#646: Michael Ellner

Michael Ellner is an “aids critic”, and his erudite criticisms of contemporary science related to HIV – and its corresponding conspiracies – have earned him his very own page at whale.to. According to Ellner: “Just look at us. Everything is backwards; everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy information and religions destroy spirituality …,” though more reality-apt people would probably note that when Ellner perceives everything upside-down it says far more about his perception of things than it says about the things he perceive. Ellner is crazy. “As far as ‘AIDS’ goes, we have been subject to the most heinous and genocidal fraud in medical history,” and he suggests that instead of ordinary medicine (which kills people) we must renounce evidence, science and reality and go for holistic treatments without the faintest trace of supporting evidence of efficacy. Accordingly, Ellner can offer nothing but anecdotes and imagination to support his claim, but such limitations hwve never stopped a crank (by definition). Then there is POMO: “AIDS is not a disease. It is a social agreement,” writes Ellner and one Tom DiFerdinando; “[t]here are others who need AIDS also. Do not forget. Medicine is a business.” In other words, people are dying because they accept the conceptual scheme on AIDS and death pushed by the establishment. And fortunately Ellner can offer you safe, affordable treatments.

Ellner considers himself “an internationally prominent Certified Hypnosis Practitioner and Pain Relief Educator,” and claims that there is considerable scientific evidence that hypnosis can help reduce, even eliminate pain (assessed here). He doesn't tell us where this evidence may be found, admittedly, but asserts that the “medical establishment” have been spreading lies about hypnosis. It is unclear whether he thinks that hypnotherapy can cure AIDS, but by the power of POMO it probably can.

Diagnosis: It is noteworthy that on his hypnotherapy homepage Ellner writes nothing about his HIV-“skepticism”, almost as if he dimly realizes that there is something less than convincing about it and that it may contribute to undermining his reputation in the field of hypnotherapy. In any case, Ellner is a woo-meister and denialist, who should definitely not be lent an ear in the most desperate of circumstances.

#626: Thomas DiLorenzo

Thomas DiLorenzo is a professor of economics at Loyola College, Austrian school “economist” (fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute) and neo-confederate pseudohistorian. He has previously been affiliated with the neo-secessionist League of the South Institute, though appears to deny any current affiliation. As an economist his work mostly toes the party line of the Austrian theory, and tends to eschew rigorous analysis and scientific approaches in favor of whatever fits his political views (the Federal Reserve creates business cycles, central banking is a “legalized counterfeiting operation,” anything other than laissez-faire is fascism or socialism, and so on and so forth). More personal contributions to the field include blaming the banking crisis on ACORN and Jimmy Carter.

His rise to infamy in the 90s was based not so much on economics but on his work for the tobacco industry. In works such as Cancerscam: The Diversion of Federal Cancer Funds to Politics he tried to argue that by telling people that cigarettes are dangerous charities such as the American Heart Association were scamming the public by using tax money designated for research to promote what he deemed to be partisan political purposes.

Indeed, despite his designated area of expertise DiLorenzo is primarily known for his work in (pseudo-)history. In writings uncannily reminiscent of David Barton’s attempts to portray the Founding Fathers as advocates of theocracy, DiLorenzo has tried to portray them as ardent supporters of (DiLorenzo’s own take on) “small government” principles (except Hamilton – Hamilton was evil and betrayed Jefferson, partially with the help of judicial activism). Surprisingly enough his profoundly inaccurate characterizations tend to portray those who agree with him politically in a very favorable light and those who disagree as remorseless villains.

His most notorious contributions are his screeds on Lincoln, however. In The Real Abraham Lincoln and Lincoln Unmasked, two pieces thoroughly rooted in the mythology of the Lost Cause of the South, Lincoln is portrayed – through cherrypicking and ignoring all of Lincoln’s letters opposing slavery – as a hardcore racist whose sole goal in the Civil War was to keep the Union together. Though the latter may indeed have been Lincoln’s main goal, DiLorenzo’s portrayal is not merely selective or biased, but pure conspiracy theory – according to DiLorenzo, Lincoln was trying to force the South into secession in order to impose tariffs to benefit the North, thereby destroying states’ rights to bring about the institution of the statist “Hamiltonian vision” of a massive federal government, complete with allegations that mainstream historians have been trying to cover up Lincoln's “true” (communist) intentions (DiLorenzo’s claims are discussed here; a very even-handed review can be found here). Also, Hitler was a fan of Lincoln, which is as relevant as always.

