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1/ I applaud the intent of this piece, but in my opinion it has a glaring omission.
In it, Renée DiResta criticizes "Anti-Vaccine Influencers" for, in the case of Tucker Carlson, "spreading conspiracy theories under the guise of merely asking questions." https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/influencers-who-keep-stoking-fears-about-vaccines/618687/
In it, Renée DiResta criticizes "Anti-Vaccine Influencers" for, in the case of Tucker Carlson, "spreading conspiracy theories under the guise of merely asking questions." https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/influencers-who-keep-stoking-fears-about-vaccines/618687/
2/ I will absolutely grant the author's claim that there are anti-vaxxer influencers who are disingenuously spreading misinformation to persuade people not to get vaccinated.
The problem with the article is what it omits:
The problem with the article is what it omits:
3/ The author fails to acknowledge that a significant number of influential journalists and health authorities did not "merely ask questions" about Covid's dangerousness - they spread misinformation that led to people overestimate the contagiousness of Covid.
4/ In fact, the writer's Atlantic colleague Derek Thompson has written extensively on the issue of, in his words, "loudmouths on Twitter and on TV (and) other scientists" who incorrectly claimed Covid could spread on surfaces. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/end-hygiene-theater/618576/
5/ Thompson wrote that "hygiene theater" caused people to "react in a scattered and scared way" to Covid.
This Covid scare-mongering, he claimed, may have been why Los Angeles closed playgrounds & prohibited beach walks despite lack of evidence that Covid spread outdoors.
This Covid scare-mongering, he claimed, may have been why Los Angeles closed playgrounds & prohibited beach walks despite lack of evidence that Covid spread outdoors.
6/ What Thompson didn't mention is something I've been tweeting and blogging about for months: That Covid scare-mongering may be why people have been too afraid to go to the hospital, and in some cases, ended up dead from lack of treatment. https://michaelsimonson.medium.com/covid-isnt-the-only-cause-of-this-year-s-excess-deaths-7d92f436643f
7/ I believe DiResta's anti-vaxx influencer article should have mentioned these wrongheaded Covid "loudmoths," as Thompson labeled them, because that may be why there are now wrongheaded anti-vaxx loudmouths - and why there's an audience eager to hear their wrongheaded takes.
8/ In other words, there may be a certain subset of Americans who feel so misled by the journalists and experts who said Covid could spread on surfaces, on playgrounds, on beaches, etc., etc., etc. that they are now skeptical that vaccines are the safe and effective way out.
9/ I've been criticized as an anti-vaxx, Covid-denying conspiracy theorist for making points similar to what's in this thread.
I swear, I'm not.
But, I'm definitely wrong, a lot. So happy to be debunked here.
I swear, I'm not.
But, I'm definitely wrong, a lot. So happy to be debunked here.
