Blue Pilgrim writes:
RE: Reasons for the lies
I think this is rooted in the old game theory stuff, measured only in terms of winning, not in a broader ethical or philosophical context.
In this — almost computer logic — there is no respect for what is true, but it’s all about winning (not like capitalism if you will excuse my socialist orientation, or maybe ‘predatory capitalism if you prefer).
In the ‘prisoner’s dilemma”, there is nothing to say that testimony must be truthful, and in fact authorities often pressure prisoners to falsley witness against someone the cops or prosecutor want to hang crimes on.
Likewise, in war, there are no constraints that what a side says must be truthful. Politics has become like that even more than it had always been. So the criteria for what is said has become solely how it will advance the goals. Deceptive propaganda is now the norm. Expect it, and refute it, but don’t waste psychic energy on reacting to it. The people doing this are completely amoral and sociopathic / psychopathic.
I’m not religious but there are some good things in the Bible: “Matthew 10:16 Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves…
Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. New American Standard Bible “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be as wary as serpents, and as innocent as doves.”…
Walt writes:
BECAUSE I share your alarm at how our institutions of Health, especially Public Health are being systematically destroyed, I think it’s important to understand what powers the destruction, in order to fight it
Regarding Dr Griffin’s comment lately: “When I was in college, it was the liberals who didn’t trust…science and medicine and all this. And it was the conservatives that were like, no, no, this is what we’ve established.”
First off, Dr Griffin is quite correct that popular opinion among right-leaning Americans strongly favored these institutions until recently.
In fact, VERY Recently: in March, 2020, as Americans were becoming aware of COVID (and Trump was praising his administration’s response), Pew found the CDC had a slightly HIGHER approval rating among GOP voters than among Democrats.
I don’t have public polling to cite in the interim, but by mid-2024, Democrats’ support remained quite strong but GOP approval of CDC and HHS had plummeted.
(Please note that it is common in these surveys for poll respondents to view agencies more favorably when THEIR preferred party holds the White House but this is a HUGE change.)
I link the change to APRIL, 2020, WHEN the White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro (the genius behind the infamous 2025 tariffs) sparrED over HIS advocacy of HCQ. IN May 2020, President Trump started citing his popularity versus Fauci’s as justification for his views, and in July 2020, “brazenly” attacked Fauci publicly in a USA Today op-ed.
Trump clearly wanted control of the “narrative” (ie, official propaganda, which is, IMO a necessary govt function) regards health and safety, but besides censoring others within his administration, didn’t have critical mass to silence scientists
Jump to 2025 and Trump now has all the pieces in place to silence critics: a head of HHS chosen to FOR his history of conspiracy theories and willingness to fire people who do the science.
So no, Dr. Racaniello, this is not just “silly,” “stupid” or incompetent. It is a conscious effort to destroy and information that would allow Americans to question Trump’s total control over the country. (This control extends to many other departments that have nothing to do with science and everything to do with Trump’s ability to exercise his power.)
This is not that different than Stalin’s response to famine his policies caused, in decreeing Lysenko’s ideas about crop evolution (Lamarckianism) as Russia’s official science. Those who protested were sent to the Gulag to silence them
This is a fight that scientists have been dragged into, one that crosses whatever political views they otherwise have. It’s sad to see individuals like Peter Marx and Francis Collins, clearly not left-wing crazies like me, being forced out because they simply wish science to continue serving the public. It’s a fight that you can’t avoid if you stay true to your fundamental values.
So while yes, keep letting scientists see the intentional destruction of their field. But since the broader fight is taking place in the broader public, perhaps MicrobeTV could be part of a communications effort more aimed at the general public who don’t have the appetite for complex descriptions of viral genetics, bacterial digestion of mucus, and other esoterica. Very different production values and mindset from your other excellent work (which I hope to continue supporting).
Good luck!
PS—I’m writing to YOU and the rest of the TWiV team who are tackling this subject very well given your intended audience without intending criticism. But I hope you see that until this malevolent totalitarianism is stopped, we risk going into a new Dark Age where “Science” will be at best a quaint memory
References:
A selective timeline of the politicization of COVID https://doggett.house.gov/media/blog-post/timeline-trumps-coronavirus-responses
Navarro as advocate for HydroxyChloroquine: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/05/politics/white-house-malaria-drug-hydroxychloroquine-disagreement/index.html
The conflict between Navarro and Fauci: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/us/politics/fauci-navarro-coronavirus.html
Lisa writes:
I watch TWIV every week–thank you for you work!
I wanted to add to your data. A couple weeks ago, 25% of the Minnesota Department of Public Health budget was pulled–suddenly, under the banner of removing all Covid-related federal funds. In less than 24 hours, all temporary and contract workers were fired. Overnight, LITERALLY–no more vaccine clinics, community outreach, etc, etc. An additional set of permanent employees are in process of being fired–they would have let us go immediately, too, but we are unionized. The leadership is not following our contracts and are proceeding swiftly and haphazardly in such a way that they are firing the *wrong people!*. We’re losing epidemiologists, planners, etc–in areas completely unrelated to covid funding. It’s bewildering.
It’s a blood bath.
We are told to expect further rounds of layoffs. Our governor has told us to plan for 100% loss of federal funds. The laboratory budget is 82% federal funds! The total health dept budget is somewhat less dependent upon federal funds–but the governor has additionally stated there will be more cuts from the state slice of the budget. What!? The state is NOT stepping up to fill the gap, it is going to decimate us further!
My team is a level 1 team of the national LRN: Laboratory Response Network. We respond to biological and chemical attacks. While we train to respond to terrorist attacks involving chemical and biological agents, we actually deal with all the white-powder threats against government officials and private citizen, ID agents that have caused drug overdoses with unknown substances (cases of hospitalized and critical patients where the physicians have symptom sets that are puzzling and drug interventions that are not working), work with poison control to ID agents that were ingested so that intervention can begin. Biowatch (created in 2001 in response to the increased threat of bioterrorism sparked by the 2001 anthrax attacks) is on the chopping block….
I am planning to be unemployed within the next 3-6 months, as are many of my co-workers.
Keep up the good work, being a voice in the storm.
Lisa, Research Scientist, Minnesota Dept. of Public Health-Laboratory.
Anthony writes:
RE: White House promotes lab leak speculation
For the entire 20th Century, anyone who saw a newspaper or even a newsreel was aware of Einstein, the scientist, and Picasso, the artist. Stopping people on the street today, how many could name a single contemporary artist? Sadly, for scientists, the same is not true. Many queried will repeat the Fox News twisted/turned carnival mirror version of Dr. Fauci.
In a Wired interview, Steve Jobs said he once thought TV made people stupid. He’d changed his mind; people are stupid and TV gives them what they want.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true-origins-of-covid-19