'Science skeptics' use guerilla warfare tactics and racketeering behavior to infiltrate Wikipedia and spread corporate propaganda

Monday, May 02, 2016 by: Julie Wilson staff writer
Tags: science skeptics, Wikipedia, guerrilla propaganda

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(NaturalNews) Last week, Natural News exposed the utter and total takeover of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which we have now learned is being orchestrated by a community strangely referring to themselves as "skeptical activists," of which pro-vaccine troll and Karmanos breast cancer surgeon David Gorski is a member.

Trusted sources confirmed Gorski has administrative privileges on Wikipedia where he writes and edits content under the username "MastCell." Under these administrative controls, Gorski and his team of skeptics are thought to have penned a defamatory review of Andrew Wakefield's documentary VAXXED, a film instrumental in widening the discussion on vaccine safety.

Skeptical activists have taken it upon themselves to debunk and control information via Wikipedia on a variety of topics including vaccine safety, alternative medicine, natural health, homeopathy, cancer treatments, the paranormal, astrology and psychic mediums.

In other words, if a topic does not fit inside mainstream science's limited paradigm, skeptical activists will go to great lengths to discredit and stifle discussions on topics they consider "quackery."

Skeptical activists cruise together to collaborate Wiki takeover

A genuinely weird and pathetic bunch, skeptical activists routinely gather at conferences, host "psychic stings," conduct protests and even take cruises together.

In 1996, magician James Randi founded a nonprofit organization called the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) aimed at "educating the public and the media on the dangers of accepting unproven claims."

From this organization was born the Amaz!ng Meeting, an annual conference where skeptics gather to purportedly discuss "science, skepticism, and critical thinking," according to the meeting's Wikipedia entry, which is almost certainly written by skeptics.

What these so-called skeptics are really doing is organizing an international effort to smear and discredit anything they consider to be "pseudoscience." This type of collaborated effort is characterized by a pattern of racketeering, as skeptical activists write, edit and promote biased profiles on Wikipedia to generate income, notoriety and legitimacy.

At the center of it all is seasoned Wikipedia editor Susan Gerbic, who just so happens to be a close friend of Gorski. Gerbic, we've learned, has played a critical role in the infiltration of Wikipedia.



Though she has absolutely no qualifications to do so (her educational background includes a B.A. degree in social history), Gerbic has grown obsessed with "debunking" pseudoscience.

'Pseudoscience debunker' lacks background in science!

Gerbic is the co-founder of Monterey County Skeptics and leader of "Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia" (GSoW), whose self-described mission is to "improve skeptical content on Wikipedia... by improving pages of our skeptic spokespeople, providing noteworthy citations, and removing the unsourced claims from paranormal and pseudoscientific pages [emphasis added]."

This is why healthy food advocates like Mike Adams have false and defamatory Wikipedia pages.

Gerbic and other skeptics have capitalized on the fact that people view Wikipedia as a "neutral" place to get information, which is why they've hijacked it to promote their agenda. Not only do Gerbic and her allies trash opposing viewpoints, but they "improve" Wiki pages for skeptical spokespeople; in other words, they alter the pages to favor their twisted, cult-like community.

When skeptical spokespeople are in the public eye, "their Wikipedia page views are going to spike... we want to make sure they are getting great information," says Gerbic. And by "great information," she of course means information favorable to the "skeptic" community.

Gerbic has been accused of promoting biased pages, deleting hundreds of articles, and banning thousands of contributors on Wikipedia. Gerbic admittedly takes pride in her and her team's ability to "frustrate editors with opposing views to the extent that editors have given up editing Wikipedia."

Rupert Sheldrake, a biochemist and plant physiologist trained at Cambridge University accuses Gerbic of propagating "scientific materialism."

Using skepticism as a weapon

"Scepticism is a normal, healthy attitude of doubt. Unfortunately it can also be used as a weapon to attack opponents. In scientific and medical contexts, organized skepticism is a crusade to propagate scientific materialism," Sheldrake wrote in his blog.

"Most materialists believe that the mind is nothing more than the physical activity of the brain, psychic phenomena are illusory, and complementary and alternative medical systems are fraudulent, or at best produce placebo effects," he says, adding that most materialists are also atheists.

"The Guerrilla Skeptics have carried the crusading zeal of organized skepticism into the realm of Wikipedia, and use it as a soapbox to propagate their beliefs."

Overdosing on herbs

Gerbic and her fellow skeptics have engaged in some pretty bizarre behavior, such as overdosing on homeopathic tablets. Gerbic says she took "80 pellets" of belladonna, a plant with potentially poisonous properties that's used for Parkinson's disease, colic and motion sickness, and as a pain killer.

On another occasion, during one of their peculiar gatherings, more than 100 skeptical activists overdosed on coffea cruda, a homeopathic remedy used to induce sleep.

When they're not overdosing on homeopathic medicine, skeptical activists are actively recruiting. The GSoW website states: "We train – We mentor – Join us." I don't know about you, but that phrase alone is enough to send chills up and down my spine.

Stay tuned as Natural News continues to go down the rabbit hole with skeptical activists and their plan to control science-related conversations on Wikipedia. We've already been tipped off that their agenda is much more sinister than we've documented here.

Sources:

NLM.NIH.gov

Boironusa.com

TheBestSchools.org

ScienceSetFree.Tumblr.com

Facebook.com

Astrologer.com

Wikipedia.org

Wikipedia.org

Science.NaturalNews.com