I’m a doctor, but Covid’s broken my faith in medical research. I can’t believe anything I read or accept any mainstream facts
Malcolm Kendrick – RT May 29, 2021
Those of us who put forward an alternative view to the prevailing orthodoxy on the virus or on vaccinations are being vilified, threatened and cancelled. This is not how science, or a functioning democracy, works.
I haven’t written for a while, sorry. Instead, I have been sorting out two complaints about my writing made to the General Medical Council (GMC). Also, a complaint from NHS England, and two irate phone calls from other doctors, informing me I shouldn’t make any negative comments about vaccines.
For those in other countries, or who don’t know about such things, doctors in the UK are ruled by many different organisations, all of whom feel able to make judgement and hand down various sanctions. The deadliest of them, the Spanish Inquisition if you like, is the GMC, who can strike you off the medical register and stop you working as a doctor. They have great power, with no oversight.
Prior to this, I had been phoned by, and attacked by, two journalists and a couple of fact-checking organisations that have sprung up which can decide your guilt or innocence with regard to any information about Covid-19. Of course, no one can check the fact-checkers. They are the self-appointed guardians of ‘truth’. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes – indeed. Who does guard the guardians?
In truth they have not scared me off, just greatly annoyed me. The problem is that if they really decide to hunt you down, then you are wiped from the system. Dr. Joseph Mercola, the American alternative medicine proponent, is, for example, having to remove information from his site in great haste. Once wiped from the internet, it becomes very difficult for anyone to read anything you write or listen to anything you say. It is a major problem if this is how one makes a living.
I was removed from Wikipedia a couple of years ago, but I do have a couple of insulting pages on Rational W to take their place. Edited and controlled by – who knows?
I think it is the extreme wing of the vegan party who decided to wipe me from Wikipedia and write the Rational W slights. I say this because a large number of other people I know who are critical of the diet-heart hypothesis, those who dared to suggest that eating animal products is perfectly healthy, were also obliterated from Wikipedia at pretty much the same time.
I did rather like the idea of Wikipedia when it started, but it has been taken over by people, some may say zealots, with their own agendas. This is particularly true of a few scientific areas I am particularly interested in. Diet, heart disease and Covid-19.
Frustratingly, there is nothing you can do if Wikipedia decides to wipe you out. There is no appeal. Those who have gained the power to edit Wikipedia are answerable to no one. They rule their little empires with absolute power. They are, of course, exactly the sort of people who should have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with science. Their minds were made up years ago. They have agendas, they are the anti-science, anti-scientist brigade.
The main purpose of science is to question and attack. To subject ideas to the greatest scrutiny. Those who decide to shut down and stifle debate – whatever they may believe themselves to be doing – are, in fact, traitors to the cause of science. Stranglers of the enlightenment, assassins of progress.
They are not alone, and things have gotten far worse in the past year or so. Science has taken a terrible battering during Covid-19, though I have always known that dissent against a widely held scientific hypothesis is difficult.
Just trying to get published is a nightmare. The peer-review system is one of the many weapons used against innovative thinking. ‘Let’s see what the current experts think of this new idea which threatens to overturn everything they have researched and taught over the last 30 years, and have built their reputations on… I wonder if they will like it and approve it?’
Experts certainly create a formidable barrier to change. As described by David Sackett, a founding father of evidence-based medicine, in his article, ‘The sins of expertness and a proposal for redemption’:
“… It then dawned on me that experts like me commit two sins that retard the advance of science and harm the young. Firstly, adding our prestige to our opinions gives the latter far greater persuasive power than they deserve on scientific grounds alone. Whether through deference, fear, or respect, others tend not to challenge them, and progress towards the truth is impaired in the presence of an expert.
“The second sin of expertness is committed on grant applications and manuscripts that challenge the current expert consensus. Reviewers face the unavoidable temptation to accept or reject new evidence and ideas, not on the basis of their scientific merit, but on the extent to which they agree or disagree with the public positions taken by experts on these matters.”
And his remedy:
“But there are still far more experts around than is healthy for the advancement of science. Because their voluntary retirement does not seem to be any more frequent in 2000 than it was in 1980, I repeat my proposal that the retirement of experts be made compulsory at the point of their academic promotion and tenure.”
Expertise is great. ‘Experts’… well, that is a completely different matter. We certainly have a few formidable ones kicking about with Covid-19. In the UK, we have the great and good of the SAGE committee made up of – who knows? – and chosen for whatever reasons. They wield enormous power, and never disagree on anything. In the US, we have Fauci and the CDC. Ditto.
