research that allegedly proves this theory is true.
3. Chemtrails
The theory: The white streaks behind high-flying aircraft are not contrails (condensation trails caused when hot exhaust hits cold air) but chemical trails. The government and the U.S. air force are spraying mind-control drugs or poison on us. Or they are “geoengineering” — trying to change Earth’s climate.
Where it came from: No specific origin is known, but spraying of chemical weapons and defoliants (such as Agent Orange) may play a role.
For example, a website called British Columbia Chemtrail Alert lists these ingredients: “Aluminum oxide particles, barium salts, barium titanates, ethylene dibromide, cadmium, methyl aluminum, desiccated human red blood cells, nano-aluminum-coated fiberglass, sub-micron particles (containing live biological matter), polymer fibers, unidentified bacteria, enterobacteria cloacal (sic), enterobacteriaceae, mycoplasma, human white blood cells-A (restrictor enzyme used in research labs to snip and combine DNA), mould spores, bacilli and moulds, yellow fungal mycotoxins, lead, mercury, nitrogen trifluoride, nickel, calcium, uranium” and more.
Variation: Fluoride in water is a mind-control drug as well.
The fallout: Chemtrail theory is widely held. It attracts callers to late-night radio shows and has a vast array of websites. Yet many scientists have never heard of it.
4. HIV was engineered by humans
The theory: HIV was created by the U.S. government to eradicate blacks and gays, and to use as a military weapon of genocide.
Where it came from: A series of books published from the 1990s on. An example: “Emerging Viruses: AIDS & Ebola. Nature, Accident or Intentional?” (1996) by Leonard Horowitz, a dentist.
The fallout: In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that people over age 50 are often reluctant to be tested for HIV until they have developed AIDS.
The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) did a recent study concluding that “various psychological barriers may be keeping this older at-risk population from getting tested.
Among them are a general mistrust of the government — for example, the belief that the government is run by a few big interests looking out for themselves — and AIDS-related conspiracy theories, including, for example, the belief that the virus is man-made and was created to kill certain groups of people.
“Now, a team of UCLA-led researchers has demonstrated that government mistrust and conspiracy fears are deeply ingrained in this vulnerable group” and often deter them from getting an HIV test.
5. Climate change hoax
The theory: Climate scientists are liberals trying to help government take greater control over our lives and the economy. An alternative is that the climate change proponents may be well-intentioned but don’t understand as well as they think they do.
Where it came from: Widespread resistance to the difficult and expensive switch away from fossil fuels. Evidence for the alleged plot includes the hacked “Climategate” emails written by UK climate scientists. Proponents of the hoax theory said the emails, discovered in 2009, show government-funded scientists were manipulating data and trying to suppress dissent.
The fallout: A recent U.S. study found that conservatives don’t trust scientists on climate or evolution, while liberals distrust them on nuclear energy and fracking.
6. False flags
The theory: While not directly concerned with science, this belief rejects commonly accepted evidence.
It says prominent attacks such as the shootings on Parliament Hill last fall and recently in Copenhagen were staged by governments. Sometimes the participants are alleged to be actors.
Where it came from: The old military practice of flying an enemy’s flag in order to conceal an attack.
The fallout: Supporters claim the ability to detect, often from news photos, inconsistencies that make the official story impossible.
News websites, including the Citizen’s, were flooded the day of the Parliament Hill attack with the view that it was a hoax intended to build support for war in the Middle East.
An example later posted on LiveLeak.com: “The ‘Canada War Memorial Shooting’ seems timed perfectly to get soldiers riled and in the mood for war in the Middle-East. A little TOO perfectly? There are Canada connections to the Sandy Hook fake school shooting, where zero children died, and also to the fake Aurora ‘Batman’ shooting (i.e. in a Colorado movie theatre in 2012), and fake mall shootings as well.
Similarities abound to many already well-documented fake shooting hoaxes of the past. Just scratching the surface yielded all this. Does anyone think they can prove it REAL?”
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