[throwaway316943]

They’ve been repeatedly conflated, either purposefully or carelessly. Almost no one was actually pursuing the engineered bioweapon angle but anyone who even suggested that it may have leaked from a lab that studies bat coronaviruses was treated like a tinfoil hat conspiracy nut. It’s pretty dismal that no one is going to be accountable for their behaviour through this whole mess, nothing will be learned and we’ll probably be worse off the next time something like this happens.

[jl2718]

The behaviorist interpretation of belief is that beliefs expressed will be based on whatever is the most socially acceptable, and that that internal beliefs are formed to be consistent with outward expression of belief.

Nobody will be able to look at this rationally until nobody cares either way. That’s what makes history interesting. It always changes.

[throwaway316943]

I think prohibition is a good illustration of why that interpretation is inaccurate. When one group’s beliefs become dominant in society it doesn’t result in everyone’s opinions changing. People will pay lip service to the commonly held belief but will act otherwise behind closed doors. The people that carry the internalized belief are often entirely oblivious to how much of a lie it actually is since they never get invited to the speak easy.