Wednesday, May 5, 2010

#1: Mike Adams


Up first in the Encyclopedia of American Loons we have Mike Adams, a.k.a. “The Health Ranger”.

Adams runs the website NaturalNews.com, one of the most disturbing cesspits of quackery on the net. He is a fierce opponent of science and evidence-based medicine, providing long screeds about the danger of conventional medicine and against skepticism based on confirmation bias, misleading vividness, paranoia and conspiracy theories. He has absolutely no understanding of either science or critical thinking (complete inability to recognize fallacies or bias). He is also a proponent of every imaginable alternative treatment.

He is also a 9/11 troofer.

For examples of his antics, you can read about his “takedown” of Obamacare here: http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/03/mike_adams_takes_on_obama_care_with_hila.php

And also here:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/04/mike_adams_10_biggest_lies_about_health.php.

A truly stunning case of paranoia and stupidity here:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/05/mike_adams_brings_home_the_crazy_over_th.php

A scintillating display of ignorance, stupidity and self-unawareness here:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/10/mike_adams_evaporates_yet_another_of_my.php

and here:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/01/sometimes_i_think_we_break_the.php

Mike Adams, a pyromaniac in a field of strawmen:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2010/01/a_pyromaniac_in_a_field_of_straw_man_or.php

Diagnosis: Complete loon, flamingly stupid, extremely paranoid, a zealot and a fraud; his influence is probably limited but given just a small base of followers he could wreak some havoc.


(this one is probably a different Mike Adams, but one that deserves a footnote in our lexicon in any case: http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2006/08/mike_adams_and_the_shape_of_th.php - this latter guy might or might not be identical to this one: http://blogs.salon.com/0002874/2004/12/01.html#a1310; this means that there are most likely at least two, possibly three, wildly crazy Mike Adamses out there, at least two of which are 9/11 troofers).

33 comments:

  1. He's branching out. Or whatever. He may just be the most insane, confirmation bias- and Dunning-Kruger inflicted idiot in the US (together with Andy Schlafly). We can't keep track of his antics; maybe rationalwiki will. It's relatively predictable where you'll end up when your starting axiom is "everyone who disagrees with the conclusions I reach by wishful thinking must be in a conspiracy against me".

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paying continuous attention to the lunacy of Mike Adams would be slightly to much, but I'll link this one to sort of provide a summary update of what he's up to.

    ReplyDelete
  3. As mentioned, keeping track of Adams is a full time job, so we'll only chime in now and again. There's nothing out of the ordinary with this story, but that fact is really what makes it so bad.

    ReplyDelete
  4. A good piece on Adams's anti-science here.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mike Adams discusses the coming zombie apocalypse here, in one of the most astoundingly stupid pieces of woo-motivated denialism ever penned. It is also discussed here.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh wow, that is awesome. I think I just became a Mike Adams fan.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mike Adams weighs in on the Colorado shootings. And yes, we are talking Nancy Luft-levels of crazy here.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I suppose we are obliged to report on Adams's Piers Morgan ramblings as well, though it is less tempting to try to unravel the crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ah ... here he actually manages to outdo himself. Which takes some effort.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Adams's new web resource on science promises to be anything but.

    Here he makes a complete fool of himself. It would have been funny if it weren't so sad.

    ReplyDelete
  11. When NatGeo switched Scienceblogs from Movable Type to WordPress, a lot of the old URLs for the posts got munged up. The posts are still there; they just aren't under the same URLs anymore. Trust me, it drives me crazy when I try to write posts when I'm referencing old posts of mine and have to do multiple searches to find old posts under the new URL. The changeover occurred in early 2011; so any post older than that is prone to this problem.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. if you have admin access go into Permalinks and change them to "Day and Name." I had to do that when I changed domains and that fixed the problem and all urls are now accesible

      Delete
  12. Incidentally, it appears Mike Adams doesn't actually live in the USA. Last known address was a jungle hut in Columbia... Presumably this is/was to avoid prosecution for medical fraud at home??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He lives in Florida and gets a big, ole paycheck from Alex Jones. He also has a home in a gated community in Vilcabamba. No, he didn't sell his home to Matt & Angela Monarch (two more loons). His home is across the street from theirs.

