Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="2239765" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sinclair-Broadcast-Group">Sinclair Broadcast Group</keyword> is to delay airing an interview with conspiracy theorist <keyword id="9223917" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="judy-mikovits">Judy Mikovits</keyword>. She claims the scientific establishment manufactured the coronavirus crisis as part of a sinister plot. </li><li>In the interview, she alleges that <keyword id="2615101" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Dr-Anthony-Fauci">Dr Anthony Fauci</keyword>, the White House coronavirus advisor, created the disease. </li><li>Critics had claimed that the pro-Trump network was lending credibility to Mikovits' baseless claims by giving her a platform to spread her views. </li><li>Sinclair said it is delaying broadcasting the interview until it had added further material providing context to Mikovits' claims</li></ul>Sinclair Broadcast Group is to delay screening an interview with a conspiracy theorist who claims that Dr Anthony Fauci created the coronavirus. On Sunday, July 26, the network planned to broadcast an interview with Dr Judy Mikovits, who has claimed in viral a video, entitled Plandemic, that scientific elites created the coronavirus as part of a sinister plot to boost vaccination rates.The film is riddled with unsubstantiated claims and accusations. S<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-youtube-remove-plandemic-video-with-unsubstantiated-coronavirus-claims-2020-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">everal social media sites banned the video</a> after it went viral, for violating rules against spreading coronavirus misinformation. She claims in the interview Sinclair was set to screen Sunday that Dr Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases expert on the White House coronavirus task force, manufactured the virus and sent it to China, from where it began to spread across the world. Mikovits and her attorney, Larry Klayman, were scheduled to appear on this week's episode of American This Week, which is helmed by former Fox <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">News</keyword> host Eric Bolling. The episode was posted online before its scheduled broadcast.In a statement posted on Twitter Saturday, the media company said it was delaying airing the interview until it had added additional context to the section about Mikovits and her claims. "All stations have been notified not to air this and will instead be re-airing last week's episode in its place," reads the statement. It added that there were no plans to broadcast Plandemic: "This documentary has been widely discredited and we as a company do not support the baseless claims that were rebutted during the original segment."Further, we valiantly support Dr. Fauci and the work he and his team are doing to further prevent the spread of COVID-19 and are proud to have welcomed him to 'America This Week' as well as our stations via our national bureau to update and inform viewers."In recent years the Sinclair group, which owns <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sinclair-broadcast-group-stations-by-state-list-2018-4">hundreds of local news stations across the US,</a> has tilted towards support for Trump with anchors reading out near-identical statements in 2018 in which they echoed Trump's attacks on "fake news." Fauci, whose remarks on the coronavirus have at times clashed with Trump's, described, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fauci-given-personal-security-after-threats-family-2020-7">in an interview with the Axe Files podcast last week,</a> how he and his family had been assigned security after receiving serious threats of violence.

Sinclair Broadcast Group is delaying airing an interview with a conspiracy theorist who baselessly claims Dr Fauci created the coronavirus

