Reality Check

One of the problems with living in a world as crazy as ours has gotten is that it tends to warp my critical thinking skills sometimes. There is so much out there to be genuinely outraged over that I occasionally accept reports of yet another horror at face value, without examining them closely. (I don't think I am alone in this, either. It is a prime example of confirmation bias.)

One such "horror" comes to us courtesy of the BBC (which heretofore I would have thought trustworthy): a documentary which showed that children in foster care were being used as human guinea pigs to study AIDS drugs.

Fortunately, the cool scientific mind over at Respectful of Otters heard about this too, and set about actually checking out the facts. Turns out, as with much in life, it's not what it seems: the sources for the documentary have no medical or scientific credibility -- "AIDS denialists" who believe that HIV does not cause AIDS.

So, before you get outraged, check out whatrivka has to say. Thanks again, rivka.