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The water has been deliberately muddied by bad faith players who stand to make substantial profits so long as Ivermectin is suppressed.

You'll have to elaborate on this one. What?

extremely safe

If taken at a responsible dose, but you'll recall that most of the dunking on Ivermectin was when people were going out and taking megadoses and getting sick.

Why does the discussion around Ivermectin sound so much like the discussion around GameStop stock?

Why does the discussion around Ivermectin sound so much like the discussion around GameStop stock?

Because both are cases where the initial narrative was heavily influenced by "experts" in the media who were subsequently shown to be not only lying but to have a strong financial and political motive to lie.

but you'll recall that most of the dunking on Ivermectin was when people were going out and taking megadoses and getting sick

The Motte is "taking too much and getting sick."

The Bailey is "ha ha they are taking horse medicine" even when taking the human form in human doses prescribed by a human doctor. Like Joe Rogan got. https://www.newsweek.com/joe-rogan-don-lemon-cnn-ivermectin-sanjay-gupta-lying-1639240

you'll recall that most of the dunking on Ivermectin was when people were going out and taking megadoses and getting sick.

The original "Duke Lacrosse" Ivermectin Article published by Rolling Stone.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/fda-horse-dewormer-covid-fox-news-1215168/

The main message which you seems to have worked on you subconsciously:

"Oklahoma's ERs are so backed up with people overdosing on ivermectin that gunshot victims are having to wait to be treated, a doctor says."

This never happened. Nothing like it happened. Yet despite their update to the story which you may have missed, the damage worked. Millions of people have some sense that their biases are confirmed: stupid southerners among their despised outgroup are overdosing on "horse dewormer." Only an idiot would take horse dewormer!

Of course it makes no sense. Ivermectin is available for humans in most states with a simple prescription. I got my prescription online after 5 minutes.

This article, and many others debunk it. The hospital denies the foundational facts of the Rolling Stone article.

https://townhall.com/columnists/timgraham/2021/09/10/rolling-stone-commits-horse-dewormer-fraud-n2595648

Rolling Stone issued their own update:

Update: One hospital has denied Dr. Jason McElyea’s claim that ivermectin overdoses are causing emergency room backlogs and delays in medical care in rural Oklahoma, and Rolling Stone has been unable to independently verify any such cases as of the time of this update.

So basically they are admitting that the lede in their original story was totally baseless. Rather than come out and say that, they pretend that it could be true, even though they found zero evidence for it.

...those who fell for the story included The Daily Beast's Justin Baragona, Daily Kos, Daily Mail, The Guardian, Newsweek, New York Daily News, The Hill, MSNBC contributor Jason Johnson, former CNN pundit Roland Martin, disgraced reporter Kurt Eichenwald, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, and "Stephanie Ruhle Reports" producer Lauren Peikoff (who admirably fessed up and deleted her tweet, unlike Maddow).

So all of this goes back to the first point of contention. I don't believe that the editors of Rolling Stone are that stupid. And CNN, Guardian, Newsweek, The Hill, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow etc. Maybe some of them are. But it's a safe bet that some of them had financial interests in quashing Ivermectin in order to preserve the EUA upon which the neovaccines are founded. This looks like politics and money, not science.

There is very little if any evidence of people "taking megadoses and getting sick". There have been trials testing very large doses, far larger than those recommended by FLCCC, which are already much larger than standard antiparasitic doses, that have shown very little in terms of adverse effects, all of it transient. There is even a pre-pandemic case of a woman taking hundreds the time the recommended dose in an attempted suicide, and she walked out of the hospital 4 days later with no sign of lasting issues whatsoever. I'm not saying that people should go and take 100x doses. Only that ivermectin is one of the safest drugs we have, and even its most ardent opponents don't bother to make the case for a biologically-based downside anymore. I will steelman the opposing argument by saying that we don't know what its effects on the microbiome are, and I wouldn't feel comfortable taking large doses on an ongoing basis, but in terms of early treatment or post-exposure prophylaxis we have more than enough data to be incredibly comfortable with broad administration. Afterall, there's a reason it's available over the counter in many countries across the world. The potential for abuse is infinitesimal.

If you're interested in the deepest of deep dives on the topic, this is a good place to start: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ATiX0-2PEr4

As for the waters being muddied, one of the authors of an early and very influential meta-analysis has been caught on video admitting that he phrased his conclusions in a particularly cautious manner, recommending more studies needed to be performed, on the insistence of his funders, UNITAID. Of course, writing a conclusion you don't believe in because of the influence of third-party unnamed authors who control funding for the work is the definition of academic misconduct, but said academic is still respected and is now dedicating his time proving ivermectin results are explained by "fraud" (they're not).