"covid didn't leak from a lab, that's a conspiracy theory"

elsily

Mon, May 24 2021, 12:05 pm

My post was responding to comments that China released a man-made virus to the world on purpose.

My comment about conspiracy theories and parenting was because the anonymous posters refused to post under their real names for fear of being judged. They said that people wouldn’t take their advice because they believe coronavirus was man-made. I felt I was confirming their belief that they stated first- someone won’t trust their parenting advice on this site because they believe in a “conspiracy” or “fringe” idea. Maybe my wording was harsh. I’m sorry for that.

In regards to new information coming out, I still believe the initial studies of the virus’ genome that showed it couldn’t have been man-made. Were they researching the virus in the lab and it got out unintentionally? Maybe. Was it released on purpose? I don’t think so.

amother

Purple

Mon, May 24 2021, 12:29 pm

elsily wrote:

Excuse me you straight up said it was impossible and that it was confirmed to be impossible. We can all read the thread and what you said to the poster. And the discussion was the origin not conspiracy theories.

elsily

Mon, May 24 2021, 12:36 pm

amother [ Purple ] wrote:

The discussion, from what I remember, stemmed from the assertion that it was a man-made virus that was leaked on purpose. I’m sorry if I’m not remembering correctly. I said that based on the research published in Nature, according to the genetic makeup, it could not have been man-made.

number

Mon, May 24 2021, 2:28 pm

ora_43 wrote:

- arguing that China released the virus deliberately into its own population, for... reasons? (I could accept 'reducing elderly population', maybe, since that's most of what the virus does; anything else seems like a stretch)

If the virus was intentional, then yes, that would be the reason.

I’m a proud conspiracy theorist so I’ve been insisting all along that it came from the lab. I think it’s unlikely to have been intentional but it’s certainly possible.

dancingqueen

Mon, May 24 2021, 5:06 pm

amother [ Red ] wrote:

The Chinese conspired amongst themselves to evade blame and responsibility for infecting the the world with Covid. Now whether it was done deliberately or by accident is an important question but it seems Fauci is acknowledging that it might be fair to call this "the china virus" after all. There was a man who was ridiculed for a long time for referring to the virus by this name. Turns out he might have been right!

I’m on record here as having long agreed with the theory that Covid came from a lab.

That said, everyone always knew that the virus came from China. It’s not a chiddush. But calling it the China virus was still in bad taste that lead to Asians being targeted and even killed. We of all people should be sensitive to that.

NotInNJMommy

Mon, May 24 2021, 5:11 pm

While fully acknowledging that I don’t know nor will likely ever know, my top guess among remotely possible guesses has always been it came from a lab and was released out of negligence, not intentionally. My second guess was there was some intention (like a crime of passion involving individuals) but nothing intending things to get to this level. I don’t really think either are a conspiracy theory by definition.

amother

Dodgerblue

Mon, May 24 2021, 6:02 pm

dancingqueen wrote:

We had the Italian variant, the Indian variant, the Brazilian variant... why not call it the Chinese one too?

Laiya

Mon, May 24 2021, 6:30 pm

elsily wrote:

And then some of us pointed out that the research wasn't conclusive, just exploring a hypothetical and in fact, many scientists were questioning the premise.

Eta. Now that I'm looking back, the Nature article was merely an op ed, iow an opinion piece. It's crucial to understand the difference between an op ed and an actual study.

Last edited by Laiya on Mon, May 24 2021, 6:45 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Emerald

Mon, May 24 2021, 6:37 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

To those who believed the lab-leak thing was all a conspiracy theory.... Now Fauci is saying it may have leaked from the Wuhan lab, as is the CDC director. Thoughts?

I've no doubt this disease was released with intention. And I've no doubt Fauci has been fully aware from the beginning. Ditto for all the new vaccine billionaires.

Laiya

Mon, May 24 2021, 7:13 pm

Here's a recap of the covid origin story.

Trump said he suspected that the virus came from a lab. Sen. Cotton said there should be an investigation.

The response was overwhelming ridicule from the entire establishment. Of course Trump is a moron. Obviously Sen. Cotton is a conspiracy theorist. Fauci emphatically denied the possibility of lab origin in decisive terms, and all mainstream media hopped on the bandwagon while showing zero willingness to engage in actual investigative journalism. They relied on an Op Ed in Nature to appear scientific.

Anyone who did question the new narrative was dismissed as an anti-science conspiracy-theorist quack. This included people like Luc Montagnier, former Nobel winner and world-renowned virologist whose life's work focused on studying another retrovirus, HIV.

There were Snopes articles and Fact Checks. And now, NYT and Vox are retroactively editing their original articles presumably out of sheer embarrassment (which should be unethical, but I digress).

At least Fauci's position is understandable. Now that it seems clear that he directed funding of the Wuhan lab, he was eager to avoid blame.

It wasn't science and it wasn't journalism.

And I think that is what was most disturbing for many of us.

amother

Mon, May 24 2021, 7:24 pm

amother [ Crimson ] wrote:

Virus weren't discovered until about 120 years ago.

So common sense?

Common sense is a type of worldview. It's instinctive.

Some people prefer the "narrative" worldview. Ignore instinct, follow the narrative. The narrative is that Trump is wrong. The narrative is that this virus evolved naturally. Whatever the narrative, stick to it.

amother

Mon, May 24 2021, 7:33 pm

elsily wrote:

No, the post you responded to did not suggest that the lab release was intentional. That's your own spin on what she said. She simply said that it leaked from a lab. Here is what she said:

"What other pathogen has such a wide range like this? And you expect me to believe it wasn't engineered in a lab? Not to mention, it barely mutates for nearly a year (when viruses are supposed to mutate pretty quickly, the more contagious the faster the mutation) and all of a sudden, just as the vaccine starts rolling out, threatening to return our lives to some semblance of normalcy, suddenly a bunch of worse, more transmissible strains are suddenly cropping up."

She suggests that the virus was engineered in a lab. Not that the leak was engineered.

And as to your comments regarding the trustworthiness of someone who believes in the lab-leak theory, this is a copy & paste of what you said:

"Makes sense to me that someone might question your parenting judgement if you are a believer of conspiracy theories."

So the conspiracy theory in this case is the lab-leak theory.... And no, the poster did not suggest that the leak was intentional.

amother

Mon, May 24 2021, 7:39 pm

Laiya wrote:

Precisely