Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Evolution History Holocaust denial Intelligent design/creationism Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Science Skepticism/critical thinking

The “vindication of all kooks” corollary to the principle of crank magnetism

A couple of years ago, fellow ScienceBlogger Mark Hoofnagle over at Denialism Blog coined a most excellent term to describe all manners of pseuodscience, quackery, and crankery. The term, “crank magnetism,” describes the tendency of cranks not to mind it when they see crankery in others. More specifically, it describes how cranks of one variety […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

The anti-vaccine “biomed” movement: Hijacking legitimate scientific research

As hard as I find it to believe, the fifth anniversary of this blog is fast approaching. When I started this whole endeavor, it was more or less on a whim that struck me on a cold, dreary, gray Saturday in December, and I had no idea that five years later I’d still be at […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Desiree Jennings: Worst reporting ever?

I hate to revisit this case again. However, some of my readers have sent me links to something that compels me to dig up the rotting corpse of Generation Rescue’s despicable attempt to use the suffering of a troubled young woman to push the idea that vaccines are harmful. I’m referring, of course, to the […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Autism Medicine Quackery

The Chicago Tribune: Telling it like it is about the antivaccine autism “biomed” movement

There are times when I look back, and I can’t believe I’ve been at it this long. It’s not just the blogging, the fifth anniversary of which is rapidly approaching for me. Hard as it is to believe, not only have I become a “venerable” medical and skeptical blogger, but there are actually a lot […]

Categories
Antivaccine nonsense Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Quackery

Why people ignore vaccine denialists

A lesson that’s worth learning. Of course, I only wish people ignored vaccine denialists; unfortunately, enough people don’t that vaccines are a frequent blog topic for me: