Science fights back by nicoli nattrass caught my attention. Conspiracy beliefs about the origin of hiv and the role of the government in the aids epidemic are prevalent, particularly in the african american community. The researcher argues that such rumours and narratives are the product of a deepseated feeling of. Nattrass also describes how proscience activists have fought back by deploying empirical evidence and political credibility to resist aids conspiracy theories, which is part of the crucial project to defend evidencebased medicine. According to wikipedia, there are many unproven conspiracy theories of varying degrees of popularity, frequently related to but not limited to clandestine government plans, elaborate murder plots, suppression of secret technology and. Another common aids conspiracy is that it was created as america was launching programs to help fight cancer during richard nixons presidency in the early 1970s. Here is a rundown of a few theories that have kept the aids conspiracy merrygoround spinning. Before the 1980s, hiv was an unknown deadly disease. The cia and aids the conspiracy blog conspiracy theories. By claiming that hiv doesnt cause aids, denialists undermine hiv. Examines conspiracy theories surrounding hiv and aids, focusing on two main widely believed falsehoodsthat america manufactured aids to be a biological weapon and the belief that hiv is harmless and the true cause of aids are antiretroviral drugs includes bibliographical references pages 193216 and index. Although seemingly diverse and contradictory, such ideas are united in making a conspiratorial move against hiv science, and in undermining trust in antiretroviral treatment and. Quest to solve assassination mystery revives an aids.
Douglass has developed these themes at book length in aids. His work deserves careful scrutiny because he has become a prime source for many black community militants and prisoners who embrace the conspiracy theory out of a sincere. Science fights back in chapter 8, the conspiratorial move and the struggle for evidencebased medicine, author nicoli natrass explores the internets role in the rise of antiscience sentiment. Conspiracy theorist steve cokely has made allegations that jewish doctors have injected black babies with hiv. In the intervening years, science has done much to solve this mystery. The late jerry falwell not only felt that gays and lesbians were. The top 8 conspiracy theories that are turning out to be.
Duesberg, professor of molecular biology at the university of california at berkeley, and a founder of the reappraisal group, says hiv is harmless, and believes longterm misuse of both recreational and medical drugs is the prime cause of aids. Yet this is probably the most talkedabout conspiracy theory of the past almost 2 decades. Prior research indicates that conspiracy beliefs are prevalent among african americans. Conspiracy beliefs about the origin of hivaids in four racialethnic groups. Since the early days of the aids epidemic, many bizarre and dangerous hypotheses have been advanced to explain the origins of the disease.
Stavnezer and mulder debunk these theories by showing that none of the viruses posited in the various splice theories has nearly enough genetic similarity homology with hiv to be one of its parents. These theorists state that using a vaccine that was found in primates contained the ancestor virus of hiv. Aids was created in a laboratory to kill the people of. A remarkably well argued case against unscientific approaches to aids and a brilliant defense of evidencebased medicine. Hiv and aids are manmade diseases created by the cia as a means of population control, specifically to wipe out homosexuals and african americans. Aids was a chemical experiment sponsored by the cia that went awry. But in some definitions an essential part of conspiracy theory is that it is more perceived than real. The oral polio vaccine opv aids conspiracy theory posits that the aids pandemic originated from live polio vaccines prepared in chimpanzee tissue cultures and then administered to up to one million africans between 1957 and 1960 in experimental mass vaccination campaigns. The evidence of the laboratory birth of aids should be required reading for the world to ensure we establish a firm foundation, to never again allow the greatest democracy in the history of the world another opportunity to masquerade.
