News & Articles

When I wrote the articles which Reader has been generous enough to post as Local Views, I was seeking only to dispute many of Gary Kohls false” facts” and thus provide another perspective on the so called knowledge of those in the current anti-vaccine movement.

But according to Gary, apparently disagreeing with him is synonymous with some heinous and malicious attempt to sow discord and confuse others? This discord is apparently caused merely by the sin of disagreeing with him or discrediting him? And along the way, Kohl’s has made good use of numerous erroneous “facts,” born of irony and paradoxical thinking.

First, instead of responding to factually based critiques of his own statements, Gary has decided to slime Gorski with two quotes that Gorski has factually proven were not made by him—by providing links to their actual origins—(a commenter on his blog using the screen name g724) who left the following comment on April 25th, 2012, which purports to reveal how to set up a fictitious screen name and email account  for the purpose of deception : 
https://respectfulignorance.com/2012/04/23/the-annals-of-im-not-anti-vaccine/#comment-190537
“g724 APRIL 25, 2012 AT 5:25 PM”

“Denise @ 76: The way to do it is to set up a fictitious email address. Speaking from experience working on research on extremist groups:”

“Start by setting one up on your existing broadband provider: AT&T, Comcast, and the rest of ’em give you five or more email addresses of your choice. Create a totally fictitious name and then an address that reflects that name e.g. John Doe and JDoe1234@.”

“Next, get an address on a free service provider such as Yahoo or Hotmail or whatever. Since most of these ask for your “other” email address as proof of identity, give them the one on your broadband provider. They will send a confirmation email to that address giving you your starting password.

Third, after about a week of using your new fictitious address in various places that let you sign up for comments, you can be sure it’s working, so then go in and delete the address you created on your broadband service. Typically they deactivate the address immediately and then take a month to free up that slot for re-use. This step ensures that your Yahoo or Hotmail address becomes un-traceable back to your broadband provider.”

“Fourth, wait a month for the original fictitious name to completely purge from your broadband provider.”

“Fifth: Now you’re home free to get onto the anti-vax boards and any other objectionable boards you want to go after and make all manner of noise to make them look ridiculous and drive away the undecideds. Yeee-hawww, round ’em up!”
I suggest that readers compare the above comment which Kohl’s claims was made by Dr. Gorski, but was in fact, left by g724—pretty much word for word--with the other falsely attributed comment made by g724, on April 20th, 2019 on Gorski’s website Respectfulinsolence.com, because Kohls uses both comments to accuse Gorski of subterfuge.

Gary may be a physician, but he has apparently never taken the words of Christ to heart—“Physician heal thyself.” Since many of the ad hominem insults and derogatory refences which he attributes to Internet trolls, are actually made by people who share his love for defaming others. i.e. referring to “Two of The Most Deviant and Abusive Internet Trolls Who are, Practicing US Doctors,”—namely (Drs David Gorski, and Paul Offit). 

Kohls also  complains about what he insists is a derogatory label—”anti-vaxxers.” Yet Gary and other anti-vaccines people routinely refer to those who don’t agree with them, as “sheeple”—poor pawns in the game who are unable to accept his own irrefutable understandings, due to their (alas)—susceptibility to “cognitive dissonance.” But apparently it never occurs to Gary that the arguments proffered by “sheeple,” might be supported by real evidence based facts—which can be affirmed by actually opening the links provided by Gorski and admitting that what anti-vaccine people say is written there is, obviously, not attributable to him.

Yet Kohls will never fully engage critics concerning the supposed factual basis of his claims—except  by asserting  that the statements made by himself and other vaccine deniers, are based on solid and reliable sources—one of which is supposedly provided by Dr. H. Hugh Fudenberg, who in “a study,” supposedly proved that, adults who were vaccinated yearly (in the 1980s and 1990s) for five years in a row with the flu vaccine, “had a ten-fold increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s?” 

However, after I looked up Fudenberg’s supposed study with the help of Google, here is what I found concerning statements made by comedian Bill Maher—apparently a veritable fountain of scientific knowledge?”

https://respectfulinsolence.com/2007/08/27/bill-maher-antivaccination-wingnut/
“According to Hugh Fudenberg, MD (http://members.aol.com/nitrf), the world’s leading immunogenetisist and 13th most quoted biologist of our times (nearly 850 papers in peer review journals), if an individual has had five consecutive flu shots between 1970 and 1980 (the years studied) his/her chances of getting Alzheimer’s Disease is ten times higher than if they had one, two or no shots.