In the background we have the World Health Organisation (WHO)… who can tell you what way the wind is blowing if nothing else. They remind me of Groucho Marx’s famous comment. “These are my principles. And you if you don’t like them… I have others.” However, we at the WHO would like to make it clear that nothing about Covid-19 has anything to do with China, in any way. Can we have more money please?
Anyway, where are we with this virus, and with science?
In my opinion, Covid-19 succeeded in breaking my last vestiges of faith in medical scientific research. I cannot believe anything I read. I accept no mainstream facts or figures.
We are told such utter nonsense. For example, the ‘fact’ that vaccination protects against Covid-19 more effectively than having had the disease itself… This is just utter nonsense.
We were told that the virus was spread by touching contaminated surfaces… Really? We were told it spread through droplets, not aerosols. Which is the most complete garbage. We were told that everyone has to wear a mask. We were told it could easily be passed on by asymptomatic people. Based on nothing at all. I could go on.
Yet, no one seems remotely bothered by any of this nonsense. The public seems to lap it up, and attack anyone who questions the current narrative. I feel that I am clinging onto a dying religion. The religion of Francis Bacon and the Enlightenment, as set out here:
“Baconian method, methodical observation of facts as a means of studying and interpreting natural phenomena. This essentially empirical method was formulated early in the 17th century by Francis Bacon, an English philosopher, as a scientific substitute for the prevailing systems of thought, which, to his mind, relied all too often on fanciful guessing and the mere citing of authorities to establish truths of science.
“After first dismissing all prejudices and preconceptions, Bacon’s method, as explained in Novum Organum (1620; ‘New Instrument’), consisted of three main steps: first, a description of facts; second, a tabulation, or classification, of those facts into three categories – instances of the presence of the characteristic under investigation, instances of its absence, or instances of its presence in varying degrees; third, the rejection of whatever appears, in the light of these tables, not to be connected with the phenomenon under investigation and the determination of what is connected with it.”
This way of thinking, it seems, lasted from 1620 to 2020. 400 years of immense scientific progress. The age of enlightenment. We are moving back to the prevailing systems of thought… to fanciful guessing and the mere citing of authorities to establish truths of science.
The Dark Ages are returning.
Malcolm Kendrick is a doctor and author who works as a GP in the National Health Service in England. His blog can be read here and his book, ‘Doctoring Data – How to Sort Out Medical Advice from Medical Nonsense,’ is available here.
Okay, I got somewhat bored after the 5th paragraph.
So you are professional, in the field of medicine. I’m not a professional, but I did become a truther on 9/11, because I didn’t believe the official/fake news narratives.
I was banned by the BBC in the day when they had forums, I’ve been banned by most new papers, I’ve been banned by publications that I actually paid subscriptions to and Twitter banned me.
The deep state has trashed several home computers and laptops. I’ve had some very strange car system failures while driving and these didn’t show up on the cars diagnostic computer… these cars have systems that record everything. And I’ve caught someone stalking out my home. I have also been banned by so called alternative news/truth sites because I questioned their promotion of old daft theories as new ideas or moderators who were deleting my posts.
I’ve attended meetings and decided that the organiser was well dodgy and others where the speaker and all the other attendees were there just to assess ME. That was a strange experience, but I rumbled it early on.
Most of the contributers on this site, I’ve a BIG question mark over them. And the same for those who post comments.
There’s a war going on for control of your mind. This is not only true for the fake news, it also applies to sites like this and this is not an attack on the editor. I don’t know him and he doesn’t want to know me.
Doctors and other professionals buy into a system. Take journalists, they either work directly for a media organisation or they freelance. Either way, you are bound by so many rules, most are not written down, that x journalist simply becomes a presstitute. There’s no ifs of buts about this.
The next point, and you’d be well advised to keep this in mind when you consider anyone in the public know & this even applies to regular sheeple. Most sheeple on TV, radio, or guests, anyone known to the public will be putting on an act, this applies to politicians as well. I’ve met well know sheeple, some who come across as thinkers, socially aware, on TV and radio, but when you meet them, you soon realise that what you thought you knew about these sheeple is totally false. And this applies to pop stars and politicians.
I’m sure that some do it to keep their sanity and protect the real them, but most do it to be relevant. Imagine that there were 5 UK breakfast TV stations and each one was fronted by a clone of Piers Morgan… it just won’t work and this is true of any area in the media.
