I’m not convinced in the original conspiracy theories but i’m also not convinced by your “debunking”. There’s exactly zero solid argument on either side of the theory (that i could see).
Strongly agree with the conclusion:
As more facts come to light, if they ever do, the narrative will of necessity shift. That’s the strength of not being a conspiracy theorist, though.
So you’re not convinced by the fact that there’s literally a dozen crowded food markets, not to mention bars, shopping centres, supermarkets, small shops, restaurants, etc. right next to the virology lab that didn’t get hit with COVID-19, but instead it somehow transported itself nearly 12km as the crow flies (24km as the car drives) to only show up there!?
Whatever you’re smoking, man, I need some. Stat.
Or, you know, you could actually take the word of a pair of boots on the actual ground here. I’m a medium-length stroll away from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and I know the neighbourhoods around it well (having taught at Wuhan University for four years myself). There is absolutely no way that an accidental release of that disease would mysteriously teleport across the Yangtze river 12km away and pop up in one market only without:
- showing up in the immediate environs of the WIV;
- quite possibly show up in public transit as the carrier travelled to the market (public transit is very popular in Wuhan since it doesn’t, you know, suck like, say, NYC); and,
- showing up in several places other than the market even if the carrier somehow got there without infecting everything between the WIV and Huanan because how many people zap straight to a meat market and back home again without once stopping anywhere else!?
If you can give me persuasive reasoning to show how this incredibly infectious disease could pop up 12 km away from the WIV without it showing up anywhere else in the interim—keeping in mind that there was no viral hotspot near Wuhan University either over the full course of the outbreak—then I’ll modify my opinion. Until then, the WIV “hypothesis” (read: wild, hysterical rumour-mongering) stands as a load of fetid dingos’ kidneys.
Simple hypothesis that’s driven by zero proofs: a worker gets contaminated in the lab, but incubation takes a few days. A few days later, this worker happens to drop by the market and contaminate other people.
It’s not exactly like lab leaks are unheard of, and i don’t mean anything specific about China: containing things is hard and all labs and industrial facilities have leaks at some point. Even those who pretend to be the most secure (nuclear facilities) often have leaks that go undetected for months/years so it’s not hard for me to believe it’s a possibility in this case.
Note that i’m not saying i have any clue what actually happened. The only thing i’m sure of is that capitalism-driven density of population and deforestation don’t help to protect against diseases.
A few days later this worker, who has incubated for a few days, somehow doesn’t infect:
- Family.
- Friends.
- Colleagues.
- People in the residence compound.
- People in Wuhan University’s campus.
- …
Yeah, pull the other one. And I’d suggest ducking before you start contriving circumstances. William of Occam is preparing a backhand.
Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. We’ll probably never know and i’m ok with that. I’m personally more interested in the political response to Covid (the shock doctrine) rather than the cause.
A few flaws with this argument:
- We don’t know that the virus was not transmitted to other places in addition to the Wuhan Seafood Market.
- Even if it was transmitted solely at the seafood market, it doesn’t take any wild theories about how it was only transmitted there and in no other nearby locations. It would just have to be transported there by a human, and transmitted there. A contaminated lab-worker riding their bike to the market could do it. A mad scientist carrying a spray can full of virus particles could do it too. A lab-leak in another location could have infected one person, who then infected other people at the market. None of these explanations are inconsistent with the fact that the market is just one place in a big bustling city.
Note that I’m not at all a proponent of the lab-leak hypothesis, I’m ok to admit I don’t really know all the facts about how the pandemic originated.
Regarding your debunking of the “already endemic” argument, I don’t follow your logic. What does the airport have to do with the conspiracy theory you are attempting to debunk? Why would it come from the airport to the market if it was a new deadly mutation of an endemic virus?
- Maybe you don’t, but here the pattern of outbreaks is very well known.
- Harlem to Brooklyn. You don’t have boots on the ground here. I do. This is not a feasible scenario. In the slightest.
And this is the problem I have with ALL of the reportage on this. All y’all are ignoring the actual, you know, experts. In this case the expert in the local geography as well as the person who lived through the outbreak, saw the notifications on his SMS and WeChat, etc. No, it is not even remotely believable that a lab leak on the other side of the Yangtze river 24km away as the car drives would only show up in a remote market. You’d have to throw in so many extra entities to try and support that story that William of Occam will rise up out of his grave just to backhand you.
But hey, you be you over in rat-licking Plagueistan, OK?
