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by AnthonyMouse 1626 days ago
A relevant example of this is COVID. It became politicized, with [some of] the left taking the "we must vaccinate all infants and become hermits indefinitely or everyone will die" position and [some of] the right taking the "vaccines are harmful and useless and the virus is just a cold" position.

Neither of these positions is The Truth, as usual, but the result is that some of the things the right has been saying have been accurate but previously disparaged. For example, the difference between dying of COVID and dying with COVID, or accurately pointing out that the large majority of fatalities have been people with comorbidities.

1 comments

> A relevant example of this is COVID

This is literally an irrelevant example because it's not related to Wikipedia. New, evolving science (especially as it intersects with many governments' policies) is always going to be wrong to some degree.

> This is literally an irrelevant example because it's not related to Wikipedia.

rel·e·vant /ˈreləvənt/

closely connected or appropriate to what is being done or considered.

appropriate to the current time, period, or circumstances; of contemporary interest.

> New, evolving science (especially as it intersects with many governments' policies) is always going to be wrong to some degree.

Now this is an irrelevant criticism. Nobody asked for an example that isn't in dispute.

New, evolving science is the thing you would expect there to be the most political disputes over because the uncertainty causes people to believe whatever most benefits their coalition.

Doesn't Wikipedia have articles about Covid?
Yes but it doesn't say anything about vaccinating infants or any of the other strawman nonsense that the person I replied to was saying.