This week it cannot be helped that a lot of the episode is about different aspects on the Coronavirus and Covid-19. But we also want to remind everyone about our SkepKon raffle where we have one ticket to hand out to the conference in Berlin 21 – 23 May! Just send us an email to participate.
After the greetings we hear about holocaust denier David Irving, who was declared bankrupt This Week in History in 2002, after he sued a writer for libel and lost the subsequent trial. Pontus Pokes the Pope and tells about the new “papal task force” that will try to get all local and national Catholic organizations to handle sex abuse scandals better.
In the news, nonsense Coronavirus information is peddled by Hungarian authorities, a TV channel in Norway says that you will be protected if you donate to them while in other places, homeopaths think empty sugar pills are better. We discuss how the outbreak is a breeding ground for conspiracy theories and hear that in the UK, the PSA reaccredits the Society of Homeopaths but under strict conditions. Further on the subject, a German court says homeopathy may be totally ineffective, but that is not their concern.
We finish with another Corona related item and hand out a Really Wrong award to Durek Verrett, the self-proclaimed shaman and the boyfriend of the Norwegian Princess Märtha Louise. He recently published a homemade “cure” for the covid-19 disease. Spoiler: the vodka is optional!
Enjoy!
Segments:
Intro; Greetings; This Week; Pontus Pokes the Pope; News; Really Wrong; Quote and Farewell; Outro; Out-takes
Events Calendar: https://theesp.eu/events_in_europe
0:00:27 INTRO
0:00:50 GREETINGS
Coronavirus update, plus a reminder that the SkepKon 2020 raffle is still on. Email us to win a ticket! And we got a shout-out on TRC, the Reality Check podcast.
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- Covid 2019 tracker: https://vac-lshtm.shinyapps.io/ncov_tracker/
- the Reality Check podcast, ep #578: http://www.trcpodcast.com/trcep578/
0:07:55 THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
David Irving, famous holocaust denier, was declared bankrupt on 4 March 2002, after losing a libel suit against a writer who published a book about his “research”..
0:13:49 PONTUS POKES THE POPE – Nobody Expects the Papal Task Force!
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- Crux (1): https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2020/02/is-vatican-anti-abuse-task-force-tale-of-two-cities-or-remembrance-of-things-past/
- Crux (2): https://cruxnow.com/commentary/2020/03/lent-calls-for-reconciliation-in-a-time-of-tension-division-disunity/
- Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-generalaudience-lent-insults/pope-to-catholics-for-lent-give-up-trolling-idUSKCN20K1O7
- Wikipedia (on Christian population growth): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_population_growth#Catholic_Church
0:18:41 NEWS
- HUNGARY: People Going Crazy over Coronavirus While Officials Spread Nonsense
- Index (1): https://index.hu/techtud/2020/02/28/koronavirus_a_gyogyszereszkamara_a_kamu_lanclevelet_kuldte_ki_a_budapesti_gyogyszereszeknek_tajekoztatasul/
- Blogspot: https://lailaboxer.blogspot.com/2020/02/coronavirus-dal-tampone-alla-quarantena.html
- Index (2): https://index.hu/tech/hoax/2020/02/27/veszelyes_orultseg_terjed_a_koronavirusrol_a_facebookon._ne_higgyen_neki/
- NORWAY: Christian TV-channel Offers Coronavirus Protection in Exchange for Donations
- INTERNATIONAL: Oscillococcinum, the Homeopathic Solution to the Coronavirus Threat?
- GERMANY: Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories and Why They are Dangerous
- UK: The PSA Opts to Reaccredit the Society of Homeopaths 2020
- GERMANY: German Court Defends the Madness of Homeopathy
0:45:53 REALLY WRONG
NORWAY: Norwegian Shaman and Boyfriend to the Princess, Durek Verrett, Publishes a “Cure” for Covid-19
0:51:53 QUOTE AND FAREWELL
“People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.”
/ Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic theologian /
0:54:22 OUTRO
0:55:37 OUT-TAKES