Leonard horowitz, and professor robert e lee, and in dr. Science fights back in chapter 8, the conspiratorial move and the struggle for evidence based medicine, author nicoli natrass explores the internets role in the rise of antiscience sentiment. Understanding the origins and prevalence of aids conspiracy. Nattrass also describes how proscience activists have fought back by deploying empirical evidence and political credibility to resist aids conspiracy theories, which is part of the crucial project to defend evidence based medicine. Why do some people believe in conspiracy theories anyway. Apr 26, 20 why people believe in conspiracy theories. The book describes aids conspiracy beliefs in a global context, using south africa as a case study to examine and measure the impacts of these beliefs on the governments aids response. Everyone knows hiv is the cause of aids, except maybe two people, says dr robert gallo, the american government scientist who 10 years ago skilfully marketed hiv to the world. This image shows the book cover of one of alan cantwells books supporting this conspiracy theory. Feb 29, 2012 book excerpt from the aids conspiracy.
May 19, 2008 while some of the theories have a grain of truth to them, conspiracy theories are impossible to disprove, because the hardcore believers will find some way to rationalize away evidence that. Background to the aids conspiracy rock hudson, an actor who died from aids complications in 1985an epidemic that struck our nation in the 1980s was the ai. In a new documentary, a former south african militia member says his group used phony vaccinations to spread h. Below is a list of events and phenomena that are or have been considered conspiracy theories by the general population, all of which can be backed up by an impressive amount of research and testimonies from experts in their respective fields. There was no aids in america until the exact year the government began experimenting with gay men. These 30 youre about to read below are some of historys greatest and most controversial conspiracy theories.
But remember, terrorism can be foreign or domestic and there is compelling evidence to support both sides. The most popular theories suggested that the disease was engineered by the government or military contractors and released into the population. Hivaids was created in cold spring harbor, new york. The hiv virus evolved from the similar siv simian immunodeficiency virus and was transferred from primates to humans within the past 100 years. This connection is not coincidental or a paranoid fantasy. May, 2015 even if there is an overwhelming amount of evidence, many find alternative ideas easy to dismiss. Since the early days of the aids epidemic, many bizarre and dang. Jan 29, 2015 the idea that aids was created as part of a governmentled conspiracy to decimate the african american population remains salient to a significant minority of black people, according to qualitative research published in the january edition of the american journal of public health. Conspiracy beliefs about the origin of hivaids in four. Conspiracy beliefs about the origin of hiv aids in four racialethnic groups. Some conspiracy theorists believe the claim that aids was created by scientists to be false and to have originated from a communist cold war plot to destabilize the western world. Advocates of this position make a conspiratorial move against hiv science by implying its methods cannot be trusted and that untested. I process the new books that come into my department at the library where i work and the aids conspiracy. Conspiracy theories top ten conspiracies live science.
In and of itself the thought of the american government being capable of initiating an attack of this nature on its own people is mindblowing. Enter your mobile number or email address below and well send you a link to download the free kindle app. Mar 15, 2019 the world is full of popular conspiracy theories. The usa secret biology teams at various army labs created aids to depopulate africa. You can bet ebola was created to depopulate africa as well. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed two distinct conspiracy belief subscales. When it comes to the reality of aids, the dos provided this. Another common trait is the need to constantly expand the conspiracy as new evidence comes.
Nonfiction and fiction books covering thirty years of aids score a books total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. A remarkably well argued case against unscientific approaches to aids and a brilliant defense of evidence based medicine. Contemporary aids denialism, the belief that hiv is harmless and that antiretroviral drugs are the true cause of aids, is a more insidious aids conspiracy theory. But suspicions that the human immunodeficiency virus. Most people do not believe conspiracy theories about the acquired immune deficiency syndrome aids. Conspiracy theories about aids range from the belief that hiv originated as a us bioweapon to aids denialism, proponents of which argue that hiv is not the cause of aids, or even that the virus does not exist. This article discusses the origins of the legend of hiv as bioweapon and summarises the available evidence on the prevalence of acquired immune deficiency syndrome aids conspiracy beliefs in the us and south africa. Apr 25, 2012 this article discusses the origins of the legend of hiv as bioweapon and summarises the available evidence on the prevalence of acquired immune deficiency syndrome aids conspiracy beliefs in the us and south africa. It is time for a serious study of the link between covert biological warfare research and the initial outbreak of the gay aids plague. Robert strecker s video the strecker memorandum, and in other sources. The full story of this experiment and its aftermath are contained in my two books on manmade aids. But suspicions that the human immunodeficiency virus hiv may have been created in a laboratory, and that the pharmaceutical industry invented aids as a means.
