« You have a dominant group that almost has a monopoly on the opinion of the experts (…) Yet, a few individuals criticize the dominant opinion and threaten to turn the monopoly where all the experts agree into a debate. A debate means that maybe we don’t know which one is right. Therefore, these dissident experts, by challenging orthodox opinion, pose a much greater threat. And that is why they are attacked in various ways. In this “Debriefing“, Brian Martin, professor emeritus in social sciences and specialist in censorship, returns to an article entitled “ Censorship and removal of heterodoxy from COVID-19, tactics and counter-tactics, in which he participated with four other researchers.
This interview is an opportunity for him to explain his research work, the aim of which was to warn the public of the disastrous effects of the absence of contradictory debate in medicine, science and public health since the emergence of the Covid-19 epidemic.
If censorship did not start with the health crisis, it has taken on an unprecedented scale since the appearance of the virus. Brian Martin looks back on the experiences of doctors and researchers who have been the target of this censorship following their publications or their statements challenging the official view on covid. It reports on the attacks and methods of destabilization used by the supporters of the dominant narrative against individuals who are critical of health measures and vaccination policy in the general population.
It also exposes the counter-attacks of the censored people who, after a period of dread, reacted by developing defense strategies to continue to make their voices heard.
Brian Martin is Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences at the University of Wollongong in Australia. A specialist in censorship, he is the author of 22 books and hundreds of articles on non-violence, whistleblowers, scientific controversies, information issues and democracy.
The article published by Springer Scientific Editions was written in collaboration with Yaffa Shir-Raz, Ety Elisha, Natti Ronel and Josh Guetzkow.