<ul class="summary-list"><li>About 200 vaccine and <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> skeptics gathered in a North Carolina hotel for a conference over Memorial Day weekend. </li><li>Attendees did not wear masks, practice social distancing, or heed the governor's guidelines to limit gatherings to 10 people. </li><li>The hotel ended up calling the local police to help enforce social distancing policies. </li></ul>As many Americans weighed the risks of going to the beach and backyard barbecues over Memorial Day weekend, hundreds of coronavirus and vaccine skeptics gathered in a Charlotte, North Carolina, hotel. "The Advanced Medicine Conference" attracted about 200 nonconventional medicine practitioners, researchers, <keyword id="2334081" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="anti-vaccine">anti-vaccine</keyword> advocates, and members of the public, based on the best estimates of <keyword id="9054837" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="business-insider-today">Business Insider Today</keyword>, which sent a videographer to help conduct interviews.Very few attendees wore masks, and the group didn't comply with local guidelines to limit group gatherings to 10 people, leading to police enforcement. Del Bigtree, CEO of the anti-vaccination group Informed Consent Action Network and a conference speaker, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/313820309356251/videos/1141552786205310/">told BI Today's Katie Nixdorf</a> that he wanted attend the event in person to support the conference organizer's desire to "make a statement that we are not afraid of this and that we stand in the real <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword>." <div type="image" title="Attendees of the Advanced Medicine Conference" height="1570" width="2868" msid="76110422" hostid="261"></div><h2>The conference marketed itself to people as "seeking the truth" </h2>The second annual conference marketed itself toward people "who are seeking the truth, who wish to learn the secret to not only achieving optimum health but who want to know the secret to all aspects of life, who are on the evolutionary path to greater awareness and insight and wish to take the next leap forward," according to <a href="https://advancedmedicineconference.com/about">its website</a>. It was organized by Dr. Rashid Buttar, an osteopathic physician and conspiracy theorist whose videos incorrectly claiming the coronavirus is linked to 5G technology have been repeatedly removed by Facebook and YouTube for spreading misinformation.<keyword id="9223917" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="judy-mikovits">Judy Mikovits</keyword>, the discredited doctor who was recently in the conspiratorial "documentary" Plandemic, was also slated as a featured speaker, though it's unclear if she showed up. The speakers promoted alternative medicine practices, such as restorative breathing and herbal medicine, and expressed their concerns about the safety of a possible coronavirus vaccine. "The entire premise behind the conference is to show from a philosophical standpoint and from a scientific standpoint, the nuances that are being ignored, the advances in science that are being ignored by mainstream medicine," Buttar told BI Today. <div type="image" title="Rashid Buttar hugging at conference" height="1560" width="2874" msid="76110425" hostid="261"></div><h2>The gathering defied guidelines and led to police enforcement </h2>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html#clusters">worst coronavirus clusters</a> around the US have been tied to places that force people into close quarters for extended periods, like nursing homes, correctional facilities, and meatpacking plants. Religious services, choir practices, and birthday parties have been dubbed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-super-spreader-events-reveal-gatherings-to-avoid-2020-5">"super-spreader" events</a> too."The farther away you are and the shorter duration of contact between you and other people means you get less efficient virus transmission," William Schaffner, an infectious-disease expert at Vanderbilt University, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-assess-your-risk-of-catching-coronavirus-2020-5">previously told Business Insider.</a>Still, attendees gathered indoors, largely without masks or practicing social distancing. According to the Embassy Suites where the conference was held, organizers had agreed prior to the conference to limit each room to 10 people, per local guidelines. Buttar told BI Today the event didn't have to comply with local restrictions since the governor's order allowed exceptions for health, safety, and education. He also called on the First Amendment right to assemble.(The <a href="https://files.nc.gov/governor/documents/files/EO138-Phase-1.pdf">executive order</a>, which forbids mass gatherings — meaning more than 10 people in a single space — states that "Mass Gatherings do not include gatherings for health and safety, to look for and obtain goods and services, for work, for worship, or exercise of First Amendment rights, or for receiving governmental services.") The Embassy Suites eventually called in the local police department, hotel manager Kevin Plucker, <a href="https://www.wcnc.com/article/news/local/memorial-day-weekend-crowds-social-distancing-charlotte-north-carolina/275-ee618fa4-960d-4a3d-a0e9-5f1943c4d4a3">told WCNC Charlotte in a statement</a>. "We were in constant touch with this professional organization about changing COVID guidelines leading up to their arrival, yet they still chose to have their group meeting and agreed to the terms about number of people allowed in each room," he wrote. "On Saturday, when it became clear their attendees were not respecting social distancing requirements, we called CMPD to help us enforce it, which they did. The safety of all hotel guests is always our priority, even more so during the COVID-19 crisis."Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/anti-vaxxers-attended-medical-conference-memorial-day-weekend-north-carolina-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

Vaccine and coronavirus skeptics packed into a hotel for a conference over Memorial Day weekend, defying guidelines

