CHAPTER 30 Fact Checkers are Narrative Enforcers, Consensus is not Science and Propaganda is a Hell of a Drug
Dr. Sam Dubé Mathematician, physician, strength coach, and broadcaster
An excerpt from: Canary In a Covid World; How Propaganda and Censorship Changed Our (My) World. A collection of essays from 34 contemporary thought leaders. Just released on Amazon here:
At the end of January of 2020, in seeking information on the internet concerning the “flu-like virus” alleged by the mainstream media to have emerged from China a couple of months prior, I came across a scientific paper that made my internal “red alert” klaxon go off. I was previously wary of any news coming from the MSM (MainStream Media), in particular concerning China, and so was already at a stage of “amber alert,” which motivated my search. The research article from India stated that there were four subdomains on the spike protein that had essentially a close-to-zero chance of having evolved naturally. The authors concluded that the virus had to be the product of genetic engineering. In other words, gain-of-function research. This was a game-changer for me, and I shuddered internally at the implications, both past and future.
Three days later, the paper had disappeared, with nothing but a committed yet cryptic message from the Indian team promising to someday publish their findings. Rumours proliferated that the Chinese had exerted pressure to have the work withdrawn.
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a “pandemic,” and our world would never be the same again.
Years ago I had found my niche, putting my education and interests to good use. As an academic physician, albeit one trained in family and sports medicine with an avid interest in alternative and complementary therapies and human potential in general, I worked as a consultant in the health and wellness industry. Scientific writing, editing, idea generation, and presenting formed the basis of my diverse contract work. My background in mathematics and physics, as a retired university faculty member with a love of teaching, had me freelance tutoring, which included large in-person groups of students. I was also doing a fair amount of athletic coaching and training of trainers, mainly in strength sports, which had been a long-time passion of mine. Two decades earlier, this passion had led me to co-host The Canadian Strength Athletes’ series on TSN (The Sports Network) and other related shows, which motivated me to extend my media work to other fields.
On the evening of March 12, 2020, I fell ill. I had been feeling tired and run-down all day. Three days prior, I had spent several hours sitting next to a student who had insisted, despite his flu-like symptoms, to proceed with our lesson due to an upcoming final exam. He had just returned from March break after spending a couple of weeks with his parents on the west coasts of Canada and the U.S. His parents had tested positive for COVID and were symptomatic. I was hit with a high fever, a dry unproductive cough and some of the worst body aches I’d ever experienced. Despite the discomfort, I wasn’t too concerned, and took 1-2 grams of vitamin C every hour until I went to bed. The next day, the fever had broken and the cough subsided. Apart from some fatigue, mild shortness of breath on exertion, and a low nocturnal fever for the next few days, I was fine. I stayed home for a day and worked online. I took a couple of days off working out. On the fifth day, I hit repetitions in my weightlifting workout that I had not achieved for years. I didn’t give my illness much second thought….
Continue reading this essay in the book: Canary In a Covid World; How Propaganda and Censorship Changed Our (My) World. A collection of essays from 34 contemporary thought leaders. Available on Amazon here:
