Hi, Iím Dr. Bertalan MeskÛ, The Medical Futurist, and today Iím going to tackle a
special topic. I never thought Iím going to address conspiracy theories, especially
not to do a whole video on them, but during a medical crisis like the one we face today,
lies are not just misleading ñ they are outright dangerous. So I feel like itís my duty to
debunk them, because the only way we can overcome a crisis like this, is to understand the challenge,
and to fight it together, not to entertain ourselves with half-baked campfire stories.
Letís dive in.
One person in Wuhan eats an uncooked bat, and your local Walmart runs out of toilet
paper. This is such a surreal scenario, that itís no wonder people are looking for alternative
answers, to how their normal lives got blown into pieces in the matter of weeks. And in
this age of misinformation, when the trust in our governments and the media are at an
all-time low, there are plenty of conspiracy theorists whoíll rise to the challenge, and
try to push their own agenda for the susceptible population. And while the truth is usually
complex and often-times hard to understand, these clean-cut conspiracy narratives are
designed to prey on your pre-established suspicions, so they can seem like viable alternatives.
And unfortunately, in our ever-connected social networks, these theories have a tendency to
spread just as rapidly as COVID-19 does.
Letís start with the most widespread theory, that the virus escaped from a Chinese laboratory.
This rumor came to life, because Wuhan has one of Chinaís only level 4 bio-laboratories,
where researchers have been studying coronaviruses for a long time, along with lots of other
more nasty viruses. I have to say, this theory is at least plausible. There are maps spreading
on Facebook that show how close the laboratory is to the Wuhan wet market, the suspected
epicentre of the outbreak. And our brains are naturally wired to look for patterns,
so people who come across this information can see it as finding a missing piece of the
puzzle. And who doesnít like a good detective tale? But first things first. A level 4 bio-laboratory
has the highest level of biocontainment precautions to isolate dangerous biological agents. This
is a universal standard set by the CDC. Thereís no level 5. This is as good as it gets. And
the chances of viruses escaping a level 4 environment is extremely low. And with most
conspiracy theories, if we take a deeper look, we discover a hidden agenda.
The idea that the new coronavirus originated from the Wuhan lab came from a documentary
produced by the Epoch Times, an English-language news outlet with links to a Chinese religious
cult that has long been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party. In their documentary,
they insisted on calling COVID ìthe CCP virus - or the Chinese Communist Partyís virusî,
making it completely clear what their true agenda is. And why do I say that theories
like this are dangerous? Because since this notion went mainstream, it has even been used
by the Trump administration to cast blame on the Chinese, pushing the two countriesí
relationship to an all-time low. By helping to spread this theory, people only helped
a Chinese anti-government, religious cult, they probably didnít even know exists.
If we believe the virus came from the Wuhan lab, itís easy to take another step and also
buy that the virus was actually bio-engineered there by Chinese scientists as a biological
weapon. As I said, itís harder to accept that a global catastrophe like this could
happen as easily and coincidentally as it did, and we feel like weíre missing the bigger
picture. But as Neil deGrasse Tyson said, ìThe good thing about science is that itís
true whether or not you believe in it.î And in this case, the science clearly proved that
COVID-19 is a zoonotic virus, meaning it came from an animal and jumped into the human population.
That fact was verified by several independent laboratories around the world, and even an
investigation by the _United States military_ concluded that the weight of evidence indicates
that the virusí origin is ënaturalí. But that wonít stop people from spreading misinformation,
and now nearly three-in-10 Americans believe that COVID-19 was made in a lab. Unfortunately,
two of those Americans are President Trump and Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who keep
on claiming that they have evidence that contradicts their own military and intelligence agencies,
AND the scientific consensus. Of course, that evidence is either just as elusive as Trumpís
tax returns, or this will mark the first time that his administration lies. Nevertheless,
this theory has come in handy for a President in election year whoís looking to cast blame
somewhere else.
Now, of course, in response China deployed its own propaganda machine to push their own
agenda. Lately, Chinaís foreign ministry spokesman tweeted that itís possible that
the US military brought the virus to Wuhan. And in this day and age, that was more than
enough for a new conspiracy to go widespread in China. As much as Americans believe that
the virus came from the Wuhan lab, a lot of people in China believe it was _American military
personnel_ who had brought the virus to China during their participation in the 2019 Military
World Games in Wuhan last October. And as Trump was pushing the name ìWuhan virusî,
there was an accompanying attempt in China to rename COVID-19 the ìUSA virusî.
And still, all of this stems from one fake documentary film. Itís like falling dominos,
and now the two biggest superpowers in the world are at each othersí throats, in a war
of words, simply because some of us canít stop sharing unverified conspiracy theories.
Itís a funny world, isnít it?
And now, letís travel from the land of plausible lies to straight up crazy town.
One of
the biggest new conspiracy theories is that _5G networks_ spread the virus. This theory
clearly shows that a PhD is not required to create a Twitter account. It should be needless
to say that it is biologically impossible for viruses to spread using the electromagnetic
spectrum. The latter are waves or photons, while the former are biological particles
composed of proteins and nucleic acids. Itís mind-boggling that I even have to address
this! But thatís how conspiracy theories work. They take something we fear - like the
electromagnetic radiation of 5G networks - they add a suspicion - like the notion that there
is a hidden agenda behind the rapid rollout of 5G networks - mix it up, and pour it over
something that already preys on our mind - like the fear of COVID-19. In this case, our sommelier
was a guy named David Icke, who believes 5G is a global conspiracy to cull the population.
His followers claim he is a world renowned scientist, whoís being hunted by the medical
industry for saying the truth. In reality, heís a former football player, sports pundit
and holocaust denier who happens to have published twenty books about the most asinine conspiracy
theories you can find out there. I wonder if he has any agenda by pushing this 5G narrative
before his new book comes outÖ.
