The University of Córdoba inaugurated this Tuesday a conference in which the most outstanding personalities of Spanish scientific denialism and some of the most recognized defenders of conspiracy theories will participate. To these conferences and debates, organized under the motto Thinking in a critical stateNotable promoters of misinformation about the pandemic will attend, such as Juan Zaragoza, who has spread lies such as that covid vaccines are toxic and “give cancer” or that the omicron variant does not exist. In addition, there will be conspiracists who publish books about the supposed secret plans of Bill Gates to decimate humanity and the president of the Skywatch Association, who defends the existence of clandestine mass fumigations (a conspiracy known as chemtrails, chemtrails). He has also been invited to flat earthers, alchemists and defenders of other pseudoscientific views.
The promoter of these conferences is isabella lopez, a professor of Industrial Engineering at the Cordovan institution, who believes that the press silences these issues. The professor wants to “expose that vision that does not exist in the media, because there has been a lot of censorship.” With these days full of conspiracists, she assures that she wants “to give them the opportunity to explain themselves and speak openly.” For example, two people with an openly denialist speech about climate change will attend. For López, climate change “is a dogma that should be up for debate.” “You have to listen to them and debate with them,” she insists. That is why she wants to “give a voice to the censored”.
The University of Córdoba will try to stop the initiative. The Scientific Culture subcommittee has determined this afternoon that it does not deserve funding from the University because “it promotes pseudoscience and offers space for theories that are not scientifically proven.” But that would not prevent the celebration of these conferences. The organization of the event does not pay the speakers, but covers their travel and accommodation expenses in Córdoba. In case of not being able to do it, López plans to do it online, but it would also have the seal of the University. The Office of the Vice President for Students and Culture is going to “recommend” Professor López not to go ahead and reserves other possible actions. “If they cancel it, it would validate the theory that there is censorship,” says the professor.
The ‘truth’ of the pandemic
When asked if you are not concerned about the misinformation that a famous covid denier such as Juan Zaragoza, the professor at the University of Córdoba has no doubts: “There must be denial for science to advance. I’m not scared”. However, López acknowledges that she did not include any topic directly related to vaccines in the sessions so as not to generate rejection at the University, although she would have liked: “You cannot touch the subject; I have preferred to remove the most difficult issues, but many explanations are missing that people are waiting for”. What explanations? For example, “the excess mortality that has been occurring since vaccination began”, one of the misleading discourses promoted by the deniers, or “why is there no talk of myocarditis in vaccinated children”, another disinformation. Coronavirus vaccines saved 20 million lives in their first year alone, according to a study in The Lancet.
The first day was dedicated to the theories of Rupert Sheldrakea controversial biologist considered a pseudoscientist already in the 80s. In March they will attend Josephine Friarpresident of the Skyguard Association; Pillar Cornersa lawyer who considers global warming “the biggest scam in history” and politicians “puppets of the plandemic”; and Christina Martinauthor of books like The truth of the pandemic either The masters of the world are on the prowl. In April, the aforementioned Zaragoza; Arthur Hall, writer dedicated to “knowledge that was left out of the academic narrative”; and in may joshua simon, who sells books arguing that alchemy is the way to live spiritually healthy. In September Martín Jiménez would return, and they will debate Carlos Astizauthor of the book Bill GatesReset! (which defends that there is a hidden plan of the elites to reduce the world population) and Enrique Perezwhich defends flat-terrainism and that the media broadcast “content to affect our cognitive processes, and thus make us think and act as the richest families are interested in.”
Lopez coordinates the engineering classroom of the University, an initiative to disseminate scientific culture in which this event takes place. The conferences are held in a cineforum format, and the speakers present their pseudoscientific theories after the broadcast of a film. The professor assures that it is necessary to give a voice in the university environment to people who defend that the covid does not exist or that the Earth is flat. “We wonder why those who think differently are being censored,” she repeats, and she talks about “the amount of censorship there is on YouTube and other networks, that’s why they are moving on Telegram.” “We have had to do Telegram to inform ourselves,” she says, referring to a communication application, similar to WhatsApp, that allows the creation of dissemination groups without restrictions, widely used by extremist groups and with alternative thoughts.
Another discussion session he had organized was about flat terracing, the belief that the Earth is not a sphere, but a flat surface. He had invited Iru Landucci, “the greatest exponent of terraplanismo in Spanish”, but it was canceled after EL PAÍS declined his invitation to debate with him. It is the only talk canceled due to the absence of a “counterpart”, according to López, so that it is not said that “the University of Córdoba is a flat earther”. Although López assures that he agrees with terraplanismo “in the questioning that he proposes.” In any case, a defender of this absurd theory will go to another table. The rest of the sessions will be held without anyone to discuss these conspiracies: “We are having a hard time finding someone to do it,” admits López.
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