Scott Alexander shares conspiracy theory that COVID didn't happen - eviltoast
Links for May 2024
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In his original post he said:

4: Related, breaking news: A popular Substack claims that COVID didn’t happen at all, and that both “lab leak” and “natural origins” are part of the higher-level conspiracy to distract people from the fact that there was never a virus in the first place.

He later edited the post to add:

I wonder if I could even more Substack likes if I one-upped them with a theory that lockdowns never even happened, and it was just one of those Berenstein Bear or Mandela Effect things where everyone has a false memory.

So now it’s ironic, and therefore not harmful to spread the conspiracy theory to his large audience.

  • Coll@awful.systemsOPEnglish
    20·
    6 months ago

    I left a comment that made a similar point with some data:

    4: Please stop sharing conspiracy theories

    5: Higher wages are useless if your country’s infrastructure and tax system is so piss poor that you need to spend more on basic necessities. We have economic metrics that account for some of this, such as the difference between income and discretionary income. Free-market propagandists always point to the US having high income, but the same can not be said for discretionary income. For example, if we compare the US to the Netherlands, we see that the US median disposable income is 41K while in the Netherlands it’s 36K. But let’s compare how much you have to spend in your day to day life and calculate the discretionary income based on that:

    ________________________US_______Netherlands

    income________________41k_______36k

    food___________________5.1k_______3.7k

    shelter_________________13.2k______13k

    clothing________________1.2k_______1.5k

    transport______________6.3k_______3.4k

    health__________________3.2k_______1.8k

    student debt___________2.1k_______0.8k

    discretionary income__9.9k_______11.8k

    As we see, the case the free-market capitalist makes falls apart once we look at discretionary income, which collectivist and social policies ensure is higher in the Netherlands.

    EDIT: Scott has edited the post to make 4 seem less like an endorsement and more an ironic share. This is better, but I still prefer it if these things aren’t spread at all.

    EDIT 2: Source for the 2021 US-Dutch disposable income vs discretionary income (as well as a lot of other comparisons between median US and Dutch expenditure): https://www.moneymacro.rocks/2021-07-02-dutch-vs-america-middle-class/

    • Amoeba_Girl@awful.systemsEnglish
      20·
      6 months ago

      christ the level of bad faith wrongheaded nonsense you’re getting in response is maddening

      How would you justify your demand to stop sharing conspiracy theories? What’s the rationale?

      dude