As a measure of his success LewRockwell.com hosted a “Lincoln Reconsidered” conference in Richmond in 2003 starring DiLorenzo. The conference has since become a road show reappearing around the South (in line with the grand tenet of pseudo-science: public outreach is prior to research).

DiLorenzo’s writings on FDR and the Great Depression consist primarily of New Deal denialist PRATTs to the effect that Hoover was a crypto-socialist and FDR the great Satan.

DiLorenzo is of course a long-standing opponent of the 14^th Amendment, and has been caught toying with (or even endorsing) the NAFTA Superhighway conspiracy. The SPLC considers him one of the most important intellectuals to “form the core of the modern neo-Confederate movement.”

Diagnosis: A fine example of what happens when truth and accuracy are viewed merely as means (among others) to support a political position. DiLorenzo’s work as a pseudo-historian are at least borderline conspiracy theory ravings, and his apparent influence is hence more than a little frightening. 

#617: Ken DeMyer

A.k.a. Conservative, Peter Moore, Kdbuffalo, Peter Moore, RuyLopez (?), David Jensen, etc. (more comprehensive list here)

Among other things Kenneth D. DeMyer is probably the most highly profiled sysop at Conservapedia apart from Andy Schlafly himself, and generally in control of Conservapedia’s articles on evolution, atheism, and homosexuality. He used to trawl Wikipedia back in the days but was thrown out for flagrantly violating their sockpuppet rules. His general attitude toward atheism and evolution is that atheism is already dead and evolution is dying, and neither need be taking particularly seriously, although fone cannot help but notice that DeMyer spends a surprising amount of effort trying (flailingly) to flog a horse he desperately and loudly claims is very much dead. Among his more bizarre articles on Conservapedia are “Ponies vs. Atheism” and “Atheism and Obesity” (comments on that one here), this one, and – not the least – his magnum opus (work in progress) Summa homosexualita.

DeMyer’s favored debate and reasoning techniques are sockpuppetry, quote mining and wildly and willfully misunderstanding more or less anything and everything (e.g. here). He considers himself a great debater, but the opinion is not universally shared. At least DeMyer is evidently completely unable to recognize when his “hard” questions are completely satisfactorily answered and his points completely refuted, and will just bring up the same points and questions again and again, such as his lying about and misunderstanding of Haeckel, a form of transcendental, mind-numbing state generally known as the Dunning-Kruger effect (he was eventually banned from Pharyngula for spamming).

You can play the Ken DeMyer game here.

Diagnosis; Abysmally thickskulled, but not completely without notability insofar as his efforts are, ever so slightly, boosting the google rankings of that pile of mental rot that is Conservapedia.

#612: Stephen Davis

Ray M. Davis, Jr., a.k.a. “Florida man with no background in science”, may have been qualified for an entry on the basis of his remarkably fallacy-filled and incoherent letter to the Gainesville Sun – it’s a fairly typical rant displaying no understanding of any of the matters involved, and may represent a rather wide-spread kind of ignorance and denialism.

The purpose of the Encyclopedia is, however, primarily to expose the movers and shakers behind this kind of denialist anti-science attitude rather than confused, local clodpates, and Ray Davis is hardly an example of the former. Stephen Davis, however, is a good one; he may not be a creationist, but he is a HIV denialist, which is probably an even more insidious form of denialism. Davis is (at least allegedly) also a former Arizona State Senator and US Army “Physician’s Assistant” and author of a novel that claims to be “the true story of how government lies and incompetence, gross medical malpractice, and unbridled greed by a drug company cost 300,000 American lives in just ten years.” Yes, he is a crackpot conspiracy theorist and no, he has no background in science, any more than the above-mentioned Florida man. He is a little more zealous, however, and has produced some rather incoherent screeds in which – naturally – information made up and posted on his own website trumps anything published in peer-reviewed journals. His book Are You Positive was at least endorsed by Liam Scheff, who calls himself “The Conspiracy Realist”, and who praised it for his contribution to the literature on “morbid flaws in today’s quasi-religious medical establishment.”