And if anyone still believes that itís 5G towers that spread the virus, ask yourself
this: how come that 5G networks are only deployed in 34 countries, while COVID 19 is present
in over 200 countries at the moment.
Now, here comes my favourite:
COVID 19 was unleashed by Bill Gates.
Billionaires are elusive figures, some of them are detached from the rest of us, and
some of them are straight-up evil. They are perfect to be cast as villains. And as far
as I remember in the nineties some people believed that Gates is a lizard man/creature/person?
So when he stepped into the spotlight after COVID 19 hit, there was already a prejudice
against him. Some people clearly didnít understand what the founder of a computer company has
to do with epidemiology. Unfortunately that confusion led to theories, and those theories
quickly got out of control. Now, there are people who believe the virus was actually
_created_ by him, to either cull the population, or make a few more billions on the vaccine.
Or both.
But hereís the thing, Gates has pretty much left the Big Tech arena for a while now and
his foundation is the most generous philanthropic organization out there. The man willingly
lost his place as the worldís richest person to save people in third world countries. Itís
so unfair to say that heís now trying to make that money back by killing people, that
itís mind blowing. Gates spent much of the second act of his career initiating and supporting
efforts to prevent and control infectious diseases. His knowledge on viruses is on par
with the worldís best epidemiologists. And he spent the past decade trying to prepare
us for a pandemic like the one we have now.
Just listen to him speak about it five years ago.
As the conspiracy theory goes, Gates owns the ìpatentî for the new coronavirus that
wasnít even discovered until January 2020 and he has shares in companies that are currently
working around the clock to come up with a vaccine. The latter part is actually true.
Gates did help fund many potential coronavirus vaccines. And hereís another thing; heís
wasting billions of dollars by doing so. Only for us to stay alive, and to be able to go
back to our normal lives as soon as possible. The signs and patterns that conspiracy theorists
are finding here only stem from the fact that Gates is one of those who are part of the
solution. So, for anyone who might be watching this and spreads lies about him, maybe stop
being the problem. Or at least try to be a tiny bit thankful.
And with that, we arrived to the good old benjamins. To the notion that a vaccine is
the greatest business in the world, and not a highly risky philanthropic endeavor. To
the notion that somehow, selling surgical masks and toilet papers on a grand scale are
making more money than what the global recession will burn away.
Because one thing thatís common in all these theories, is that thereís a group of elusive
figures, who unleashed this virus, simply to make money. And frankly, money is a big
factor in all this. But mainly for the conspiracy theorists. The way David Icke is trying to
sell his books, or the way China and the US are trying to blame each other to come out
of this crisis untainted, there are many other clever actors who are trying to prey on our
fears and suspicions, only to sell their sketchy products.
Between two crazy rants, Alex Jones, for example, urges viewers to buy expensive miracle pills
that he claims can cure all known diseases. Dr. Mercola, an anti-vax, anti-GMO medic who
has been banned from Google due to peddling misinformation, claims that vitamins can cure
or prevent COVID. NaturalNews, another _conspiracist site_, sells all manner of pills and potions.
But when we already made up our minds that the government, the mainstream media, and
even big pharma lie to us, and we live in an echo chamber of like-minded people, it
can be hard to see that the people who push these narratives are not some truth-seeking
philanthropists. In their own words:
Now, itís easy to get lost in the how and the when and the who. Those are the questions
that drive every great detective story. We can come up with an infinite number of intriguing
narratives. And when people are scared, or feel like they are being lied to, theyíll
be susceptible enough to listen to them. But the only question that should matter is the
why? Why would Bill Gates create an elaborate mass-murder
scheme over decades, to make a few millions while he both has more, and has given away
more, than what he could make on a succesful vaccine.
Why would any government use a weapon that they canít control, and most likely will
backfire? If the global elite wants to cull the population,
why would they use a virus that has a relatively low death rate and mostly preys on the elderly?
I even heard that this is a scheme so governments wouldn't have to pay pension. I guess saving
some of that sweet-sweet pension money does make sense as we face the biggest economic
meltdown of the past hundred years. Finally, allow me introduce you to my favourite
philosophical principle; occamís razor. It states that ìwhen you have two competing
theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is usually the one that is
true.î In this case, COVID 19 is exactly what it
looks like. An unfortunate, but _statistically inevitable event_, experts have been warning
us for decades that we are long overdue for. So, if thereís anything this pandemic should
teach us, is that our faith should always be in science, because thatís the only thing
that doesnít have an agenda, and is actually able to lead us out of a crisis. But for that,
we need to come together, focus on the common goal, and not be subservient to the small
but loud minority who claim they know better. Because whenever we spread a conspiracy theory,
chances are; we have not discovered a missing puzzle piece, but we are accidently pushing
someone elseís agenda. And the only thing science canít do is to
fight fire with fire. When someone claims that the virus was bioengineered, us, scientists,
are obliged to say stuff like ìwe didnít find evidenceî or the ìweight of evidence
indicates otherwiseî, even though itís a near 100 percent certainty. But thatís how
science works. Itís subtle. Itís cautious. Itís soft speaking. And thatís its handicap
too. Because nobody supervises the likes of Alex
Jones or David Icke. They can be as loud as they can, and unfortunately people tend to
listen to the harshest, edgiest, most confident voices.
So I think you and I on the other side have an obligation now. That whenever we see others
spreading misinformation, we get into that conversation. During easier times, we could
look away to have our own piece of mind. But now at a time of crisis, we have a duty to
push the truth. Because now, there are lives on the line.
Or as itís stated in HBOís Chernobyl, ìEvery lie we tell, incurs a debt to the truth. And
sooner or later that debt is paid.î
Stay safe, everybody.