DebunkThis

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Debunking pseudoscience, myths, and spurious hogwash since 2010.

We are an evidence-based Reddit/Lemmy community dedicated to taking an objective look at questionable theories, dodgy news sources, bold-faced claims, and suspicious studies.

Community Rules:

Posting

Title formatting on all posts should be "Debunk This: [main claim]"

Example: "Debunk This: Chemicals in the water are turning the frogs gay."

All posts must include at least one source and one to three specific claims to be debunked, so commenters know exactly what to investigate.

Example: "According to this YouTube video, dihydrogen monoxide turns amphibians homosexual. Is this true? Also, did Albert Einstein really claim this?"

NSFW/NSFL content is not allowed.

Commenting

Always try to back up your comments with linked sources. Just saying "this is untrue" isn't all that helpful without facts to support it.

Standard community rules apply regarding spam, self-promotion, personal attacks and hate speech, etc.

Links

Suggested Fediverse Communities

RFK Jr. Watch @lemm.ee - Discuss misinformation being spread by antivaxxer politician, Robert F Kennedy Jr.
Skeptic @lemmy.world - Discuss pseudoscience, quackery, and bald-faced BS
Skeptic @kbin.social - The above, just on Kbin
Science Communication @mander.xyz - Discuss science literacy and media reporting

Useful Resources

Common examples of misleading graphs - How to spot dodgy infographics
Metabunk.org - a message board dedicated to debunking popular conspiracies
Media Bias / Fact Check - Great resource for current news fact checking + checking a source's political bias
Science Based Medicine - A scientific look at current issues and controversies
Deplatform Disease - A medical blog that specifically counters anti-COVID-vaccine claims
Respectful Insolence - David Gorsky's blog on antivax shenanigans, politics, and pseudoscience

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
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The r/DebunkThis Wiki (self.debunkthis)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by kabe to c/debunkthis
 
 

[All links go direct to Reddit. If you don't want to send traffic their way, I suggest using a browser extension such as LibRedirect.]

Topics in alphabetical order:

5G/EMF

9/11

COVID-19 / Coronavirus Pandemic (for vaccine-specific claims, see 'Vaccines')

i. Masks

ii. Statistics

iii. Origin

iv. Detection & Testing

v. Lockdowns & Miscellaneous

Flat Earth

Holocaust Denial

JFK Assassination

Moon Landing / Apollo 16

NWO / Illuminati / The Great Reset

Pizzagate / Paedophile Rings

Politics

Social Issues (Non-racial)

**Social Issues (Racial)

Scientific Racism a.k.a 'Race Realism'

UFOs & Aliens

Vaccines

i. Autism link

ii. COVID-19

iii. Bill Gates / Microchipped Vaccines

iv. Miscellaneous

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A Fresh Start [Mod Post] (self.debunkthis)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by kabe to c/debunkthis
 
 

Welcome, all!

This is all a bit of a change of pace, isn't it?

Since it is clear that Reddit has no intention of backtracking one iota on its API pricing stance, I will be using the site a whole lot less come the end of this month.

Lemmy seems like the best potential replacement for Reddit in a lot of ways, so those of you who are joining the exodus are welcome to join this community and continue the good work that r/DebunkThis has been doing for over a decade, just on a platform that hasn't sold its soul to venture capital.

Let us know in the comments if you have any thoughts, concerns, or ideas for helping our community flourish.

~Kabe (A.K.A u/hucifer)

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submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by ekZepp to c/debunkthis
 
 

Howdy friends. In this video we begin our deep dive into the prolific misinformation TikTok account run by Filip Zieba. Filip posts content discussing the worst takes on just about every pseudoscientific topic you can imagine. From pyramids to antarctic civilizations to hollow earth to lost advanced ice age civilizations. Parroting most of his work from more notorious psuedohistorians like Graham Hancock, Filip doesn't have too many new theories, but laces all of them with a layer of personality that is rarely seen from other creators. In this video we begin our dive into his channel by tackling his claims about antarctic civilizations, hyper diffusion, the Bosnian pyramids and much much more. So sit back, relax and get ready for some good old fashioned "googledybunking."

CITATIONS AND REFERENCES:

  1. https://anthropology.msu.edu/anp364-fs19/2019/11/08/post-4-hyperdiffusionism-and-the-pyramidiots/
  2. https://ahotcupofjoe.net/2017/11/fuente-magna-bowl-not-cuneiform-not-sumerian/?utm_source=www.google.com&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=Google&referrer-analytics=1#google_vignette
  3. https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2016/09/ask-near-eastern-professional
  4. https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/why-is-celtic-pronounced-two-ways-keltic-or-seltic
  5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5772775/
  6. https://slate.com/technology/2014/12/the-last-time-the-arctic-was-ice-free-in-summer-modern-humans-didn-t-exist.html
  7. https://www.bbcearth.com/news/when-dinosaurs-roamed-antarctica#
  8. https://earth.org/antarcticas-floral-awakening-how-climate-change-is-transforming-the-continents-ecosystem/
  9. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2148-5
  10. https://eos.org/science-updates/an-unbroken-record-of-climate-during-the-age-of-dinosaurs
  11. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide
  12. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/05/09/diary-disputes-byrds-polar-claim/cee54121-58bb-4689-909a-205f21cc3e1e/
  13. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/antarctica-pyramid-not-quite-geologists-say/
  14. https://archeothoughts.wordpress.com/2023/11/08/there-is-no-new-evidence-that-gunung-padang-is-a-24000-year-old-pyramid/
  15. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-mystery-of-bosnias-ancient-pyramids-148990462/
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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by favrion to c/debunkthis
 
 
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n/t

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This headline seems dubious on the face of it.

Did the study results actually show this? If so, could simply spending more time online account for doing worse on this test?

Also, just for fun, you can take the test here. I got two wrong and I have no idea which ones they were 😅

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Hi, everyone. The author here claims a couple of things I'd like people to check out:

  1. That European countries are generally reluctant to endorse gender reassignment treatments due to insufficient evidence

  2. That there are no large scale studies / reviews that find good evidence in favor of gender reassignment treatments

Thanks in advance!

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US Senator for Ohio uses statistics to make the claim that the large increase in rental costs in the US is being driven by immigration.

Of course, this could be a simple case of correlation≠ causation but is there much evidence to support his claim?

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This piece from The Daily Skeptic claims that the CDC director knowingly lied to the public because she knew that the COVID vaccines did not stop the virus even though she promoted mass vaccination.

What do we make of this one?

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News pundit claims that a proposed new law would make it 1) "illegal for store employees to confront shoplifters", and that 2) "it is legal to shoplift" in California.

What can we make of these claims?

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submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by kabe to c/debunkthis
 
 

FOX News claims that 1) 6 whales have been killed by wind farm development in the last month, and 2) offshore wind farms pose a severe threat to aquatic life.

What do you guys make of this?