To err is human, to forgive is malign
We’ve all seen celebrities brought low by some misguided comment they made years ago, comments brought to light by the perseverance and dedication of those internet archaeologists who seem to delight in digging up the slightest whiff of impurity. What would we do without them? Without their tireless efforts we might never have thought these celebrities were even human.
Newsflash - we all make mistakes. We all do dumb things. We all think stupid, and sometimes pretty offensive, things. It’s part and parcel of being human.
You know what else is part and parcel of being human? Forgiveness.
If there is no room for error, there is no room for subsequent growth. If there is only the straitjacket of the “approved” narrative, there is no room for true debate and discovery. If there is no forgiveness, there can be no redemption.
The amazing benefits of science we’ve all enjoyed over the last century have all depended critically on people being allowed to make mistakes and to question the received wisdom. To a scientist, an inconsistency is like an itch on your back - you spend ages contorting yourself into various shapes to try to reach it, rubbing against doorframes and other objects, until you finally get the great idea of using a stick. The inspiration for the solution only comes after a lot of struggle, often doing some really dumb things first.
What, then, are we to make of the recent statements by the CEO of Pfizer who has labelled those who spread vaccine “misinformation” as criminals? What are we to make of this, from a company which is making billions of dollars from the sale of vaccines? A company which has negotiated zero liability for its products? A company which is no stranger itself to criminal proceedings for its own fraudulent practices?
Really? We’re going to let the CEO of a company like this tell us what is “misinformation”? You’re actually going to trust this guy? Seriously?
How about this for a piece of “misinformation”?
This is a graph of reported deaths from vaccines in the US. I am, in equal measure, both horrified and amused by the attempts to write this alarming data off as just “coincidence” - just reporting of the normal background death rate. That bloody huge spike in 2021? Nothing to see here, folks.
Even just trying to draw attention to this (and there’s so much more to draw attention to) is enough to bring the puritanical rage of the cult down upon you. You will be called a science-denier, an anti-vaxxer, an idiot, deluded, a danger to society . . .
. . . and now the CEO of Pfizer wants to make you a criminal.
When even raising legitimate concerns leads to censure and censoring - and even loss of employment - you have to begin to wonder whether we’re following the science, or the Spanish Inquisition? And there is no forgiveness for heretics.
Following the science? Doesn’t all the censorship and threats of criminalisation for questioning the official dogma, imply we’re following something more akin to a religion than science? In science we don’t censor or criminalise people, we just debate and prove them wrong.
We’re no longer in the Age of Enlightenment, but the Age of Entightenment.