Dan is attracted to wild conspiracy theories, but I do believe he is genuine in his desire to uncover the truth. Unfortunately, rather than applying reason, as he claims, he seems to traffic a lot in right-wing conjecture and speculation. His positions swing wildly depending on the current rightwing plot lines (social distancing is Democratic Party conspiracy against Trump, etc).
His Twitter timeline puts out speculations such as the virus is a Chinese bio-attack on the US, without considering the counter argument: China’s rise as a superpower is largely dependent on US capital flowing into the country and the virus disrupts that. His current line is that ventilator treatments are the cause of deaths, not the virus itself. This is based on speculative reports.
There is a modicum of truth: some medical experts are trying to limit time on ventilators and using various new techniques to assist breathing. But using stats like way more people die when on ventilators is ridiculous given that only the very worst cases are intubated. So naturally there will be a higher death rate.
Anyway. I obviously don’t share Dan’s world view. I listen and often respond on Twitter because I think Dan is genuine and trying to figure things out. If you are “leftist” and don’t like to listen to views different than yours, I’d skip this podcast. But if you like to think about counter arguments to your own views and you like to challenge those views, it wouldn’t hurt to give Dan a listen. He’s not Alex Jones and that’s a compliment. If you are conservative and like conspiracies that confirm your world view, this is a good landing spot for you.
UPDATE: I followed Dan on Twitter and we had several exchanges over the response to COVID19. Dan’s view was that measures put in place were too cumbersome and imposing on American freedoms. My view was that they saved even up to hundreds of thousands of lives. I asked Dan, what level of death was acceptable for his freedoms to not be imposed upon. He wouldn’t answer that and instead, just blocked me. I’m used to conservatives not being willing to face facts. I expected more from Dan though. So long, Dan...and thanks for all the fish.