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Vice reported Thursday on a video from April, showing a former <keyword id="6355629" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="google">Google</keyword> employee named Zach Vorhies, detailing a campaign to send the "Plandemic" video viral.</li><li>In the video, Vorhies said he ran the social media accounts for <keyword id="9223917" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="judy-mikovits">Judy Mikovits</keyword>, the discredited scientist who appeared in the "Plandemic" video seen by millions across social platforms.</li><li>In the past, Vorhies has worked with right-wing activist group Project Veritas, and has tweeted about <keyword id="9152811" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="qanon">QAnon</keyword> and other conspiracy theories.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>A recently discovered YouTube video from an ex-Google employee shows he's been crafting a campaign since April to make the "Plandemic" video go viral, which included running the social media accounts of Judy Mikovits.The unlisted YouTube video, uncovered <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/k7qqyn/an-ex-google-employee-turned-whistleblower-and-qanon-fan-made-plandemic-go-viral">by Vice's Anna Merlan</a>, shows Zach Vorhies telling the camera about his plan to promote claims made by Mikovits, the discredited scientist who was the star of the 26-minute documentary-style video <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-youtube-remove-plandemic-video-with-unsubstantiated-coronavirus-claims-2020-5">that went viral last week</a> on YouTube, Facebook and other platforms. Vorhies' video, posted on April 19, appeared more than two weeks before the "Plandemic" video was first posted online.This video is just one part of the actions Vorhies took in April to plant the seeds ahead of the "Plandemic" video's debut on May 4. The video, which garnered millions of views, forwarded widely debunked <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> claims about social distancing making people more susceptible to get sick and the virus being man-made so vaccine manufacturers could profit. Despite <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-youtube-remove-plandemic-video-with-unsubstantiated-coronavirus-claims-2020-5">Facebook and social platforms' efforts</a> to ban the video and deal with other types of harmful content, <keyword id="535763" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Misinformation">misinformation</keyword> has continued to flow freely online.The same day he posted his YouTube video, Vorhies launched a GoFundMe campaign titled "Help me amplify Pharma Whistleblower Judy Mikovits," according <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/09/technology/plandemic-judy-mikovitz-coronavirus-disinformation.html">to The New York Times</a>. A day earlier, a newly created Twitter account for Mikovits posted its first tweet, since deleted, to thank Vorhies "for helping me get on Twitter!"Both the GoFundMe page has also been deleted. The crowdfunding platform told the Times that Vorhies' fundraiser violated its policies on "campaigns that are fraudulent, misleading, inaccurate, dishonest, or impossible."Both Vorhies and Mikovits were already known in conspiracy theory circles prior to this month. Mikovits has made a name for herself for speaking out against vaccinations, and published a book in April called "Plague of Corruption." Since her viral stardom, the book has sold out on Amazon.Vorhies, a former software engineer at YouTube, is a self-proclaimed "whistleblower" who made headlines in 2019 for an interview with right-wing activist group Project Veritas <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/james-okeefes-google-whistleblower-loves-qanon-accused-zionists-of-running-the-government">where he alleged Google</a> had an anti-conservative bias. He provided the group with over 900 pages of internal documents on Google's search algorithms as evidence.On Twitter, Vorhies posts about a trove of conspiracy theories regarding Pizzagate and vaccines' links to autism, as well as <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/james-okeefes-google-whistleblower-loves-qanon-accused-zionists-of-running-the-government">anti-Semitic</a> and white supremacist claims. Recently, he's focused in on posts supporting the <a href="https://apnews.com/0fdbc9ae690c64c0e3e9d26f9d93aab0">fringe conspiracy theory QAnon</a>.Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/plandemic-google-employee-zach-vorhies-viral-campaign-judy-mikovits-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

An ex-Google employee was behind an online campaign to make the 'Plandemic' video go viral