So when some nut job at the WEF makes a speech saying xyz and A number of writers jump on his every word, I’d suggest that Mr Nut Job is having a laugh. While Mr Nut Job is probably telling a few truths, he’s also peddling bullpoo. He probably goes out to dinner and has a good laff about it. Mr Nut Job wants to be relevant. There are exceptions, such as the current BofE chief. Compared to his predessor, he’s almost silent & while this might be a personal choice, I suspect its more about his guilt when he led the FCA.
Sheeple like Gates and Musk, they seek relavance. Musk says he won’t let Tesla accept Bitcoin, but he fires rockets into space… cognative dissonance springs to mind.
End of rant.
Vaccibackicacki (because the correct word is an obscenity) has been a fraud since 1796 and professionals are nearly all parasites, and the posh British are very good at getting a salary while being a waste of space. Knowing this, they are also bowing out of existence in favour of even bigger conmen with brown skin. The British agree to commit suicide, on both sides of the doctor-patient equation.
@Carl Jones + @Lewis Jones,
Are you guys related to this guy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we37yX3zpKA
Here’s his best advice to all Mr. Joneses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC10VWDTzmU
.
Carl Jones,
You see, there are times that I do agree with you. In fact, more than you would believe. And those times have been far more of late, than when you first started contributing.
TT is one of the few places we can all meet to chat and share ideas on what’s going on. It’s invaluable.
I am NOT a doctor, but I did enjoy reading this, anyone who can and will “kick against the pricks ” of “expert consensus” deserves attention. Bookmarked and followed some links, cholesterol denialist?
Good for you!
(The rest of you, sacrifice two virgins and call me in the morning…)
Lewis Jones,
“British are very good at getting a salary while being a waste of space. Knowing this, they are also bowing out of existence in favour of even bigger conmen with brown skin. The British agree to commit suicide, on both sides of the doctor-patient equation.”
When I got back from London, about 12 years ago now, back home to my birth city in Scotland, I noticed a massive change in the time I’d been away. Other than lots of old buildings having been knocked down, there were FAR more immigrants. There were a lot more blacks and Indian sub continent peoples, as well as Eastern Europeans and my city, once working class, is now a big student campus, for learning nonsense.
What I really noticed though was the behaviour. While in the past people didn’t drive around with loud music, blaring up and down the streets, today it’s just so AND WORSE, black (c)rap music and hip-hop blares from inside. And yes, the drivers are predominantly non white. They’re gaining a foothold up here, as they did in England. And as for the English, well, there are far more of them up here, as they’ve fled to move to ‘whiter’ climes, while still promoting their multicultural and multiracial ethos, that drove them from England to Scotland.
It’s madness.
Bob Dylan (to the commenter with no name) sold his soul to Satan and I hate him from as far away as I can get, yet you smuggle his stench into my ears.
I am his majesty’s dog of Kew
Pray tell me sir,
Who’s dog are you?
I agree 100% with the article and as for the borin g Carl Jones? I got bored in your FIRST sentence goldfish Brain !
I know several local healthcare workers (paramedics, etc.) fed up with the covid crapola, no longer wear masks, will not get booster shots (yes, they did get both Modernas and hopefully they love to tell about it if you know what I mean), and know that what the CDC told them is garbage….some are even having guilt trips about it.–from a resident in far west Texas
As all our comments are viewed before they are permanently posted, I tend to wonder what kind of real hasbara comments, made by real hasbara shills never actually get posted.
There would have to be a few, right?
There would have to be a few that don’t make it?
I’m surprised the comment made by Carl Jones actually made it.
My BS detector didn’t go off but I thought the comment was rather strange.
@ White Elephant.
My guess is Dundee.
I’m from Folkestone but I lived in my mother’s country, Scotland for eight years, a slim slice really, over a fifty plus course as yet.
My second guess is Aberdeen but you needn’t say. I sense an east coast city, though.
Don’t worry, either. I’m only interested becasuse I personally witnessed the rapid incrementing of, in particular, Pakistani and Punjabi settlers into Dundee when I lived there between ’85 and ’90 and I paid attention to the many voices of complaint which I heard with regard to what was felt, at the time, to be the usurpation of taxi-driving commerce by Sikh or Muslim family interests.
It could be counted as an entryist tactic, novel to our times – “Infiltrate the cab offices, comrades!”