SARS-COV-2 Origins, Continued

AG_PhamD

Elite Member
Posts
1,028
Reaction score
969
Continuing this saga, new news purportedly supporting the natural origin hypothesis:


I am actually very happy to see a lot of media sources, especially major outlets, take this report with a far more balanced approach considering many of their track records.

It’s important to note this research (as far as I can tell) has not been peer reviewed. The data supporting the findings has not been made available by the American researchers and the raw data has been since removed from China’s databases. As raw data came out of China, it deserves significant scrutiny given the circumstances- but even circumstances aside China has historically had a chronic and significant issue with research fraud. That’s not to say the West doesn’t have its own scandals, at least a few during COVID in our top journals, but China is a very different situation. (Case in point: for what, the first couple years of the pandemic China claimed under 4500 COVID deaths which we all know is simply not true any way you cut it. Now I think they say 8x,000, but it as assumed they have at least 1m using a similar scale, likely many more.)

This research of course is not conclusive, far from it at the moment given the lack of vetting, but could be very important if deemed credible. It certainly warrants review and further digging. If based legitimate data. What is evident is China apparently had been apparently withholding this data for years. That should be no surprise given many of their other actions in the aftermath.

And that is what is perhaps most concerning to me. Why hide the underlying data for years, then release at what seems to be an awfully coincidental temporally speaking given the escalating attention allowed to the lab leak hypothesis. That said, it legitimate coincidences can occur.

Perhaps not so surprisingly, some of the sources who have celebrated vindication by the DoE and FBI reports appear to be ignoring this all together. The news cycle is still early, but it would be very unfortunate for them to forgo demonstrating the objectivity they claimed to have back in the days where the lab leak hypothesis was snubbed despite very limited evidence to the alternative.
 

Citysnaps

Elite Member
Staff Member
Site Donor
Posts
3,601
Reaction score
8,819
Main Camera
iPhone
Perhaps not so surprisingly, some of the sources who have celebrated vindication by the DoE and FBI reports appear to be ignoring this all together. The news cycle is still early, but it would be very unfortunate for them to forgo demonstrating the objectivity they claimed to have back in the days where the lab leak hypothesis was snubbed despite very limited evidence to the alternative.

Though still inconclusive, it appears we're getting closer to understanding the origin. No matter what the outcome turns out to be, I certainly understand why the Chinese government does not want even more attention drawn to this.

I'm curious though... who are some of the sources who have "celebrated vindication" but may now be at risk to ignore this altogether, forgoing objectivity? As you said the news cycle is early. My question is with respect to news reporting and not opinion pieces.
 

AG_PhamD

Elite Member
Posts
1,028
Reaction score
969
Though still inconclusive, it appears we're getting closer to understanding the origin. No matter what the outcome turns out to be, I certainly understand why the Chinese government does not want even more attention drawn to this.

I'm curious though... who are some of the sources who have "celebrated vindication" but may now be at risk to ignore this altogether, forgoing objectivity? As you said the news cycle is early. My question is with respect to news reporting and not opinion pieces.

I’m not convinced we the public will ever receive a conclusive answer, at least not for many years to come. It would not be surprising if China has a good idea of what happened nor would I be that surprised if the intelligence agencies had a pretty- particularly if this does happen to be a lab leak OR a lab leak was somehow involved (presumably you could have some combination of the two). A pure lab leak scenario would be pretty s disastrous for all the major players here- China, US via our funding/oversight, biotech industry, and those in areas of relative power who support such research. So long as China withholds and obfuscates we will likely never have conclusive evidence.

I would hope we are moving towards at least a somewhat clearer uncovering the origin. We’ll have to see how this data pans out.

I believe Fox was very much celebratory about the DoE and FBI results. I have yet to see an article, or at least one I can easily find, regarding this development. I would say the border between objective news and opinion are very muddied among many major networks like Fox. Rarely do you get straight news without an immediate programming on how one should interpret the news. Fox’s stance on the origin I think has less to do with academic/scientific inquiry and more about “owning the lives” and promoting anti-China sentiments whenever possible.
 
Top Bottom
1 2