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In early May, a movie titled "<keyword id="9185319" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="plandemic">Plandemic</keyword>" was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/plandemic-google-employee-zach-vorhies-viral-campaign-judy-mikovits-2020-5">widely circulated on social media</a>. </li><li>It featured a discredited scientist who claimed vaccine companies are using the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-live-updates-latest-news">coronavirus</a> pandemic to make a profit.</li><li>The scientist, Judy Mikovits, made countless false claims about the dangers of <keyword id="79555" type="TECHNOLOGY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Vaccines">vaccines</keyword>, how stay-at-home orders suppress the immune system, and that the virus <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-coronavirus-did-not-leak-from-wuhan-lab-researcher-2020-4">originated in a lab</a>. </li><li>More than 8 million people viewed the video before Facebook and YouTube <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-youtube-remove-plandemic-video-with-unsubstantiated-coronavirus-claims-2020-5">took it down</a> for violating their <keyword id="8763838" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="covid-19">COVID-19</keyword> misinformation policies.</li><li>Here's a list of what "Plandemic" got wrong, and how.</li></ul>On May 4, filmmaker Mikki Willis released a video titled "Plandemic" on multiple social media platforms.It featured a discredited scientist, Judy Mikovits, who spent 26 minutes claiming that US public <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">health</keyword> experts and vaccine companies are complicit in creating the deadly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-live-updates-latest-news">coronavirus</a> pandemic, and using it to make a profit.Facebook and Youtube eventually took the video down for violating the companies' <a href="https://www.youtube.com/about/policies/#community-guidelines">misinformation policies</a>. But even in a week's time, the damage had been done: more than 8 million people had watched "Plandemic.""Plandemic" makes a lot of claims that, independently, don't stand up to scrutiny. But presented all together in a rapid-fire style, they can seem to make sense — a rhetorical strategy, called "the <a href="https://qz.com/905252/donald-trumps-lies-are-all-part-of-a-debate-tactic-called-the-gish-gallop/">Gish Gallop</a>," which is particularly effective during a highly politicized pandemic when some world leaders, furious about having to lock down the economy, are stoking conspiracy theories about scientific evidence.Mikovits claimed stay-at-home orders are damaging to human health, that the virus originated in a lab, and that vaccines kill millions. But almost nothing she said in the video — about the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword>, about vaccines, or her own research history — is true.Here's a claim-by-claim breakdown of the dangerous conspiracy theories aired in "Plandemic."<h2>The coronavirus didn't start in a lab, it jumped to people from bats</h2>Claim: Mikovits said "it's very clear this virus was manipulated," adding: "If it was a natural occurrence, it would take up to 800 years to occur."Fact: Scientists have identified the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-natural-jump-from-bats-more-likely-than-lab-leak-2020-4">two closest genetic relatives</a> of the novel coronavirus (technically named SARS-CoV-2). Both are coronaviruses (a type of virus) that circulate in Chinese bat populations. <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.30.015008v1.full.pdf">Research suggests</a> they gave rise to SARS-CoV-2 between 40 and 70 years ago (not 800 years ago). Viruses commonly jump from an animal host to humans. This type of cross-species hop — called "a spillover event" — also led to the outbreaks of Ebola and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). <div type="image" title="wuhan institute of virology" height="1125" width="2000" msid="75903972" hostid="261"></div>Claim: "The virus was manipulated at North Carolina laboratories, Fort Detrick, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the Wuhan laboratory," she said.Fact: There is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-coronavirus-did-not-leak-from-wuhan-lab-researcher-2020-4">no evidence that the virus leaked</a> from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Researchers at the high-security lab said they have no record of the new coronavirus' genome, and that they follow strict safety measures.Following up on accusations from US conservatives, the CIA and Joint Chiefs of Staff found no evidence of a lab leak, and said "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/theory-coronavirus-accidentally-leaked-chinese-lab-2020-4">the weight of evidence leans towards"</a> the virus being natural in origin. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9">A March study</a> that examined the virus's genome discovered that it was the product of evolution, not engineering.The study authors wrote that their analysis shows SARS-CoV-2 "is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus."<h2>Vaccines don't kill people</h2>Claim: Mikovits said vaccine companies will "kill millions, as they already have with their vaccines" if a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, becomes mandatory.Fact: Vaccines save millions. <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/10-year-review/vaccines/en/">According to the World Health Organization</a>, between 2010 and 2015 alone, vaccines prevented at least 10 million deaths.Claim: She also said that there is no vaccine currently on the schedule for any RNA virus that works.Fact: Measles, mumps, rubella, rabies, yellow fever, and influenza are all RNA viruses. Each has a vaccine.<div type="image" title="Moderna vaccine" height="1564" width="2500" msid="75903978" hostid="261"></div>Claim: Mikovits argued that Italy got hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic because they were inoculated with an untested flu vaccine that was grown in dogs, which have coronaviruses.Fact: Dogs <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/animals.html">do have coronaviruses</a>, but they don't jump over to humans. An influenza vaccine is unrelated to coronaviruses of any kind, and the flu vaccine consists of a weakened version of the virus that's <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/conversations/downloads/vacsafe-understand-color-office.pdf">unlikely to cause infection</a>. <h2>Staying home won't weaken your immune system</h2>Claim: "Plandemic" includes an interview with two urgent care doctors who claim being inside exposes you to fewer viruses and bacteria, thereby weakening your immune system.Fact: Their claim draws on a concept called the "<a href="https://www.livescience.com/54078-hygiene-hypothesis.html">hygiene hypothesis</a>" — the idea that some exposure to microbes actually strengthens the immune system by training it to fight off germs."In the grand scheme of things during development, it's important for us to be exposed to our environment so the immune system can be stimulated, that's part of growing up healthy," microbiologist Dr. Miryam Wahrman told Business Insider.But weeks or months in quarantine isn't likely to dampen that. Not only are people still able to go outside, but your home isn't a completely sterile environment. So you're still exposed to plenty of germs that keep your immune system sharp."If you're eating food, which I imagine everyone is doing, you're challenging you immune system. If you're breathing air, you're still exposed to things," Wahrman said. "So it's very misleading. They're misusing the concept of the hygiene hypothesis."