A list of prominent HIV denialists (including Davis) can be found here. To get a feel for the level of incoherence among your general HIV denialists, you could peruse the comment threads on the otherwise excellent posts here, here, and here, though it is definitely a challenge to your mental health to do so (Stephen Davis’s claims are both, uh, defended and discussed in said comments).

Diagnosis: Appallingly crazy conspiracy theorist and jughead denialist. He is not among the most prominent proponents of this particular brand of madness, but his influence is substantial enough to be a real threat to civilization.

#597: Jake Crosby

Groomed as the Wonder Boy of the Age of Autism blog network (yes, Jenny McCarthy, J.B. Handley and the rest), Jake Crosby is, as you’d expect, a hardcore anti-vaccinationist and denialist, as well as a denialist about his own denialism – Crosby denies that he is anti-vaccine. He just thinks vaccines cause autism and that there is a conspiracy to hide this fact, and that vaccines should probably be avoided, which he asserts is not the same thing as denialism.

Crosby’s favorite gambit is the Big Pharma shill by association; everyone who disagrees with him is obviously part of a conspiracy (involving Big Pharma, the CDC or the FDA) – and anyone who knows anyone with a connection to those institutions is automatically wrong, regardless of what evidence, science, data, observation, reason or reality says. They also persecute him (though the most notable part in that last link is Ginger Taylor’s absolutely astonishing comment), so that’s why he is justified in trying to get his critics silenced or fired. Another popular claim of Crosby’s, that Dr. David Lewis (not that David Lewis) exonerated AndrewWakefield and his fraudulent research, is rebutted here.

A third technique popular with Jake Crosby is slaughtering strawmen. When this technique is combined with conspiracy theories and general ignorance, the results can often be rather staggering. Then, of course, Crosby dons his tinfoil hat and connects HIV with the polio vaccine used in Africa 50 years ago (irrevocably refuted); the purpose being of course to avoid engaging with any real science and real ethical concerns in his crusade against vaccines.

Crosby has even reached whale.to, though I won’t link to it (search for it yourself if you need to) for his marvelous conspiracy theories developed in order to discredit the idea that autism rates have not risen the last couple of decades (e.g. here) – primarily, and as expected, through a guilt by association claim. It is really a perfect game – anyone who has done research on the topic is by that very fact biased and their research must therefore be disregarded (unless it agrees with the conclusion Crosby has already convinced himself is correct). After all, given the always existing possible appeals to conspiracies, no amount of science would convince Crosby that vaccines don’t cause autism, something he has pretty much admitted himself (along with – you guessed it – conspiracy theories and ad hominem arguments (real ad hominem fallacies; that is, such as dismissing scientific studies he doesn’t like by name calling without identifying any flaws in them); also discussed here).

The Crosby story has recently taken a fascinating turn, however. Brought up as he was with persecution complexes and pseudoscience, it may come as little surprise that the fledgling conspiracy theorist has turned on his own masters and found a new outlet on the Bolen Report, where he has published various conversations and email exchanges with other luminaries of the antivaxx movement. Why this turn of events? Well, apparently his former masters just aren’t sufficiently conspiracy minded for Crosby anymore, and – having realized where Crosby was going – they didn’t let him testify before Congress during Dan Burton’s last antivaxx hearing (SafeMinds’ Communications Committee Chair, Kate Weisman, even suggested that Crosby “walk the halls”). SafeMinds’ response to Crosby’s allegations is actually pretty hilarious and feeble (as it had to be, given that Crosby was using precisely the types of arguments against SafeMinds that SafeMinds is using to dismiss science). The ensuing war is covered in three parts here; here; and here. The development didn’t prevent him from appearing at the annual quackfest AutismOne 2013 to teach you how to become a more effective advocate for pseudoscience and denialism; there is a report concerning his scheduled session here (though it is said that he subsequently boycotted the event, presumably not because he had a flash of reason).

Diagnosis: As Age of Autism’s resident conspiracy theorist Crosby was actually not without detrimental influence on civilization. Recent developments seem to have blunted his impact a little as he has deteriorated to his true position as a resident of the whale.to segment, but I won’t write him off quite yet.