State of Denial
The AIDS Crisis and the Dawn of the Disinformation Age
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State of Denial
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Narrated by:
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By:
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Lindsay Zafir
Where does science denialism come from, and how does it grow? Experts have placed the blame on social media, AI, right-wing media, the 24-hour news cycle, and a general “death of expertise.” But scholar Lindsay Zafir argues that the rise of scientific distrust actually began decades ago.
AIDS denialism emerged in the early 1980s among the gay communities hit hardest by the epidemic – and ultimately spread across the globe, leading to an estimated 330,000 deaths in South Africa. Through careful archival research, Zafir traces this compelling, untold history. She follows multiple leaders in gay healthcare as they descended into denialism and tracks how ACT UP San Francisco became a hotbed for dangerous reactionaries. AIDS denialism became so mainstream that by the mid-90s, when AZT and drug cocktails were saving countless lives, rates of HIV began to actually creep higher. Ultimately, Zafir argues that when we respond to misinformation with loyalty to the experts we choose to trust, we risk dangerously eliding the real messiness and uncertainty inherent in the scientific process. And even more crucially, we overlook the historical shifts that have made denialism possible, from the increasing disempowerment of lay people, to the growing corporate dominance over all areas of American life, to the very real failures of the neoliberal state to meet its citizens’ needs.
State of Denial is an essential work of scientific and political history and a potent guide to understanding the rise of disinformation and the death of expertise.
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