<div type="image" title="wuhan coronavirus quarantine lockdown hubei" height="1400" width="2100" msid="75903984" hostid="261"></div>Claim: Mikovits also stated that closing beaches is "insanity" because the sand, ocean, and salt water contain "healing microbes." Fact: Wahrman said that's just not true. While being outdoors is pleasant and important for wellbeing, it's not a panacea."I love swimming in the ocean. I believe it's healthy and it's very nice. But there are no microorganisms in the ocean that will do any magic to keep you healthy in this time or any other time, and if there were, they would be so dilute as to not do anything," she said. Beaches are tricky to manage during the pandemic. Infection risk is lower outdoors, and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/coronavirus-what-to-do-outside.html">coronaviruses aren't stable in water</a>, so you probably wouldn't catch COVID-19 swimming.But sand and surf offer ample opportunities for people to congregate in large groups that aren't separated by the recommended 6 feet of social distancing. Such gatherings are ideal for viral spread. At first, governments closed beaches to minimize people congregating, and are now <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/should-you-go-to-the-beach-on-memorial-day-weekend-2020-5">rolling back those restrictions</a>.<h2>Wearing a mask won't worsen your infection</h2><div type="image" title="face surgical mask coronavirus" height="3600" width="5400" msid="75903996" hostid="261"></div>Claim: Mikovits said wearing a mask is harmful because it "literally activates your own virus" and can make you sicker from your own reactivated viral expressions. Fact: You can't reinfect yourself with the virus if you already have it. Researchers have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-south-korean-reactivated-cases-not-reinfected-experts-2020-4">refuted the idea</a> that the virus can go dormant in your body and be subsequently reactivated. "There is no <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> behind it, and it's totally false," Wahrman said of that claim. More and more evidence suggests that once your body mounts an immune response to COVID-19, its protected — for some time — from reinfection."What wearing a mask does is help reduces the dispersion and spread of anything you have in your mouth or breath that could make others sick, and protects you from breathing in something aerosolized in your immediate environment that could make you sick," Wahrman added.<h2>The government is not exaggerating the number of COVID-19 deaths</h2>Claim: Mikovits said the US government has exaggerated the number of pandemic deaths because doctors are financially incentivized to classify the death of any coronavirus patients as a COVID-19 death, regardless of underlying health issues that may have contributed.<div type="image" title="new york city coronavirus" height="1310" width="2000" msid="75904010" hostid="261"></div>Fact: The US's rationale for reporting those as COVID-19 deaths is straightforward: Having <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hypertension-diabetes-conditions-that-make-coronavirus-more-deadly-2020-3">a comorbidity, or added risk,</a> increases the chance a person with COVID-19 will die. Research also shows the disease affects more than just our lungs. It can cause <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-blood-clot-complications-in-severe-covid-19-treatment-debate-2020-4">blood clots</a> that may lead to strokes and require amputations, even in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blood-clot-coronavirus-covid-19-patient-lung-heart-kidney-2020-4">young, healthy</a> patients. There's also mounting evidence the virus <a href="https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2020/04/17/organ-damage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">may harm organs</a> like the heart and kidneys.There's <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid19/excess_deaths.htm">strong evidence</a> that shows, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fdny-ems-first-responders-trauma-guilt-coronavirus-ptsd-2020-4">if anything, the US is underestimating the number of coronavirus deaths</a>.<h2>Mikovits was arrested because she stole from her employer</h2>Claim: "I was held in jail, with no charges," Mikovits said. Fact: In 2011, she was fired by the Whittemore Peterson Institute, a research center in Reno, Nevada. The center later filed a lawsuit against her, <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/11/controversial-cfs-researcher-arrested-and-jailed">Science reported</a>, claiming Mikovits had held onto her lab notebooks and was keeping proprietary information on her laptop and personal email. Mikovits fled to Ventura County, California, where she was arrested as a fugitive from justice. <div type="image" title="Judy Mikovits plandemic" height="2772" width="4200" msid="75904020" hostid="261"></div>Claim: Willis introduced Mikovits as "one of the most accomplished scientists of her generation."Fact: Her biggest claim to fame was <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/334/6063/1636.1">a 2009 paper</a> published in the journal Science that drew a connection between an obscure virus and chronic fatigue syndrome. That paper was retracted two years later, because other scientists couldn't replicate her findings. She hasn't published any papers since 2012.<h2>Millions of people were enraptured by the "Plandemic" narrative because it helps them blame the pandemic on someone</h2>Extended and severe quarantines, coupled with the circulation of conflicting information about the virus, have created a perfect storm for Mikovits and Willis's "Plandemic" to appeal broadly."This video allows people to make sense of phenomenon that are hard to connect, and appeals to the need to find some way to make meaning and sense of it, resolve ambiguity, or at least find someone to blame," Anthony Lemieux, a professor of global studies and communication at Georgia State University, told Business Insider.He said that "Plandemic," like many conspiracy theories, is insidious. In it, Willis asks open-ended questions, and Mikovits's answers to those questions are designed to guide viewers to specific conclusions without stating them outright.<div type="image" title="Coronavirus lockdown protest Michigan" height="2667" width="4000" msid="75904035" hostid="261"></div>"It takes a kernel of truth, the first part of the question that's plausible, but disconnected from the context to make is seem like it's related in a meaningful way or worse, that it's a causality," he added. According Wahrman, the video is popular, in part, because it provides an appealing alternative to the idea that we may be stuck in quarantine — due to a virus that we can't control — for a long time. "It feels empowering to hear that there are alternatives. This is frustrating and it's hard to do social distancing," she said. "The answer, unfortunately, is that we're still in a raging pandemic. What we're doing is hard, it's necessary and we are saving lives."Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-plandemic-movie-got-wrong-about-coronavirus-vaccines-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

