A case study.
1. Find something online that is related to your subject. Like this Senate committee report on an investigation of government agencies regarding safety claims of thimerosal in vaccines.
2. Cherry-pick partial quotes that seem to support your position (here, that vaccines cause harm) and assert conclusions that support your claims. Be sure the conclusions are sufficiently scary and conspiracy worthy. Mention of children and/or pregnant women is always good. Like this (italics theirs):
FDA inappropriately utilized Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines regarding the dangers of mercury in vaccines containing thimerosal. Thus, the FDA may have miscalculated the toxicity of Thimerosal (sic) in vaccines routinely administered to millions of pregnant women and children.
In addition, Senator Enzi acknowledged that a CDC-organized meeting, held June 7 and 8, 2000, at the Simpsonwood United Methodist Retreat Center, to discuss a study showing a link between mercury exposure through vaccines and autism, was questionable: “The CDC’s failure to invite to Simpsonwood representatives of advocacy groups, in combination with injudicious remarks by several Simpsonwood participants, did give rise to an appearance of impropriety.”
The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, which reviewed the evidence and found no link between mercury exposure from vaccines and autism, inappropriately screened “potential committee members for possible conflicts of interest.”
Government data used to assess the link between vaccine-related mercury exposure and autism was “…less than open and accessible to all researchers.”
Despite mercury being decreased in some vaccines given to American children, no such decrease has been effected in vaccines manufactured and distributed to developing countries: “The contention that thimerosal is used in vaccines provided to third-world and developing countries is accurate.”
Seems like pretty damning evidence of official condemnation of a cover-up and attempt to hide information, yes? After all, how many people, especially those neck deep in confirmation bias, will bother to find this, instead?
3. Ignore the full context that specifically presents the reverse conclusion from the one you want to claim. Full context like this, from the actual Senate committee report (italics mine):
The use of inappropriate guidelines from EPA was a source of confusion and contention in determining the appropriate response to concern regarding thimerosal in vaccines. Nevertheless, the existing methyl mercury guidelines were the best information available at the time for assessing risk from ethyl mercury exposure. This error has caused countless individuals to conclude that ethyl mercury can be linked causally to autism.
The CDC’s failure to invite to Simpsonwood representatives of advocacy groups, in combination with injudicious remarks by several Simpsonwood participants, did give rise to an appearance of impropriety. Allegations of a cover-up are not substantiated, however. Instead of hiding the data or restricting access to it, CDC distributed it, often to individuals who had never seen it before, and solicited outside opinion regarding how to interpret it.
An extensive investigation by the HELP Committee, which included a subpoena for thousands of documents from the National Academies of Science and the Institute of Medicine, identified concerns regarding the IoM’s process for screening potential committee members for possible conflicts of interest. However the allegation that the work of the ISR is compromised by CDC influence and conflicts of interest proved without merit.
The allegation that the CDC made the VSD non-public is not substantiated by information gathered by the Committee. The allegation that CDC intentionally made the VSD data inaccessible is also not substantiated, however, the construct of the database for privacy purposes makes access less than open and accessible to all researchers.
The contention that thimerosal is used in vaccines provided to third-world and developing countries is accurate. According to the CDC, NIP, the vaccination of children in much of the world will continue to require the use of multiple-dose vials for reason of cost, production, and storage capacity. The less expensive multiple-dose vials require the presence of a preservative. If developing countries were unable to buy the less expensive multiple-dose vials containing thimerosal, diseases would spread more rapidly.
5. Periodically resurrect dead debates that you lost, shined up to look new and scary for a new cohort of anxious folk and make claims of a coverup, despite the fact that the allegations you’re resurrecting have been addressed and debunked again and again.
The case study provided here relates to vaccines, but these steps can be effective for anyone alleging a conspiracy or scientific antagonism, whether that be GMO, climate science, evolution, or other area in which scientific consensus is profoundly on one side of the issue. Be sure to refer often to the Calendar of Conspiracy Resurrection to make sure you’re not revivifying your allegations too soon. A key to a successful reanimation is waiting long enough for people to forget they’ve seen it all before. Some of us, though, have long memories.