The Battle of Science vs. Ideological Faith in COVID-19 Vaccines

Steve Kirsch's daily contest with true believers.

By JOHN LEAKE

Anthropologists and historians have long observed that people in the grip of powerful religious or ideological convictions are immune to empirical evidence that challenges their beliefs. In 1984, KGB defector Yuri Bezmenov gave an interview to G. Edward Griffin, titled 'Soviet Subversion of the Free World Press’ in which he talked about what he called “ideological subversion.”

By “subversion” he meant the subversion of a nation’s political and economic culture, and also subversion of a people’s perception of reality. As he put it:

It is overt and open. You can see it with your own eyes. All you have to do—all American mass media has to do—is to unplug the bananas from their ears, open up their eyes, and they can see it. There’s no mystery. …. What it basically means is to change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that despite the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interest of defending themselves, their families, their community, and their country. It’s a great brainwashing process. … You cannot change their mind. Even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still cannot change the basic perception and illogical behavior.

I’m frequently reminded of Mr. Bezemenov’s remarks when I read Steve Kirsch’s reports of his daily battle with adherents to the COVID-19 Vaccine Cult. Steve may be the most energetic, persistent, and diligent man on earth in his ceaseless effort to show these votaries the light.

This morning he published an essay detailing Dr. Liza Dunn’s attempts to refute the excess mortality analysis of UK math Professor Norman Fenton. As I read it, it occurred to me that Dr. Dunn is a COVID-19 Vaccine True Believer. She will therefore be extremely reluctant to consider that her belief is an Article of Faith, and not a conviction grounded in empirical science. To debate with her is the equivalent of someone going to Geneva in 1542, when John Calvin was the virtual dictator of the city, to debate with him about his Calvinist theology.