It's not just medical journals, actually, but the decline in medical journals matters perhaps more than that of any other kind of scientific publication. 

Earlier today, I wrote about the retraction of an enormously influential paper on Alzheimer's disease in the journal Nature. That paper revolutionized research into how Alzheimer's might be cured, and the fact that it was fraudulent means that 15 years of research and billions of dollars have probably been wasted. 

Perhaps in that case, Nature might be forgiven because it was a case of fraud. But how does one explain the publication of this article in The Lancet?

this is actually just embarrassing. how does someone write this in a 'medical' journal and not be embarrassed. how does the journal publish it. i don't understand it.

— sonch (@soncharm) June 7, 2024

It is a screed, pure and simple—an expression of rage against ordinary people who don't bow down to the failed World Health Organization. It has no argument, presents no facts, and imparts nothing new or worth considering. It is the sort of thing one might be subjected to by a leftist uncle at a Thanksgiving dinner: tedious, tendentious, and probably fueled by a bit too much alcohol. 

The prospects for this failing system look bleak. Donald Trump again as US President? The far right making electoral gains across Europe? Murderous political leaders able to act with impunity? Purveyors of disinformation, working under the rubric of The Geneva Project, who proclaim that, “We, people of the world, no longer abide by the tyrannical rule of unelected global officials and their vision of the future”? A collection of anti-vaxxers, right-wing activists, and conspiracy theorists gathered at the World Health Assembly on June 1 to declare their opposition to WHO's efforts to negotiate a pandemic agreement. What is the cause of this breakdown of belief in an international community? There are many possible culprits. Racism. Populism. Nationalism. But I think it was Dr Ghada who identified one especially important root cause: the loss of our humanity. The system is failing because our humanity—our compassion towards each other—has been eroded and, in some instances, erased. We are numb to one another's pain. We refuse to see the distress of our neighbour. We turn away from the misery of others. We seem to be hardly human anymore.

There are so many things wrong with this screed, not the least of which is that it is utterly ahistorical. It ignores not only the past five years, in which the WHO and the entire public health establishment got nearly every single thing wrong but also the history of humanity in itself. 

Are we more racist than in the past? Hardly. More populist? Well, perhaps more than 20 years ago, but not more than 70. Populism arises when elites fail, so if populism has risen it is due to the failures of people like him. Today's populism is a result of the 2008 financial crisis and everything that followed, culminating in the conspiracy of the elites against ordinary people we experienced during COVID. 

Nationalism? Oh, come on! Compared to when? Again, whatever minor bump in nationalism exists is due to the mass importation of migrants from the Third World into Western countries. It is a reaction to the anti-nationalism of the elites who have contempt for our societies. 

This was a cri de coeur written by a person whose attachment to humanity extends all the way from billionaires to bureaucrats, excluding anybody whose income is below six figures. 

That this appeared in a medical journal tells you exactly how much you should trust our current scientific elite: they don't care about you and me. They demand power, wealth, submission, and, above all, respect from normies. 

Humanity? It is not we who have lost it. Look in the mirror, sociopath.