I follow a few people who are still "just the flu, bro"-ing, or were until recently. I didn't unfollow anyone for that. being wrong ain't a crime

correct but craven < loudly wrong; that's why I was (am?) so scornful of those who were quiet about astute worries https://twitter.com/sonyasupposedly/status/1243812624841576448?s=21 https://twitter.com/sonyasupposedly/status/1243812624841576448

can't feel good https://twitter.com/sonyasupposedly/status/1243813073565044736?s=21

my time will come, I'm sure, facing a quandary like this. I hope that I'll be brave and eat the criticism, even if my warning (or whatever) turns out to be ill-advised

I got more-than-usual pushback on criticizing Kelsey because

1) people like her as a person https://twitter.com/mattparlmer/status/1243775803571212288?s=21

2) damn sonya you're really gonna punish someone introspecting on why they made the wrong choice? well... yes, if their introspection is so revealing https://twitter.com/mattparlmer/status/1243775803571212288

is it fair? no. Kelsey is worth a million of Zack Beauchamp, even in the disturbing case where she stays at Vox indefinitely and dedicates herself to being a creature of the consensus machine, as @St_Rev so neatly noted

do I feel bad? also no. plug Kelsey's thread into Twitter search, she got plenty of encouragement. all that social status that she made sure to preserve? well, it worked. the seeming of reasonableness, the performance of being epistemically worthy, that was and remains the point

Vox and its ilk aren't about providing you with information; they're about providing you with the feeling that you've been informed

to be clear, I agree with SSC that Kelsey did markedly better at covering COVID-19 than most of her peers https://slatestarscratchpad.tumblr.com/post/614310648181145600/shlevy-urpriest-shlevy-relevant-careers

but *shrug* she still kept quiet about her true level of concern because, according to her, she might jeopardize her semblance of ~reasonableness~

also, lmfao: "Kelsey's evaluations of her own competence are not to be taken seriously."

personally I'd be mortified if my friends thought that I should be treated like a child but okay

do I need to explain why it's a bad idea to work as a reporter if you're highly sensitive to public criticism? or is this also my responsibility, I need to be ~nicer~ so that soft little Kelsey can be protected from her own career choices? jfc

this article is half paragraphs of both-side-ism relaying establishment concerns about people being too dumb to wear masks effectively https://www.vox.com/2020/3/31/21198132/coronavirus-covid-face-masks-n95-respirator-ppe-shortage

the world "could" appears 19 times, "will" appears 6, and "homemade" twice

yep that's ~effective~ altruism for ya

Kelsey Piper would be a more *effective* effective altruist if she quit her Vox job and just tweeted out her actual unfiltered opinions

"I didn't want to sound alarmist. I didn't want to step out ahead of public health officials, who were still telling us that the risk was low." https://twitter.com/KelseyTuoc/status/1243301679228841985

is that also the reason for milquetoast "maybe consider DIY ones"? ffs c'mon @KelseyTuoc at *least* be emphatic

now, I may be a hostile cunt, but at least I can think

posting the screenshots mainly for the sake of transparency, and partially to hammer on my point

most of y'all don't like seeing me be mean. you like my sweeter side. you like when I joke about bunnies, blah blah blah. but you know what? fuck off all the way to hell, I cannot and will not always be polite

because

optics

are not

my

primary

concern

personal safety protocol: "I'm not going out and about. If I had to, I'd wear a surgical mask"

publicly advocates: "maybe consider DIY ones" [masks]

granted, her article is overall pro-mask, but FUCKING SOFT-PEDALS HER REAL LEVEL OF CONCERN lmfao it's the exact same thing