Dr. Hotez the COVID vaccine promoter chickens out of debate with Joe Rogan

Vaccineaholic Peter Hotez is, in my opinion, a caricature of a parody of a satire who also happens to have a medical degree.  Over the past few years, he has become one of the go-to guys when the media need a prominent panicky pandemicist prognosticator to appear on TV to instill fear and inject stupidity into the public.  Like the rest of his self-aggrandizing breed, he has been wrong many, many, many times and said many, many, many silly and dangerous things on the airwaves.

Last week, Joe Rogan of eponymous podcast fame offered Hotez $100,000 to come on his show and debate presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the efficacy of, and issues swirling around, the COVID “vaccine.”  (The quotes are used because it is not actually a true vaccine, by the way.)  After hemming and hawing a bit, Hotez went on that trusted font of sciency things — MSNBC — to say he was not going to take up the offer, partly because “science is not something that is typically debated like, say, 18th-century Enlightenment philosophy, or political issues.  That’s not typically what we do.”

Wrong, wrong, and wrong — if Hotez had even an inkling of a clue, he would be more than well aware of the fact that that is exactly what actual scientists do.  The scientific method is all about competing ideas, testing theories, verifying facts, openly discussing implications and potential problems, and trying in the end to come to an actual real conclusion (at least until the next idea comes along challenging that one, and the process starts all over again).

Science may be technically a noun, but it is, in practice, a verb, a process that must be participated in and not “followed,” as has been said far too often of late.  Following the science is like following a car you are driving — it’s impossible, and anyone who has ever said “follow the science” is just trying to sell you something.

And the “vaccine” is what he’s been selling:

On the positive side, Hotez’s cowardly and false pronouncement has ended more than just the possibility of him debating RFK Jr.  The statement also ended the debate about the destruction of the public’s trust in the government-medical complex as, clearly, whatever vestiges of such feelings have now been openly and purposefully obliterated by the simple act of one of the leaders of the movement that meaninglessly upended the nation for three years refusing to even discuss the matter with people who might — heaven forefend — ask him difficult questions.

Another debate settled is the question of whether the die-harders of the dead-end death cult that reveled in the pandemic are susceptible to facts even just a little.  The answer is no, as the “attacks” (some literal, they laughably claim) on Hotez of late have brought them out of the woodwork to rally around and protect their demigod.  In fact, some have even set up a GoFundMe page — really, seriously, cross my heart — because some people have not bowed down before his omniscience:

[I]nstead of expressing gratitude, some chose to drag his good name through dirt. Not only does he deserve better, we are all harmed by such reckless acts of misinformation, by such cruel and uncalled-for personal attacks on someone so committed to the public good. This is an opportunity to thank Dr. Hotez for his contribution to medicine and science, and for his ongoing efforts to defend truth, reason, and decency.

Feel free to drop him a few bucks of obsequious appreciation here.

So, in the end, maybe we should be thanking Hotez for not debating, as it seems to have cleared up a lot of important questions.

Thomas Buckley is the former mayor of Lake Elsinore, Cal. and a former newspaper reporter.  He is currently the operator of a small communications and planning consultancy and can be reached directly at [email protected].  You can read more of his work at his Substack page.

Image: Screen shot from Matt Orfalea video via YouTube.