Authoritarian, secretive regime disinclined to accept any blame for mistakes. Maybe add in a touch of cultural predisposition to "saving face" and avoiding public embarrassment and an oppositional attitude to foreign invesitgation. Add in an invisible enemy, a virus, which is challenging to trace to a source of origin on a good day. Now make it a *novel* virus that nobody knew much about.
And this is before we get into international posturing and competition and various levels of domestic politicization of the pandemic, including a major world leader openly engaging in racist demagoguery with regard to the virus' geographic origin.
Even if this thing had popped up in France instead of China, you'd still have a baseline of conspiracy theories which are only made worse by the politicization and nature of the government of its apparent country of origin.
Anyone bought into a theory before this can't possibly find enough new evidence that will sway them from other narratives.
Even the general narrative of bat -> human can have the lab inserted.
Like this report is going to change anyone's mind? (Score:3)
Re:Like this report is going to change anyone's mi (Score:4, Insightful)
It's the perfect storm of bullshit.
Authoritarian, secretive regime disinclined to accept any blame for mistakes. Maybe add in a touch of cultural predisposition to "saving face" and avoiding public embarrassment and an oppositional attitude to foreign invesitgation. Add in an invisible enemy, a virus, which is challenging to trace to a source of origin on a good day. Now make it a *novel* virus that nobody knew much about.
And this is before we get into international posturing and competition and various levels of domestic politicization of the pandemic, including a major world leader openly engaging in racist demagoguery with regard to the virus' geographic origin.
Even if this thing had popped up in France instead of China, you'd still have a baseline of conspiracy theories which are only made worse by the politicization and nature of the government of its apparent country of origin.
Anyone bought into a theory before this can't possibly find enough new evidence that will sway them from other narratives.
Even the general narrative of bat -> human can have the lab inserted.
Re: (Score:1)
Authoritarian, secretive regime disinclined to accept any blame for mistakes.
Us or them?
Re: (Score:2)
Authoritarian, secretive regime disinclined to accept any blame for mistakes.
Us or them?
Both.
Re: Like this report is going to change anyone's m (Score:2)
I was wondering the same.