Published August, 2007

HIV Denial in the Internet Era, Tara C. Smith & Steven P. Novella, 4 Plos Medicine 1312 (2007)

This article by an epidemiologist and a neurologist briefly summarizes some of the core features of HIV denialism. The authors emphasize the role of the Internet in disseminating pseudoscientific views and distorting the publics understanding of science through disinformation in web-based venues of which few scientists and doctors are aware. The article also discusses the rhetorical methods and arguments employed by HIV denialism, such as selective distrust of scientific authority, the portrayal science as faith and consensus as dogma, and the continuous resetting of the threshold of evidence required for acceptance of a scientific theory.