Yet a significant minority of people in the united states us and south africa believe that hiv was deliberately created by scientists as a. African american peoples aids conspiracy beliefs best. Aids conspiracy theories can be found at wikipedia with a lot of sources. To improve public health results in the african american community, hivaids efforts must acknowledge the sources and meanings of rumors, include rumors as a. To counter this strengthening movement, seth kalichman, phd, a social psychology professor at the university of connecticut, wrote denying aids. Nattrasss breadth of context is matched by her use a range of sources and methodologies to describe the complex worlds of beliefs and behaviours relating to hiv. Journey to the source of aids, he links the onset of aids to a mass polio vaccination in the 1950s when nearly a million africans were injected with an experimental vaccine derived from monkey organs. Apr 22, 2020 the conspiracy theory that covid19 was created in a laboratory has been widely reported, yet there is no evidence to support it. While some of the theories have a grain of truth to them, conspiracy theories are impossible to disprove, because the hardcore believers will find some way to. The idea that aids was created as part of a governmentled conspiracy to decimate the african american population remains salient to a significant minority of black people, according to qualitative research published in the january edition of the american journal of public health.
As soon as aids came to public attention, skeptics alleged that it was evidence of institutionalized evil. Quest to solve assassination mystery revives an aids conspiracy. The new black panther party have accused jewish doctors of creating the virus. Since the centers for disease control and prevention first reported the hivaids epidemic in 1981, rumors have persisted that the deadly virus was created by.
Mar 20, 2012 i process the new books that come into my department at the library where i work and the aids conspiracy. Mar 20, 2012 nattrass also describes how proscience activists have fought back by deploying empirical evidence and political credibility to resist aids conspiracy theories, which is part of the crucial project to defend evidence based medicine. Aids, conspiracies and russian meddling mysterious universe. Mar 16, 2020 but remember, terrorism can be foreign or domestic and there is compelling evidence to support both sides. Cantwell has also written several books arguing for the creation of aids by the u. Then you can start reading kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer no kindle device required. Robert streckers video the strecker memorandum, and in. In this compelling book, nicoli nattrass explores the social and political factors prolonging the erroneous belief that the american government manufactured the. In the mid1980s, there was still considerable confusion about how aids had developed, although scientists universally agreed that it was a naturally occurring disease, not one that was manmade. Hiv aids was created in cold spring harbor, new york.
Feb 18, 2020 but in some definitions an essential part of conspiracy theory is that it is more perceived than real. An inquiry into the origin of the aids epidemic and queer blood. In general, their research books, videos, internet communications have been ignored by the cdc, the nih, the aids establishment, the major media, etc. Ignoring evidence pointing to aids as a manmade disease makes a sham out of aids education. Evidence of a conspiracy and millions of other books are available for amazon kindle. Jan 27, 2019 stockholm when south africa opened its books on the atrocities of the apartheid era in the 1990s, a tantalizing series of faded documents reignited one of the continents enduring mysteries. Best books about hivaids fiction and nonfiction 262. Why such theories thrive can easily be explained, however. The conspiracy theory that covid19 was created in a laboratory has been widely reported, yet there is no evidence to support it. Proponents of the aids conspiracy theory believe that aids has nothing to do with green monkeys, homosexuality, drug addiction, genital ulcerations, anal sex or promiscuity, but that it has to do with scientists experimenting on blacks and gays. Stockholm when south africa opened its books on the atrocities of the apartheid era in the 1990s, a tantalizing series of faded documents reignited one of the continents enduring mysteries.
While experts agree that aids was born from human exposure to a chimpanzee virus. Another common trait is the need to constantly expand the conspiracy as new evidence comes to light. The virus can be spread in more ways than the general population is aware mere kissing, hugging, general contact can cause infection 6. Aids and the doctors of death 1988, and queer blood 1993.