Friends, fresh from the trenches of social media, I’m really scared. No, it’s not the virus that frightens me. It’s the arrogance, mob-bullying and mass disinformation that terrifies.
And it’s not the costumed Q-Anon’ers or those low-brow Olive Garden diners behaving like delusional cultists. It’s YOU dears – my liberal progressives. Some of you are being awful, and it’s time to get a grip.
Believe me, I know how maddening it is when others don’t think and feel exactly like you. It’s hard being smarter and more enlightened than everyone else. Oh I know. Until very recently, I was just like you.
We are in a crisis. And there’s an urgent need to check our collective arrogance and remove our politics from the Covid narrative. Our future depends on it.
I get it. We are all traumatized by Trump. But varied perspectives are essential in this moment, even if they don’t match your opinion. Stop likening anyone who expresses a dissenting thought or raises a critical question to fringe extremism. Not all curious people wear QAnon capes.
Last I checked, ‘following the science’ meant constantly questioning your assumptions, testing hypothesis, over and over again, and changing course when new evidence emerges. Especially during an unprecedented crisis.
Nowhere is this tyranny on finer display than the decrepit vacuum of reason that is Twitter. A social media neophyte, I entered the dungeon without knowing the rules of engagement. I didn’t know that some ‘blue check’ experts only acknowledge questions or comments from fawning Pollyannas,’ Had no idea that questions, asked respectfully with earnest curiosity, would be mocked with militant force.
I mistakenly enraged a small army for not sticking to a lane – I didn’t know I had. My liberal friends, my tribe, my “na-na-na-na-booer’s” – were perceptive about one thing: I am truly fucking clueless.
I am baffled actually. When did progressive liberals; those whose ethos is rooted in open-mindedness and equality for all, start behaving so terribly? The zeal in which many of you cheerlead for policy that hurts women, decimates already vulnerable groups, and paralyzes the economy is jaw-dropping.
You are in a logic loop, my friends, and the trap door closed behind you.
Enlightened progressives loudly decry the plague of disinformation that seeps dangerously into the mushy brains of their unsophisticated brethren. So it’s especially galling to see the same people spreading misinformation on a colossal, grotesque scale.
Here’s Kurt Eichenwald, a brilliant, Pulitzer prize winning journalist falsely accusing people who don’t wear masks of serial murder.
And Amber Tamblyn, an accomplished director, actress and talented fiction writer, also inaccurately weighing in on public health policy. The Toronto Star, one of Canada’s largest, most influential news outlets, published her lengthy op-ed last October, urging Torontonians to be more compliant with social distancing and mask wearing. Ms. Tamblyn, who is no-doubt well-intentioned, shared the article again recently, citing concern that some lock-down protestors were not wearing masks – outdoors. Isn’t it relevant that it’s improbable to transmit the virus outdoors? Especially with social distancing? This isn’t a controversial finding. Research has shown this for ages.
And here’s one of my favorite science writers, Yvette d’Entremont, whose work informed much of thinking on GMO’s and vaccines, getting in on the action.
You might not agree with what your fellow citizens are protesting – that’s fair. But to falsely assert that outdoor protests led to surges in Covid infections, something so demonstrably false – is a very big problem.
To be clear, it’s not impossible to transmit or become infected with Covid outside. But it’s statistically insignificant, especially if other measures are taken. This might change. Viruses mutate. And this one seems to mutate to be more transmissible. But for now – the research is clear, transmission almost ALWAYS happens indoors, not outside. Make no mistake, the reason we are deterred from outdoor gatherings is because it increases our risk of germ-swapping indoors ‘to and fro’ in our fresh-air adventures.
I fear my fellow progressives are so traumatized, too clouded by rage to step back and detangle their reason from the ire. Because replacing science with your righteous opinion is clouding the narrative, and obscuring the essential things we should all be focused on together.
Please, before championing criminal sentences for non-mask compliance; before casually accusing your fellow citizens of attempted murder; before creating life-changing policy that makes children, as young as six-years-old, wear masks to school – Can we pause to look at the evidence? And steer the conversation some? Because N-95 masks work – the research is clear. Surgical masks might add benefit, and we should all wear them, because, okay – you can’t always wait for the evidence to pour in before doing something that seems like common sense. But shouldn’t we understand things like: dominant sources of transmission, the actual efficacy of different masks, changing mask guidelines pending circumstance. Surely before sending our neighbors to jail?
What about that devastating PPE shortage that placed front line health care workers at egregious risk? Is that fixed? Especially with the growing, compelling evidence around aerosol transmission? Do those we know now are at highest risk for negative Covid outcomes have easy access to N-95 masks? Where’s the outrage urgently demanding proper filtering systems in schools, long-term care facilities, and literally, any other building where viral outbreaks are likely to occur.
Perhaps pause to reflect on the emerging evidence and data, before brazenly declaring to know “the truth.” Remember, everyone is making this shit up as we go.
We are in crisis. Our health care systems are broken. People are dying.
Replacing actual science with your righteous opinions is not helping us get out of this mess – it’s making it worse.
THINK-DO 