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Alex Berenson
“”There has been no surge.
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—Berenson on 9 Apr 2020 talking about the coronavirus in New York City[1] |
Needles are scary Anti-vaccination movement |
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Pricks against pricks |
Alex Norman Berenson (1973–) is an American ex-New York Times writer, spy novelist, and the American right's go-to coronavirus "skeptic". But his career in pseudoscience dates back at least before the Covid-19 pandemic when in his 2019 book Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence he claimed, without evidence, that marijuana use causes "sharp increases in murders and aggravated assaults".[2]
Early life[edit]
Berenson grew up in the New York-New Jersey area[3] and graduated from Yale University with a degree in history and economics.[4]
Opposition to marijuana legalization[edit]
In his 2019 book Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness and Violence and in its accompanying op-eds in The New York Times[5] and Wall Street Journal,[6] Berenson makes various unsubstantiated claims about the dangers of marijuana use. His work has been largely denounced by scientists who characterized his findings as a misrepresentation of the studies he references by cherry-picking data and attributing cause to mere associations.[7] Ziva Cooper, a UCLA researcher whose study was heavily referenced by Berenson, disputed Berenson's claims saying, "we did NOT conclude that cannabis causes schizophrenia."[8]
COVID-19 pandemic[edit]
After spending time on Faux News downplaying the COVID-19 pandemic at its very early stages,[9] the network announced in May 2020 that Berenson would be hosting a show called COVID Contrarian (no, really!) on its streaming network, but then appeared to have deleted the announcement only months later.[10] Fox News later invited Berenson back on the Tucker Carlson Tonight show to talk about the COVID-19 vaccines. The Fox News host did not challenge Berenson when he declared that mRNA vaccines are "dangerous and ineffective" against COVID-19 and demanded that they immediately be withdrawn from the market.[11]
Climate change[edit]
Like many other pseudoscience pundits and conspiracy theorists, Berenson may not directly dispute the science of climate change, but he doesn't seem to shy away from opportunities to take pot shots at climate science. In true tu quoque fashion, his February 2023 tweet with a photo of a ski resort reads: "Current status: 11000 feet up and enjoying the incredible hypocrisy of any wokester who claims to think climate change is a real problem and skis. I love skiing but there’s nothing more ecologically disruptive or carbon heavy."[12] (It's unclear if Berenson knows anything about cruise ships or air travel.)
Political views[edit]
In 2024, Berenson penned an op-ed for Fox News in which he declared that he will be voting for Donald Trump despite that Trump's, "Rhetoric is vicious. His unwillingness to promise to abide by the results of Tuesday’s election is dangerous. His friendly attitude toward dictators like Vladimir Putin disheartens me." True to his conspiratorial thinking, he cited the July 2024 Trump assassination attempt as being, "under circumstances that remain somewhat murky".[13]
References[edit]
- ↑ Vanity Fair 10 April 2020.https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/04/ex-new-york-times-alex-berenson-coronavirus-skeptic
- ↑ Carl L Hart and Charles Ksir "Does marijuana use really cause psychotic disorders?", The Guardian 20 January 2019.
- ↑ "Alex Berenson Biography". Archived from the original on 2010-02-01. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
- ↑ "Interview with Alex Berenson".Interviews with Max Raskin. Retrieved 2025-18-01.
- ↑ Berenson, Alex (January 4, 2019) What Advocates of Legalizing Pot Don’t Want You to Know New York Times
- ↑ Berenson, Alex (January 4, 2019) Marijuana Is More Dangerous Than You Think Wall Street Journal
- ↑ Drug Policy Alliance Archive.is Retrieved 2025-18-01.
- ↑ Twitter @zivacooper (January 9, 2019) archive.is Retrieved 2025-18-01.
- ↑ "Interview with Alex Berenson". Interviews with Max Raskin. Retrieved 2025-18-01.
- ↑ Alexander Nazaryan "As coronavirus surges, Fox News shifts its message on masks". news.yahoo.com. 2020-07-02. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
- ↑ Bump, Philip (2022-01-26)." Alex Berenson tells Fox viewers: "Tucker Carlson airs his most dishonest and dangerous pandemic segment yet" The Washington Post. Retrieved 2025-01-18.
- ↑ Twitter Archive.is Retrieved 2025-18-01
- ↑ Berenson, Alex (2024-11-02). "Why I'm voting for Donald J. Trump". Fox News. Retrieved 2025-01-18.