A point-by-point debunk of the 'Plandemic' movie, which was shared widely before YouTube and Facebook took it down

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="9152811" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="qanon">QAnon</keyword>, a conspiracy theory deeply engrained with religious conservatives, is no longer just a fringe movement. Now, <keyword id="9229416" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="lifestyle-influencers">lifestyle influencers</keyword> are spreading Q's gospel with their followers. </li><li>During the coronavirus pandemic, many QAnon believers have promoted <keyword id="1379614" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="conspiracy-theories">conspiracy theories</keyword> about "the great awakening" and a supposed plot against Donald Trump. </li><li>"I truly believe I owe it to my audience to be more for them during this turning point in our <keyword id="24504" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="culture">culture</keyword>," Rebecca Pfeiffer of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/luvbec/?hl=en">@luvbec</a> told Insider in an email.</li><li>The spread represents a dangerous trend towards belief in unverified information online, that has spurned some Q followers <a href="https://www.insider.com/biden-qanon-supporter-arrested-attemp-live-streaming-trip-to-take-2020-5">into potentially violent action</a>.</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>At first glance, Rebecca Pfeiffer's <keyword id="819905" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Instagram">Instagram</keyword> appears just like any other <keyword id="15482" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="lifestyle">lifestyle</keyword> influencer's feed. Pfeiffer's page <a href="https://www.instagram.com/luvbec/?hl=en">@luvbec</a>, which has 104,000 followers, is full of sepia-toned images of a happy family, denim and camouflage jackets, aesthetically pleasing kitchen decor, and sponsored posts with big brands, including Walmart. But one post from April 7 stands out. Pfeiffer is wearing a bikini and a baseball cap adorned with the letter Q, designed with the American flag, and the words "where we go one, we go all," one of the QAnon conspiracy theory movement's top catchphrases. "Humbled daily by your messages of awakening, of truth telling, of God-bearing grace," the caption reads, with the hashtags #wwg1wga, #qanon, #qdrops, and #thegreatawakening. Pfeiffer is a follower of QAnon, the conspiracy theory movement that believes an embedded "deep state" operative sympathetic to the Trump administration is sending coded messages fateful for our culture and politics via an anonymous message board. Of the movement's many bizarre theories, most revolve around the idea that there is a secret plot against President Donald Trump. QAnon has "no apparent foundation in reality," <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/how-three-conspiracy-theorists-took-q-sparked-qanon-n900531">as NBC News noted</a>, and it's possible that Q, the anonymous figure or group of people posting "Q drops" with new information for followers online, <a href="https://thefederalist.com/2018/10/29/trolling-fleecing-co-creator-q-hoax-explains-dangerous-evolution/">started as a trolling incident</a>. The movement began in 2017 in the wake of the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/10/business/media/pizzagate.html">Pizzagate theory</a> on 4chan, an anonymous online message board that is often a breeding ground for hateful vitriol and conspiracy theories.There have been multiple incidents of QAnon supporters committing violence, including murders and attempted kidnappings, according to progressive research nonprofit <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/here-are-qanon-supporters-running-congress-2020">organization Media Matters for America</a>. An FBI field office in Phoenix <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/fbi-documents-conspiracy-theories-terrorism-160000507.html">referred to QAnon as a potential domestic terrorism threat</a> in 2019. "The FBI assesses these conspiracy theories very likely will emerge, spread, and evolve in the modern information marketplace, occasionally driving both groups and individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts," an FBI document obtained by Yahoo <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="news">News</keyword> said. <h2>Pfeiffer is part of a small but mighty group of lifestyle <keyword id="1112328" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Influencers">influencers</keyword> on Instagram who talk about QAnon in between fashion and parenting posts. </h2>Pfeiffer's QAnon stories and posts are remarkably unspecific, and use religious rhetoric that paints QAnon as "the great awakening" of our time. Followers often times come off as missionaries of sorts, spreading the gospel of Q, as detailed in a recent <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/">Atlantic piece</a>."I only started sharing this information recently when I started feeling that I had a moral obligation to my audience to share more important content, given the current circumstances," Pfeiffer told Insider via email. "I truly believe I owe it to my audience to be more for them during this turning point in our culture." The proliferation of conspiracy theories on Instagram is <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/instagram-is-the-internets-new-home-for-hate/585382/">far from novel</a>, as misinformation and far-right ideologies have continued to spread on the app for years. And Pfeiffer is certainly not the sole influencer espousing these beliefs, though the trend is not yet widespread. One comment on her April 7 post, from a