Calling All Experts!

Last updated on: September 19, 2025 at 1:54 pm by Dan Peterson

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Calling All Experts! 2025-09-19T13:54:26-06:00 Dan Peterson

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A view on the campus of Utah Valley University, which is very near my home.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

This timely new book review was published today on the website of the Interpreter Foundation, where nothing new is ever published: “Learning Political Civility from Pahoran to Lincoln,” written by Brian Warby:

Review of Rodney Dieser, Cease to Contend: Healing a Nation Through Christlike Civility in Politics (Springville, UT: Cedar Fort, 2025). 136 pp., $16.99 (paperback).

Abstract: In Cease to Contend: Healing a Nation Through Christlike Civility in Politics*, Rodney Dieser offers a timely and faith-centered response to the growing crisis of political polarization and incivility. Grounded in the Savior’s admonition to avoid contention, Dieser draws from scripture, Church teachings, historical examples, and cognitive behavioral therapy to help readers recognize and overcome thought patterns that fuel division. This review explores the book’s integration of gospel principles with therapeutic tools, highlighting the power of humility, empathy, and reframing as antidotes to anger and dehumanization in public discourse. By invoking figures such as Pahoran and Abraham Lincoln, the book provides both spiritual and practical models for engaging in political conversations with grace and restraint.*

Conventional minds such as mine view the global eradication of smallpox as a triumph of medical science, a vindication of vaccination, and a transparently good thing. (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

One of the more depressing aspects of the past half-decade or so, for me anyway, has been the divisive and often highly unpleasant politicization of public health issues. I’ve made it rather clear on this blog that, on the whole, I’m disinclined to see widespread conspiracies in the scientific and medical communities, and that, yes, I’m serenely comfortable, unless I have very good reason to question them, with accepting the consensus views of medical experts. I’m not happy watching some of my people — conservatives, Latter-day Saints — slide into what sometimes seems to me the pitchfork-wielding anti-science party.

In support of my position, I called attention just a few days ago to the testimony that was recently given by the infectious disease specialist Dr. Jake Scott, of Stanford Medical School, to the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation. (See “‘Everyone Is Lying To You’ (Except Me, Of Course).”)

My citation of Dr. Scott has been challenged by one of my readers, as follows:

Dr. Jake Scott is not the only expert with an opinion. In the MSNBC article he enumerates successes using traditional vaccines, implying that mRNA technology is safe and effective short and long term. That is a non sequitur.

There is not the slightest justification for thinking that this new technology has been thoroughly tested for short and long term safety and efficacy, especially considering the new data that continue to emerge. The science is not settled. It’s odd how Dr. Jake Scott “trusts the science” while also ignoring the science. And his arguments from authority and consensus are not science.

“I’ve observed a concerning trend where older men are experiencing symptoms consistent with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a condition typically seen in young women. These symptoms appear to worsen with each COVID-19 booster shot. We need to continue to collect data on this condition as it can be incredibly debilitating.” –Breanne Craven PA-C, 15 Sep 2025

Apparent risks of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome diagnoses after COVID-19 vaccination and SARS-Cov-2 Infection
https://www.nature.com/articles/s44161-022-00177-8

Genomic Integration and Molecular Dysregulation in Aggressive Stage IV Bladder Cancer Following COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination
https://zenodo.org/records/17122912

Dr. John Campbell examines an Italian study that revealed a significant increase in bladder cancer, among other cancers, after vaccination:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dnIGqUlluc

To which I replied:

“Dr. Jake Scott is not the only expert with an opinion.”

Of course not. But his opinion can’t simply be brushed aside.

I’m not prepared to debate this subject. I’m also inclined to take medical science at face value and disinclined to conspiracy theories. If I’m able, I’ll try to recruit somebody with relevant expertise to evaluate your links and their implications (if any).

My interlocutor answered with this:

“But his opinion can’t simply be brushed aside.”

Agree, nor can the opinion of others be brushed aside. But in that House hearing Dr. Jake Scott exhibits the classic behavior of someone laboring under confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance, and belief perseverance. Signals from contradictory data do no[t[ faze him. He just repeats the Official Narrative, while proffering arguments from authority and consensus and personal anecdote.

To which I answered with this:

“Dr. Jake Scott exhibits the classic behavior of someone laboring under confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance, and belief perseverance. Signals from contradictory data do no faze him. He just repeats the Official Narrative, while proffering arguments from authority and consensus and personal anecdote.”

Well, I hope that I can draw one or two subject experts in to see whether they’ll agree with your judgment of him.

I never attended medical school. I never studied for a graduate degree in public health. I know nothing of epidemiology or immunology or pharmacology. I have neither the time nor the energy nor, frankly, sufficiently deep interest to attempt to master the relevant scientific and medical literature. So, yes, I’m making an absolutely undisguised interim appeal to authority. Here are some links that I’ve identified — I could easily have provided several dozen more, but these will suffice for now — affirming the safety and effectiveness of vaccination: