Spectator tries to airbrush out AIDS denialism screening


3:30 pm - October 27th 2009

by Sunny Hundal    


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Yesterday I revealed that Spectator magazine had hastily cancelled its screening of the film House of Numbers.

In the spirit of openness and transparency that they constantly demand of others, the Spectator abruptly deleted the event page off their website (see the Google cache) and remained very quiet about it on their blog.

No mention of the cancelled debate and no explanation. Complete silence. Although you can still watch the video on the ‘AIDS debate’ on their website.

Last night I emailed its editor Fraser Nelson with the following questions:

Do you regret hosting the screening of the film?

Should the Spectator really be giving space to films that have been contradicted with so much evidence? Isn’t this reminiscent of the MMR stuff? I’m just curious as to what prompted you guys to screen the film.

No response at all.

It’s also worth noting that a few years ago The Spectator published an essay titled: ‘AIDS denial costs lives‘. Perhaps they should read their own magazine? (via gimplyblog)

And when exactly did this event fall apart? When I called the Spectator they said the participants had pulled out “at the last moment” and would not reveal who had done so.

But a Tweet by the writer Alastair Harper reveals that Rt. Hon. Lord Norman Fowler (former UK Secretary of State for Health) had pulled out several days earlier.

According to another series of (unverifiable) Tweets, Joe Sonnabend was planning to attend and denounce the film until the last minute, and Professor Beverly Griffin had also pulled out.

None of this can be confirmed of course because The Spectator are keeping very quiet, while trying to quietly erase any mention of the event on their website.

How long is that going to go on for?

If they’re going to take a brave stand against the consensus, surely we can expect them to have the courage of their convictions and admit it when things go awry?

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About the author
Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Story Filed Under: Blog ,Health ,Humour ,Media

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Reader comments


1. gimpy

Did you notice arch denialist Celia Farber in the comments on the spectator?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia_Farber

“The event was cancelled because the two representatives of the orthodox position cancelled over the weekend. One of them cited a sick relative, the other suddenly realized he had to be in another part of the world on that day.”

I wonder who paid for the hire of the venue, etc…

2. DHG

I think pretty much all readers here have it pretty clear that the Spectator is a poor magazine expounding odd and destructive views.

3. sally

You mean a Right wing rag was meddling in neo fascist brown shirt theories, and then tried to hide it?

I am Shocked, Shocked at such duplicity.

It is a bit like the former owners ludicrous wife who used to write tedious columns about law and order , and then it turns out that her husband was a crook and was stealing from the shareholders.

Shocking quite Shocking

4. AB

Aids denialism; global warming denialism; MMR vaccine autism wingnuttery; creationism (the last espoused by Melanie Phillips).

The Spectator – less a political magazine, more a millenarian cult.

5. douglas clark

AB @ 6,

Perhaps they are after this market?

http://tinyurl.com/yz4dn36

6. Marilyn Mann

Hi Sunny,

Joe Sonnabend is a friend of mine. I exchanged some emails with him about the event and he informed me that he had received a message that it had been cancelled. Hence my tweets that you link to. He has now written a blog post about the film, here:

http://blogs.poz.com/joseph/archives/2009/10/a_new_aids_documanta.html

Best,
Marilyn


Reactions: Twitter, blogs
  1. sunny hundal

    Spectator magazine tries to airbrush out its AIDS denialism screening event: http://bit.ly/1OdS9O (@bengoldacre )

    [Original tweet]

  2. sunny hundal

    Plus, why is the MSM so silent over Spectator mag pushing and failing on AIDS denialism? http://bit.ly/1OdS9O

    [Original tweet]

  3. Prateek Buch

    RT @libcon Spectator tries to airbrush out AIDS denialism screening http://bit.ly/4GgyxY

    [Original tweet]

  4. Sunder Katwala

    RT @pickledpolitics why is the MSM so silent over Spectator mag cancelling AIDS denialism event? http://bit.ly/1OdS9O

  5. sunny hundal

    Spectator magazine tries to airbrush out its AIDS denialism screening event: http://bit.ly/1OdS9O (@bengoldacre )

  6. sunny hundal

    Plus, why is the MSM so silent over Spectator mag pushing and failing on AIDS denialism? http://bit.ly/1OdS9O

  7. Tweets that mention Liberal Conspiracy ยป Spectator tries to airbrush out AIDS denialism screening -- Topsy.com

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by sunny hundal, sunny hundal. sunny hundal said: Spectator magazine tries to airbrush out its AIDS denialism screening event: http://bit.ly/1OdS9O (@bengoldacre ) […]

  8. Prateek Buch

    RT @libcon Spectator tries to airbrush out AIDS denialism screening http://bit.ly/4GgyxY

  9. uberVU - social comments

    Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by pickledpolitics: Spectator magazine tries to airbrush out its AIDS denialism screening event: http://bit.ly/1OdS9O (@bengoldacre )…

  10. sunny hundal

    @notasheepagoat http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  11. sunny hundal

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  12. Elaine

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  13. Bella Caledonia

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  14. Kim Blake

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  15. Paul Trembath

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  16. Mabel Horrocks

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  17. Sabrina B

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  18. michelle maher

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  19. Lanie Ingram

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  20. Pandora Blake

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  21. Owen Blacker

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  22. Anandamide

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl

  23. Schedule2CD

    Am surprised more ppl don't know about HIV-AIDS denialism at Spectator. Here you go: http://t.co/kHJOFttK and http://t.co/PitMO8Sl





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