I asked Dr. Fudenberg why this was so, and he said it was due to the mercury and aluminum that’s in every flu shot (and most childhood shots). The gradual mercury and aluminum buildup in the brain causes cognitive dysfunction. Is that why Alzheimer’s is expected to quadruple?”

(A comment by Dr. David Gorski below):
“Hmmm. That name sounded very familiar, so I did a little more digging. It turns out that Hugh Fudenberg was a collaborator and co-inventor with Andrew Wakefield, the scientist who published an absolutely horribly designed study in the Lancet in 1998 linking the MMR vaccine to autism, nearly all of whose authors later publicly retracted their authorship.”  

“Dr. Fudenberg also happens to have been involved in some very dubious “treatments” for autism that led to some problems with his medical license. In November 1995, the South Carolina Medical Board concluded that Fudenberg was “guilty of engaging in dishonorable, unethical, or unprofessional conduct,” and he was fined $10,000 and ordered to surrender his license to prescribe controlled substances (narcotic drugs).”

Now Let me summarizes by saying that when Kohl’s mentions solid well-regarded sources, the truth is that (well regarded) is not always synonymous with (credible) sources. And Kohls has never effectively refuted any of Gorski’s links—nor specifically refuted the fact that, two quotes he attributed to Gorski were in fact, written by a commenting troll with the screen name (g724)—perhaps because he knows that challenging Gorski over things Gorski did not say, can be directly disproved by opening the links provided by Gorski? 

My hope is that anti-vaccine advocates like Kohls, will someday realize that not all of their “facts” are supported by science, or by the history of vaccines--and that, when the scientific studies provided by anti-vaccine people are rejected, it’s not because those who review them are biased, but rather, because  the science used in such studies, as well as the methodology used to evaluate them, is either insufficient, or ignores established scientific facts!

When raising endless (who’s telling the most lies) accusations, arguments used are similar to using a mirror to view oneself, (while also holding a mirror)— so, on and on each reflected image goes, presumably to infinity? Such is the case when conspiracy theories are used by those with no scientifically valid defenses left—if either side provides sound and provable evidence, it can always be discredited by claiming that those referencing it are also part of the plot?—add infinitum, add absurdum!

In his February 14th comment Kohl’s provided a long list of untrue and unsubstantiated “facts” about Dr. David Kohl’s and Dr. Paul Offit, who are both respected scientists and researchers. So, in the Feb 21st issue of Reader (in the interest of fairness), I provided a long list containing the many real accomplishments and accolades both men are credited with, so that readers could see for themselves how knowledgeable and worthy of esteem both of them truly are. 

After each list of accomplishments, I asked Kohls if he wanted to dispute any of those facts, but he has not! Instead he continues to malign Gorski and Offit with a litany of nasty and untrue allegations.  So again, I ask Gary if he’d care to prove that Gorski and Offit are really worthy of all his negative comments, listed in gossip-like paragraph after paragraph, of unsubstantiated and sometimes even, blatant, lies? 

When Kohls uses so many biased and/or non-factual sources, his claims are not worth the paper they are written on. But the facts I included about Gorski and Offit can be found on any biographical website, or in the records of the places where they work! So, are they true or not Gary? 

Gary, you are a poor witness when it comes to spreading such garbage, because too many of your own comments have now been revealed as the slanderous claims they are! Thus, you would do good to heed the old adage, (Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones)! And Gary—have you even bothered to think that, the reason two accomplished and intelligent Doctors are so angered by your allegations is simply because they are not true, and are designed to drag the recipients’ characters through the mud—based on unproven and unwarranted accusations? 

From the scare about trace contaminates in vaccines, to the supposed 100,000 vaccines safe for babies hype, (which I explained in my Feb. 21st article), and the unbelievably nasty ways you have distorted the lives and careers of far too many good Doctors, virtually every derogatory claim you have made is false! Thus, it’s you who are really attempting to sow discord by using truly nasty invectives to describe men who feel morally compelled to defend the truth—especially when anti vaccine people are deliberately misrepresenting that truth, by issuing utter misinformation and lies!

If you claim that’s not true, then start offering truly objective facts to base your arguments on! And please, no catch 22 insistence that guilt should be shared merely for critiquing those who truly deserve criticisms!