Antivaxxer James Lyons-Weiler, like so many antivaxxers, just let his transphobe freak flag fly high. Does he have to abuse evolution too?

Antivaxxer James Lyons-Weiler, like so many antivaxxers, just let his transphobe freak flag fly high. Does he have to abuse evolution too?
Last Friday, Bill Maher went full transphobe, repurposing old antivax trope commonly used to deny a predominantly genetic component to autism and claim vaccine causation in order to mock the idea that there is a biological basis to being transgender and claim its prevalence is increasing now because it’s “trendy.”
As hard as it is to believe, in the middle of a global pandemic that’s claimed so many lives and so thoroughly disrupted society, there are people who still deny germ theory. How can this be?
There is a defect in thinking that is arguably at the heart of much of science denial, dichotomous thinking. We all do it to some extent, but science deniers do it in spades.
A week and a half ago, an old “friend” of the blog, pediatrician and antivaccine apologist Dr. Jay Gordon, made an appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher. In a long segment, the antivaccine misinformation flowed fast and furious in a Gish gallop of pseudoscience. WTF, HBO?