leswp1
Well-known member
People have no patience anymore. Everyone demands an answer, and they want it yesterday.
What the medical community should have said in February and March of 2020 is this. We don't know if it came from a lab. We have no current evidence it did. We also don't know if it sprung from nature because we don't have any evidence as to how that might have occurred.
Here is what we can tell you. We will figure it out. It's going to take a long time, but ultimately we think we'll figure it out. But to claim it was a lab leak or claim it sprung from a chicken market in Wuhan, right now, is wrong and uninformed.
Then, just keep repeating that until you figure it out.
Late to the party answering but this sent me into the stratosphere. The MEDICAL COMMUNITY handled this exactly as you suggested they should. In doing so they were vilified, chastised, accused of hiding information, lying and told they were less knowledgeable than those who went to the University of Bing, Google or [fill in a Faux host]*. Leading experts were denigrated, misquoted, physically threatened. The attempts of the CDC to present this message were met with the dismantling of the agency, scientists/personnel being muzzled, a mass exodus of experts from the agency, the website being sanitized of accurate information and the data flow being changed to route through a different agency to prevent analysis from occurring. Still, people persisted in trying to convey accurate information.
What you are criticizing is the message from the MEDIA who were unwilling or incapable of accurate reporting incuding nuance or uncertainty. They presented what the medical community was attempting to share with oversimplified analysis, passed judgement without expertise and ultimately managed to undermine any effort by creating confusion. (knucklehead people who were spreading and amplifying patently false information is for another day).
The general population doesn't do well with uncertainty. They were unwilling to listen to the message that there was no definitive answer. That you have no recollection of this message is a perfect illustration of how successful they were at delegitimizing what was being said. The medical community continues to attempt to convey this is a novel virus and we do not know exact answers. This is STILL the message and it is lost in the noise of the idiots.
At the start the message addressed nuances. Guidelines were developing being adjusted d/t increasing knowledge
Media translation- changes showed lack of knowledge, and they had caught experts 'lying' or changing their tune.
Complex messaging was abandoned in favor of black and white guidelines.
Media response- claimed variables (the ones that were previously dismissed) were being ignored, asked why guidelines weren't considering local situations.
Variables were acknowledged- release of decision tree guidelines based on local data.
Media response- too unclear and complicated for people to know what to do. No coverage about how to navigate thru (a 5 yr old could figure this out).
Add into this multiple Public figures who were messaging we should not have to deal with this while ignoring the reality (reality sux chickie- you don't get to be tired, take your ball and go home)
What this has shown is
-people like being told reality is optional. If they are told it enough, people will believe anything, even if it will kill them or their loved ones.
-there is no reward in encouraging problem solving or being logical. Outrage is much better for political campaigning.
-it is nearly impossible to correct faulty messaging
This article is an excellent
https://open.substack.com/pub/yourl...nd?r=wnmow&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
*I have an advanced degree and worked in medicine for close to 40 yrs. I don't know what I wasted my money, time and effort for. My message of it was too early to be sure, we didn't have enough data to make definitive statements was met with derision, insult and my being informed I was attempting to cover up real information