For everyone who chose shame over science

Read the full article: For those who preferred shame to science

reading time: 5 Minutes

from Canadian Health journalist Gabriel Bauer.

not tested

In the first 62 years of my life, I don’t remember anyone calling me a selfish idiot, let alone a sociopath or a Trump fanatic. Everything changed when Covid arrived and I very cautiously expressed my concerns about the closures.

Here’s an example of what Keyboard Warriors threw at me:

• Enjoy sociopathy.
• Go lick a pole and get infected.
• Enjoy choking on fluids in the ICU.
• Name three loved ones you would like to sacrifice for COVID. Do it now, you coward.

From the early days of the pandemic, there was something inside of me, in my soul, that deviated from the political and public response to the virus. None of this was true, strong, or real. This was not just an epidemiological crisis, but a social one, so why did we only listen to a few epidemiologists? Where were the mental health experts? Child development specialists? Historians? Economists? Why did our political leaders unleash fear rather than calm?

The questions that bothered me the most were less about epidemiology and more about morals: Was it right to demand the greatest sacrifices from young people, who would suffer most from restrictions? Should civil liberties simply disappear during a pandemic, or should we balance public safety and human rights?

Since there is no education in the methods of online fighters, I thought that the Internet would allow me to participate in “productive discussions” on these issues. So I jumped online and the rest was hysteria.

Village idiot, flat land, relatives, scum, negative IQ… Let’s just say my smooth skin is my life test.

And I was not alone: ​​everyone who questioned the faith, whether experts or the general public, suffered similar skin burns. In the words of the community physician, who will remain anonymous for obvious reasons: “Many clinicians, including myself, have discussed with virologists, epidemiologists and other scientists a targeted approach and focus on the most vulnerable patient groups, only to be neglected as anti-infections. tin foil hat mad MenConspiracy theories, anti-tivax and other pejorative labels are equally colorful.

At the beginning of the game, I decided not to respond to these insults with other insults, not because I am particularly proud, but because throwing mud bothers me and it is not good to be angry all day. Instead, I took the sarcasm for granted (and still walk around in anger).

brings shame

The desire to feel ashamed has been present since the beginning of the epidemic. I started on Twitter #covidiot will be in fashion on the night of March 22, 2020By the end of the night, 3,000 tweets had used the hashtag to expose poor public health practices.

When CBS News released a video of tourists partying in Miami, Angry citizens shared the names of the students on their social media, Accompanied by messages such as “Don’t give these selfish idiots beds and/or fans.”

At the beginning of the epidemic, when panic and turmoil reigned, this discontent could have been forgotten. But the pill grew and mixed with time. W: It didn’t work.

As noted by Harvard Medical School epidemiologist Julia Marcus“Blaming and making fun of people is not the best way to get them to change their behavior and it can also be counterproductive because it encourages people to hide their behavior.” Jan Bilkos, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Washington, Complaints and disputes It can be difficult for people to “recognize situations in which they might be at risk.”

If a Covid profile of your behavior isn’t helping, rest assured that attacking people with bad ideas won’t change your mind. Instead, let’s stop telling them what we think. We sleep and smile. We give them a match point and keep the discussion in our heads.

take off the gloves

I’ve been that person for two years. I smile politely and avoid insults. To calm my conversation, my unorthodox views were prefaced with warnings such as “I hate Trump as much as you do” or “Reminder, I’ve also been vaccinated three times.”

Today I will allow myself to stop there and give it a name as I see it.

To everyone who has criticized me for questioning the end of civilization and mentioning the damage it has done to the young and the poor: You can take your cynicism, your scientific vanity, and your unbearable morals, and pick up the trash and put it……….. fuses. Every day, new polls give more air to their arrogant claims.

You told me that without prison, Covid would wipe out a third of the world, just like The Black Death devastated Europe in the fourteenth century. Instead, close A meta-analysis by Johns Hopkins Lockdowns in Europe and the United States have cut Covid-19 deaths, on average, by 0.2%.

Also, long before this study, we had good evidence that anything other than a Chinese-style lock would do little. In the 2006 document A WHO team stated that “mandatory case reporting and isolation of patients during the 1918 influenza pandemic did not halt transmission of the virus and were impractical”.

She told me that social interaction is a need, not a need. Yeah. It is also good food. Indeed, social isolation is fatal. As stated in September 2020 review article Published in the journal Cell, loneliness “may be the most powerful threat to survival and longevity.” The article discusses how social isolation impairs cognitive development, weakens the immune system, and puts people at risk for developing substance use disorders.

And it’s not that we didn’t know this before Covid: In 2017, research suggested Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a professor at Brigham Young University, has found that social isolation speeds up mortality as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. His findings are scattered across newspaper pages around the world.

She told me you don’t have to worry about the effects of Covid restrictions on children, because kids are resilient – plus they’ve been through much worse things in the big wars. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has experienced an increase of 77% in Pediatrics Standards for things like self-harm and suicidal ideation for 6 months in 2021, compared to a similar piece in 2019. And if that doesn’t bother you, World Bank Analysis In low-income countries, the economic downturn caused by lockdown policies is estimated to have resulted in 1.76 child deaths for every COVID-19 death.

I said that vaccinators do not carry the virus because Statement from Rachel Wallinsky, director of the CDC, in early 2021And we all know how it ended.

She told me not to ask what infectious disease experts were telling us. (I’m paraphrasing here. What I really said was, “What if I just got up and shut up?”) D. Stefanos Kalis, another Harvard Medical School, warned of “the dangers of making government policy and public health recommendations for people who have focused their careers exclusively on infectious diseases.” In a recent interview on CNBC. “Public health is a balance,” he said.

It’s really. In the 2001 book The Public Health Act: Power, Duty, and Self-control, Lawrence Justin has called for a more systematic assessment of the risks and benefits of public health interventions and greater protection of civil liberties.

So yes. I am furious and your clever crusade has drawn me clever enough to search for new tribes, and in this quest I have been very successful. I have found more soul mates than I could ever imagine. In my hometown of Toronto and around the world: doctors, nurses, scientists, farmers, musicians and housewives share my displeasure with your bragging. Epidemiologists, too. These brave people saved me from losing my mind.

So thank you. Now shave.

Gabriel Power

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