Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is facing widespread criticism from political leaders and civil rights organizations after a video surfaced of him making false claims that COVID-19 was designed to attack certain ethnic groups while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people — a conspiracy theory that drew accusations of antisemitism and racism.

    • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      We don’t know the exact origins

      And many big organizations say there’s a reasonable chance that it was lab altered.

      we should assume given the likelihood it is and the lack of evidence otherwise that’s its perfectly natural

      We don’t know the origins, as you said before, but we should assume it was natural? I don’t assume either way, but it seems weird you claimed both these things.

      He is obviously throwing racist dog whistles

      No, he’s not. He said that we don’t know if it was created/altered by humans or not.

      But we do know it affects different ethnicities differently, which is, once again, objectively right.

      refusing to see that shows you are a racist

      Refusing to think like you makes me a racist? I think we have different definitions of racist.

        • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          The vast majority of diseases are natural so assuming its engineered without hard evidence is silly

          The scientific community has been vocal that it’s reasonably likely it was altered in the coronavirus lab. You being anti-science is your problem, not RFK’s.

          • RaincoatsGeorge@lemmy.zip
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Actually that’s incorrect. There’s no consensus with multiple agencies coming to different conclusions ranging from maybe it was to we have no idea.

            No one has found any smoking gun. But what is more telling is the conspiratards that dog pile on this topic as if the question of its origin somehow validates all their stupid bullshit over the past 3 years. It doesn’t, and all the anti mask anti vaccine idiots have blood on their hands that people like me will never, ever let them forget.

            So until we find actual proof, this remains soundly in the category of unknowns.

            • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Dang, you see this new article yesterday? https://archive.is/jnSIS

              "The Biden administration formally halted the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s access to US funding, citing unanswered safety and security questions for the facility at the center of the Covid lab leak theory. "

              Oh wait, biden is probably just a right win lunatic “conspiratard”, huh?

              • RaincoatsGeorge@lemmy.zip
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                Ah, trouble with reading comprehension I see. Don’t worry you’ll get there.

                As I stated, there’s no consensus and no smoking gun, this also doesn’t cite the Biden administration claiming they caused the leak just that there are security concerns.

                So this still proves nothing definitively, but it sure seems like you need it to prove something, which is the bigger issue in my mind. If you need it to be a lab leak to ‘show you were right all along’ you probably are generally incorrect about things and at worst are peddling racist conspiracy theories with no foundation other than that you want it to be true.

                Covid showed just how shallow and stupid so many people are. We really got to see some of you guys show your true colors. Just know that there will always be people like me who will never let you forget what you did during that time.

                People don’t forget.

                • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  And my whole argument was “Reasonable likeliness”

                  Come on man, I didn’t say anything concrete, or say anythings proven. You just dismiss it because it’s not proven. There’s a middle ground, like ya know, percentages.

                  You have 1 percent, 2 percent, 10 percent, and so on and so forth. So there’s a scale rather than a binary “not proven, can’t exist”

                  • RaincoatsGeorge@lemmy.zip
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    arrow-down
                    1
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    There’s two equally compelling sources of the virus. The wet market located in wuhan which easily could have been a source. Or the lab where they were studying coronaviruses and also easily could have been a source.

                    It’s important to remember the reason the coronavirus lab was located in wuhan was specifically because there was a place locally where it could be easily obtained.

                    What’s the truth in that. How do you point to the exact source without making assumptions, and at that point you’re just filling in the blanks for whatever you want to believe or what supports your worldview .

                    You can point to lots of things that china fucked up about the pandemic, but as we have seen, even with advanced warning the US completely failed to prepare or appropriately handle the pandemic.

                    There’s a lot of people that need to be held accountable for their bullshit during that time. It’s better than grasping at xenophobic speculation.

            • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Just because you don’t believe it means that it’s not real.

              https://oversight.house.gov/release/covid-origins-hearing-wrap-up-facts-science-evidence-point-to-a-wuhan-lab-leak/

              There’s enough consensus from the scientific community to say we don’t know, especially with the understanding that china is not transparent with the world.

              So, once again

              RFK said 2 facts. That’s it. Find some real dirt on him if you want to trash him.

                • MasterOBee Master/King@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  2
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  I read your source, and found this:

                  Neither of the Science papers provide the smoking gun — that is, an animal infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus at a market.

                  Republicans are lying g to you for pitiful points. Sorry.

                  Ahhhh yes, the government house oversight committee is just republicans. Read the sources, read the facts, listen to the organizations and scientists and they say it’s reasonably likely it was a lab leak of some sorts. Is it more likely that it was natural? Yes. But does that mean it 100% was and we shouldn’t question it, no. Absolutely not. You’re an idiot if you think it’s beyond question, and anti-science if you think it’s beyond question.

                  • Sparking@lemm.ee
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    Yeah, this is very disingenuous. That was the single concession in an article full of proof that that meet market played an important role in spreading the virus, and that it is probable that is where transmission occurred. Short of detecting and recording the original infection, which is very unlikely to have happened due to the nature of the virus.

                    And yes, the house oversight committee is controlled by Republicans, because they make committee appointments after they gained control of the house of representatives in the 2022 midterms, and this was a political priority for them. If you read their release, it is clear that the questions were lead by Republicans.

                    Now we cannot be 100% sure what the origins are, so we can make a conspiracy theory that that chain engineered the virus and planted it, severly infecting their own population, in order to unleash a worldwide pandemic because… reasons…

                    Or we can acknowledge that a scenario that was pretty widely anticipated occurred, and it became a political priority for the Republicans to deny after trump started to, which they then pursued with their new policial power in the house. But a politician would never lie to you right?