RE: 'Where are all the dead bodies?'

The saying extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence can be a guardian against being mislead, but only when one recognizes a claim as being extraordinary.

That can be harder than it seems, as a recent Dr. Nerdlove reply to a young man (who has let the "manosphere" convince him he has no romantic prospects) indicates:

The reason why it hurts and upsets you is because you hear it over and over, and that has a way of settling in as being "true". So the first step is to see if it's even true in the first place, but the second step is to stop giving them any oxygen at all. Once you start cutting those voices out of your daily life and start going out and actually interacting with people in person, you'll be amazed at how much better you feel and how much the real world doesn't resemble the nightmare hellscape that the manosphere and incels want you to think it is. [bold added]

The good "doctor" notes elsewhere that many of the people peddling such nonsense want to push something sketchy, and that encouraging fear and insecurity is a big part of how they do that.

The debunking of "the science" here is worth noting, as it reminds me of something I am fond of saying when anti-vaccine nonsense rears its ugly, brainless head.

Said debunking begins thus:

All of it, like the whole 80/20 or 10/58 (where the f--k did THAT come from?) thing, or the 6-6-6 "rule", these all fall apart if you actually look at the numbers, because none of them actually line up with reality. If any of these were actually true, we'd be seeing it everywhere -- hordes of single men watching helplessly as the towering Vikings of the top 10-20% were walking around with their harems. Except they aren't, and we actually do have the numbers.

This reminds me of two things: (1) I like to say Where are all the dead bodies? when I hear nonsense to the effect that the covid vaccines are deadly, and (2) I can remember a time when I was young that such drivel about dating sure seemed like it could be true.

There are a couple of lessons here off the top of my head. First, don't take "scientific" claims of doom at face value. At least try checking them, guided by taking their implications seriously. (2) Consider the idea that, in our awful culture, many people are inundated by seriously wrong BS, to the point that they are likely to give some of it credence, and should be treated with empathy. Otherwise, "Where are all the dead bodies?" or "Where are the Vikings and their harems?" might simply make you sound like a jerk and cost you a chance to help someone else out, and thereby incrementally improve your own world.

I like to think I'm good at the first, but I'll admit I could stand some work on the second.

-- CAV