      Delete
  13. I just made the mistake of reading one of Mike Adams' screeds. Calling him paranoid and whacko would be insulting to people who are paranoid and whacko. Unfortunately free speech has its negative side-effects. Maybe one day he will remember to take his meds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mike Adams is a patriot that watch for the well being of others and to preserve our freedom. All of you that make critics about The Health Rangers are a bunch of traitors filo-communists, plain and simple.

      Delete
    2. I´m so sorry for you guys, in what environment of morons you´re forced to live. Given to the alexa´s rank of this website and the website of this lunatic Schlafly...

      Delete
  14. Mike Adam's latest anti-science rant

    http://www.naturalnews.com/042613_Theory_of_Evolution_contradictions_scientific_thinking.html

    ReplyDelete
  15. Some updates on Adams here (endorsing the Canary party), here (insane genetics denialism), here (the politics and strategies of the denialist movement), and here (Adams's plans for the future, which - on notes - should have commenced by now).

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm going to immediately mistrust anyone with the name Mike Adams now.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This would be hilarious if it wasn't so dangerous. I'm going to have to paraphrase a bit, but I saw one headline from Natural "News" that said something to the effect of "No matter what the science says we need to keep posting and talking about how GMOs are bad". Sadly, not one of the comments that followed (except mine) made any mention of that ever so telling headline. Why even read the article with a headline like that? I think he reaches enough people that he could do some real harm. Free speech or reckless behavior?

    ReplyDelete
  18. The most hilarious thing about Mike Adams is his bio on Health Ranger. It's a nutshell version of everything about him. He supposedly was awarded numerous scholarships, but didn't accept any of them, because he's too good for college. He supposedly graduated from a university, but an unnamed one with an unnamed degree. Among his "many accomplishments" is being the first person in his elementary school to have a computer, when the teachers didn't know what a computer was. He was supposedly picked out as being gifted at a very early age, and got the highest score ever on the ACT, which he can't prove. He doesn't have a criminal record (wow). The entire bio is a self I aggrandizing stream of unverifiable bragging far too outlandish to be remotely true, interspersed with downright weirdness such as mentioning he's never been charged with a crime. He's a full throttle pathological narcissist, and his bio exhibits just how far his head is up his own keester. He thinks he can say anything and that makes it true. If you decide to read it, don't be drinking anything. The delusion is so hilarious, whatever you're drinking will come out your nose. Nothing he claims can be fact checked, but that's what fakes do. His bio proves what a phony bat shit crazy narcissist he really is. Remember, I did warn you not to drink anything while you're reading. http://www.healthranger.com/health-ranger-biography.html

    ReplyDelete
  19. 9/11 troofers have no credibility at all.

    ReplyDelete
  20. What makes his biography even more bizarre is his attempts to play up the mundane as something extraordinary.

    For example; "As a teenager, Adams worked on his grandfather's farm, operating farm machinery including the cutting, raking and baling of hay."

    As a teenager, he worked. On a farm. Doing farm work. Wow.

    My brain hurts.

    ReplyDelete
  21. See: https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/behold-my-power-quacks-and-despair/

    ReplyDelete
  22. This right here, too good for words.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDQ2kJpW8C0

    ReplyDelete
  23. He's not only a 9/11 truther , but a die hard birther

    ReplyDelete
  24. He has been finally kicked off of Facebook. He now wants Trump to send int he military.
    I wish I was kidding.

    https://gizmodo.com/natural-news-suspended-on-facebook-founder-calls-for-p-1835367529

    ReplyDelete
  25. I feel this board is crawling with anti-semites. Mike Adams is a g-man working for Trump to entrap his own followers and JEWS!!!! Jewish people are not only the smartest people on the planet but we also have significant alt health believers. Adams' goals are entrapment. He is hated by both right and left wingers. His only followers are abject imbeciles because he makes constant predictions that never come true.... again, his goal is list taking / entrapment of JEWISH PEOPLE.

    ReplyDelete