Seventeen million people who are sick and dying from an AIDS-like disease are left to rot

Inside the Labyrinth: Osler's Web Updates:

We were caught in one of those reeking, cringe-inducing news cycles last Friday, February 18, 2011, once more confronted with the results of a quarter century of failed advocacy and the triumph of a quarter-century of scientific fraud. Members of the press failed to see the Kabuki theater behind the scrim and revealed much that is wrong with “science journalism.”

Seventeen million people who are sick and dying from an AIDS-like infectious disease were slowly roasted over an open fire in the media, yet again. The media hub-bub will fade—it always does. The odor will linger on thanks to Internet search engines. Scientific enlightenment and medieval barbarism are at odds here; the former is down for the count.

I’ve been living through these cycles since 1986. They usually begin with a colossal lie months or even years in the manufacturing, often a lie that serves psychiatrists or scientists who can be shown to have financial ties with disability insurers and/or drug companies. Or, ... Read more>>