Things like this make me itch

So I saw this pop up:  

It reminds me of those old atheist memes that have 50,000 lines drawn all over the Bible indicating tahtt there are 50,000 falsehoods and contradictions in the Bible.  It's silly and junk of course, but atheists lap it up like a thirsty dog.

So we have the above Youtube video where a priest in Anglo-land decides to put forth the popular idea that the much hated and loathed Lifesite News (of course they're hated) has printed 9,125 falsehood inside of 12 months.  Again, forgive me for being highly skeptical about such a claim, just as I was about those atheist memes. 

So I decided to watch the video since I don't want to prejudge or anything.  And what's the first thing he hits on?  After an into about the importance of Truth, he wades into Lifesite over the Covid topic. I know little about Lifesite and what it says, so I'm not up to defending it one way or another.  Perhaps it has printed exactly 9,125 falsehoods in 12 months, not one more, not one less.

But when the first argument against them, as put forth by the good father in the video, is that obviously the vaccines aren't as bad as the virus (hint: we don't know yet, they were rushed through in almost record time and it's impossible to know long term effects, or any effects) or that lockdowns always work (see here for my take), that's a warning flag right there.  

After all, there is a wide space between disagreeing, being wrong and actively promoting falsehoods.  Unless you believe you and those you listen to are obviously always right (and naturally of good will and the purest of motives), there should be some reservation about attributing the worst motives or worth to those who might look at the numbers and reach other conclusions. 

That's why I would never call you a liar or a promoter of falsehoods for saying lockdowns obviously work.  I would call you hopelessly naive since even a casual comparison between regions that locked down and corresponding Covid rates and deaths shows it's about more than just lockdowns.  Heck, it shows it's more than a host of measures we've used to combat Covid.  

In fact, to me the most obvious fact to come out of Covid, beyond the disastrously inconsistent messaging, is that we still know little about it, and it's likely there are other ways of dealing with it that address these X variables that skew the narratives we're apparently not allowed to question.  But I wouldn't call the good father a liar or a promoter of falsehoods simply because he completely embraces the predominant global corporate narrative of the efficacy of lockdowns (a narrative that has done wonders for the global corporate bottom line over the last year it's worth noting). 

That's the difference. .Maybe Lifesite is as bad as other media outlets that might not always be on the straight and narrow in terms of unbiased, accurate reporting. Or maybe it simply looks at the numbers, the narratives, and the agendas and concludes there are other ways of parsing the stats.  

In any event, there is a difference between other ways of seeing things that run afoul of global corporate endorsed narratives and being willing promoters of falsehoods.  To label any disagreement as promoting falsehoods might be as bad as the ones you're accusing.   But being as bad as the others in order to prove Lifesite is as bad as the others doesn't help.  In fact, it makes the problem all that much worse.