I find it ironic that the crowd that declares that they have 'done their research', upon being asked for verification/support for/evidence regarding their claims typically reply with a version of "do your own research"* almost never know what 'research' actually is, and never question the sources that provide them with the 'answers' that they want to hear.
The 'do your research'/'I did my research' mantra has become a common antic among anti-science types in general, from generic conspiracy nuts ('the WTC were demolished by Mossad agents using radiation-less mini-nukes planted in the basements that were able to direct their energy to exit at the precise location the planes struck'**) to antivaxxers ('the jab gave me herpes!'***) to creationists.
I was a 'victim' of such pseudocertain, Dunning-Kruger effect gibberish about a year ago.
A relative of mine, eager to support and defend the implicit claims of her new Messiah, Donald Trump, sought to own me by citing an article on ozone therapy to prove that Trump was right.
Right about what? Surely you remember when he suggested that 'we' are or should be looking into "injecting" disinfectants into our lungs or otherwise into the body in the famous press conference in which one of his people had just finished talking about using bleach and isopropyl alcohol to disinfect surfaces?
Almost immediately after he made that stupid claim, his acolytes began searching for ways to justify his stupidity, and the Twitterverse and Q-related goobers conjured up 'light therapy' and 'ozone therapy' - neither of which the Orange Messiah had mentioned - to own the libs.
Why? Because 1. these are or can be used as 'disinfectants' and 2. alt-med loons try to use these as 'therapies.'
My relative focused on ozone therapy, and presented me with a copy-pasted, unsourced rant about how it has been used for decades in India and elsewhere, so Trump was totally right, and that I should "do my own research" instead of listening to the MSM.
That alone was odd - my relative has an educational pedigree akin to Lauren Boebert's (though she did later go to college for art), while I have an earned doctorate from an accredited institution and have been in academia for decades and some of my research papers have been cited in popular textbooks and such.. but, OK..
So... First, I tried to find her source. It was pretty hard - when I googled phrases from what she had posted, I got many hits - to social media posts/discussion forums in which loons were copy-pasting it without question. What made it harder is that so many of these "researchers" do not seem to understand how copy-pasting works, and so apparently re-typed the whole thing (about 4 paragraphs) and invariably made typing errors - but I eventually found the "original" source, as best I could tell. I think it was a Q-related website, but there were no author names, no date, etc (really odd) and, of course, no references. Odd for a 'researcher', right?
Long story short, I eventually found the primary sources - one was a review paper from an obscure alt-med journal from India, in which the amazing benefits of ozone therapy were merely presented as fact with no real support; the other was from an otherwise fairly reliable online medical source which I found sad.
The paper from India had many references, most of which were not possible for me to locate. Of those I was able to locate, none indicated or implied that ozone could be used as an injection or inhalant therapy (this becomes important in a second). Most of the sources referred to using ozone as a 'spray' (I don't know what the appropriate medical term is) on surface wounds or in dentistry, so even if those applications were valid, they did not support the overall implications of the review paper, and thus did not at all support Trump's statement.
The online medical site article (which I will not name, as they completely re-wrote the article and added a disclaimer after I had made them aware of the following), while not as glowing in its support for ozone therapy, nevertheless presented it as a potential alternative treatment (though not specifically for Covid). I was shocked to find the following things in the article, however - 1. its primary source was the same kooky alt-med paper from India that I had initially found, and 2, it listed 3 examples of ozone being used in clinical trials for the treatment of various ailments. It was bad enough that this article, which had been written by an RN, MPH and 'reviewed for medical accuracy' by an MD, was used as a primary source, but when I looked up the clinical trials... wow...
Ozone was used in them, alright - but NOT as a therapeutic agent, but rather to stimulate inflammation in order to test OTHER drugs! I was shocked at how this was missed (the updated online article no longer mentions clinical trials)!
So, I wrote up my findings for my relative and she apologized for her unwarranted condescension and retracted her claim of support for Trump's dopiness re: disinfectants.
Wait - no she didn't. She told me I was just an arrogant academic and that I should stop being a sheep and blocked me on social media.
So much for the "I did my research" crowd. I've yet to encounter ANY such person who actually knows how to support a claim or actually do any kind of research, which to them appears to mean 'read something on social media/website that props up your prejudices'.
Anyone ever found anything of value from such folks?
* or, just as likely, that you are a 'sheep' or is 'under the control of the gubmint/MSM/tyrants' or a 'paid shill' for daring to question their cult's disinformation
** this was actually posited on a conspiracy theory forum on another Christian site
***actual entry (sans exclamation point) on VAERS