micro-influencer with 1,460 followers, reads: "Your posts have been so refreshing to see on an influencers platform... bravo." Another fashion and lifestyle influencer, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jalynnschroeder/">Jalynn Schroeder</a>, began sharing QAnon theories in March. "One week ago today, my eyes were opened," she captioned a video in which she explained her new belief system. The 14-minute video has a thumbnail showing a quote from Maya Angelou that reads, "We are only as blind as we want to be." While the late poet and author had no connection to QAnon, Schroeder, who did not return Insider's request for comment, used it to demonstrate her own so-called "awakening." Krystal Tini, an entrepreneur and model whose Instagram page has nearly 100,000 followers, is another believer in QAnon who has shared conspiracy theories like the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-conspiracy-5g-masts-fire-2020-4#there-is-no-evidence-that-5g-or-any-other-kind-of-radio-waves-are-harmful-to-people-2">baseless idea</a> that 5G technology causes COVID-19, which has led to people burning down 5G cellular towers.Tini told Insider in an email that she became interested in QAnon because it "gets people to think for themselves and not become a slave to the mainstream media," but she said she's not "100% convinced it's 100% true." Tini added that she never would have shared her perspectives prior to COVID-19."If anything, it has piqued my curiosity about all that has been going on 'behind the scenes' for quite some time and also it has provided information I wouldn't otherwise have never known," she said.Originally, believers in QAnon considered themselves to be on the margins of US culture and considered those in the mainstream society as "normies." Marc Tuters, a lecturer in the University of Amsterdam's Media Studies program who researches radical political subcultures online, has dubbed the phenomenon of QAnon entering mainstream consciousness as "<a href="https://oilab.eu/qanon-on-protest-larping-and-the-normiefication-of-4chans-bullshit/">normiefication</a>," as influencers spreading these beliefs are actually sharing "vague ideas" rather than specifics. Tuters said there's been a "gradual translation to less and less extreme versions, until all that's really left is just the slogans." These women clearly believe what they're spreading, but their explanations of Q are much easier to swallow than the <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/12/5/13842258/pizzagate-comet-ping-pong-fake-news">notion that the Clintons and Obama were involved in a child sex ring.</a> <h2>Social media platforms have struggled to tamp down the spread of these theories during the coronavirus pandemic, as <a href="https://www.insider.com/poisonings-from-bleach-and-disinfectants-double-their-typical-numbers-2020-5">many of them are harmful to public health</a>. </h2>During the coronavirus pandemic, influencers, politicians, and celebrities have been posting misinformation and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/opinion/fake-treatment-cure-coronavirus.html">unproven treatments for the virus</a>. An April report by researchers from the <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/types-sources-and-claims-covid-19-misinformation">Reuters Institute at Oxford University</a> found that influencers are part of a group responsible for the most engagement with coronavirus misinformation and conspiracy theories on social media. While politicians, celebrities, and influencers made up only 20% of false claims, their posts accounted for 69% of social media engagement with such theories. Federal agencies have also put out warnings against false treatment claims. "What we don't need in this situation are companies preying on consumers by promoting products with fraudulent prevention and treatment claims," Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joe Simons said in a March <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-update-fda-and-ftc-warn-seven-companies-selling-fraudulent-products-claim-treat-or">Food and Drug Administration press release</a>. But these types of unsubstantiated claims have only gotten worse since March. In a 26-minute viral video dubbed the "Plandemic," anti-vaxxer Judy Mikovits, identified as a doctor in the documentary-style short, claims that wearing a mask can increase chances of contracting COVID-19. Carmella Rose, a fitness and lifestyle influencer with more than two million followers, shared the short documentary with her followers in Instagram stories on May 12. "Everyone needs to check out this video," she wrote. "It keeps getting taken off of YouTube and Facebook when getting millions of views, time to wake up." <div type="image" title="carmella rose qanon" height="1578" width="1784" msid="75764530" hostid="261"></div>Indeed, Facebook has been working to remove the video. "Suggesting that wearing a mask can make you sick could lead to imminent harm, so we're removing the video from Facebook and Instagram," a Facebook company spokesperson told Insider. YouTube said it has also sought to remove posts of the video, which contains "content that includes medically unsubstantiated diagnostic advice," <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-youtube-remove-plandemic-video-with-unsubstantiated-coronavirus-claims-2020-5">Reuters reported</a>. <h2>Amid the coronavirus pandemic, QAnon has officially become mainstream. Even President Trump is publicly acknowledging the movement's conspiracy theories. </h2>Alexander Reid Ross, a researcher who tracks white nationalism and a doctoral fellow at the <a href="https://www.radicalrightanalysis.com/">Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right</a>, said that it's clear that the QAnon movement has wormed its way into mainstream culture. "When you've got the president of the United States promoting these themes and theories ... You can say that they're fringe, in terms of the competent, rational mind, but you can't say that they're out of the mainstream," said Reid Ross. In addition to the Plandemic, Rose, who did not respond to requests for comment, shared posts about "Obamagate" on her stories. "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-asks-lindsey-graham-get-obama-to-testify-obamagate-2020-5">Obamagate</a>," a conspiracy theory that alleges President Barack Obama and his administration illegally targeted the Trump administration in investigations (such as the Mueller probe), has been touted by President Trump. Sen. Rand Paul tweeted on May 13 encouraging Congress to find out "what did the former president know." Then, Trump tweeted on May 14 urging Congress to investigate the "biggest political crime and scandal in the history of the USA." 35 current or former candidates for Congress have appeared to support QAnon, according to <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/here-are-qanon-supporters-running-congress-2020">Media Matters for America</a>, as reported by <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/qanon-nothing-can-stop-what-is-coming/610567/">The Atlantic</a>. While Trump has continuously spread the Q-derived "Obamagate" theory, he has been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/13/obamagate-was-worst-crime-ever-committed-here-is-what-it-was/">unable to answer questions from reporters</a> concerning crimes Obama allegedly committed. Tini said there are certain QAnon theories surrounding Obama that are particularly appealing to her, because of the president's Secret Service code name, "<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2008/11/the-obama-code-names-explained">Renegade</a>," which is defined by the Oxford dictionary as "a person who deserts and betrays an organization, country, or set of principles." "That right there has me asking," Tini said, "why would a president of the United States of America choose such a word to represent him?"<h2>QAnon followers are particularly emboldened during the coronavirus pandemic, which is a "perfect storm for conspiracy theories," according to Tuters.</h2>Pfeiffer told Insider that she only recently became interested in QAnon "when the narrative we were being presented through mainstream media didn't seem to be adding up."Though she would have never previously shared political ideology with her followers, she feels it's her duty. "I only started sharing this information recently when I started feeling that I had a moral obligation to my audience to share more important content, given the current circumstances." Tini echoed that sentiment, writing in an email to Insider that her decision to share QAnon with her Instagram followers "comes strictly from passion to pursue the truth as opposed to so many people being controlled by fear" during the coronavirus pandemic. Tuters also said it makes sense that people are turning to QAnon during the coronavirus pandemic, as the world remains uncertain and people are searching for beacons of hope and guidance. "[Conspiracy theories] are simplistic narratives that people come up with to kind of connect their political beliefs with something bigger," Tuters said. "People seek some kind of sense of certainty, understandably so, and explanations that can sort of fit things into a more coherent framework," he said, "and that's what attracts people to conspiracy theories in general." <ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-qanon-crack-down-fringe-conspiracy-pages-groups-2020-5">Facebook banned a cluster of 'fringe conspiracy' QAnon pages for breaking its rules on manipulation</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-coronavirus-wuhan-cure-qanon-mms-bleach-conspiracy-2020-1">QAnon conspiracy theorists are telling people to drink bleach as a cure against the deadly Wuhan coronavirus</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/qanon-oprah-winfrey-human-trafficking-arrest-conspiracy-theory-twitter-coronavirus-2020-3">A QAnon conspiracy theory about Oprah Winfrey went so viral that it provoked her to respond, showing the scope of coronavirus misinformation</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/influencers-celebrities-are-spreading-coronavirus-misinformation-2020-4">Celebrities, politicians, and influencers are largely accountable for the spread of false coronavirus information, according to a new study</a></li></ul>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/lifestyle-influencers-using-covid-19-to-spread-qanon-conspiracy-theory-2020-5">Insider</a>

Lifestyle influencers are using COVID-19 to spread QAnon conspiracy theories: 'I truly believe I owe it to my audience to be more for them during this turning point in our culture'

You Searched For "judy mikovits" and got 5 results

Sinclair Broadcast Group is delaying airing an interview with a conspiracy theorist who baselessly claims Dr Fauci created the coronavirus

Tom Porter

Vaccine and coronavirus skeptics packed into a hotel for a conference over Memorial Day weekend, defying guidelines

Anna Medaris Miller

An ex-Google employee was behind an online campaign to make the 'Plandemic' video go viral

Paige Leskin

A point-by-point debunk of the 'Plandemic' movie, which was shared widely before YouTube and Facebook took it down

Gabby Landsverk,Aylin Woodward

Lifestyle influencers are using COVID-19 to spread QAnon conspiracy theories: 'I truly believe I owe it to my audience to be more for them during this turning point in our culture'

Rachel E. Greenspan

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides