Well, hi! If you told me in February I would be back from Liberia, in Boston, working at home while SARS-COV2 wreaks havoc around the globe, I would have given you major side eyes, but here we are. I’ve been working from home about 6 weeks now, mostly doing some data entry with a little bit of analytics thrown in, and a lot of wondering what the future will be like, not just for myself but anyone working in global health and international development.
While I hate that the pandemic
pulled me from my field site early, where I was just getting comfortable and
learning so much from my patients and colleagues, the switch up of big countries
like the U.S. fumbling through the realities of this pandemic while places like
Liberia hit the ground running, years of experience with the Ebola epidemic in
tow, has been an interesting and refreshing change in the narrative. Not that
anyone has the perfect response down (I’m convinced we won’t know what that
looks like without some degree of hindsight and reflection,) but it was about
time for Westerners to eat some humble pie and realize we have as much to learn
from our partners in underserved parts of the world as we do to offer.
There is a lot that is bad about
this pandemic (hi, stating the obvious here!) From the little things like not
knowing when we’ll be able to hug our loved ones, to the big things like the much
worse impact on black communities and the poor, to the plain and simple fact
that this virus has killed more a quarter of a million people (see WHO’s latest
situation report for more alarming numbers.)
But to me one of the scariest
aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic is the misinformation circulating online.
Maybe not even the misinformation itself, but the sheer speed at which the conspiracy
theories, pseudo-truths and totally false allegations have made their way to social
media. Even as patients died gasping for air in overcrowded hospitals in Queens,
Facebook experts were calling into question the gravity of the situation, incorrectly
crunching mortality rates then spreading the information like wildfire to their
social media followers. Information comes out so quickly that it must be
extremely difficult as a lay person to know what is and isn’t reliable information.
I really do feel for the public on this one, especially those without a
background in medicine and research.
Things reached a head late this
week with the plandemic video. I was planning to ignore it until it started circulating
in a private email chain with family members in the medical field, some of who
decided to partially defend the video in the name of censorship and the right
to free speech. Americans have always embraced our rights to do and say what we
want, when we want, often to a fault (see: vaccinal refusal, or the shooting of
a black man going for a jog by armed civilians.) We fight for the right to say
and do what we feel is best without government interference (if you’re the
right kind of citizen, that is. A conversation for another day.) To live and
let live. But what happens when your voice and your circulation of false
information endangers the health and wellbeing of others? When your choice not
to wear a mask, not to vaccinate, endangers your 65 year old neighbor with
diabetes, your newborn niece or nephew, or just the unlucky person you happen
to pass by in the grocery store?
I thought about watching the video
just to break it down piece by piece. I chose not to because a. it’s 26 minutes
and life is short/too precious to waste time on listening to information that
sounded incredibly suspect just from the title b. there’s a long and detailed
about page that tells me what I need to know and c. several physicians and
specialists have already written some great responses. I’ve included them
below. Please read them. Some are admittedly more inflammatory than others. If
you think or thought at any point that Plandemic was a plausible reality, I ‘ll
try my best not to judge you. These are frightening times, and there is a weird
comfort in latching on to ‘answers’ like the ones provided in this video,
strange and incredulous as they may be.
https://www.npr.org/2020/05/08/852451652/seen-plandemic-we-take-a-close-look-at-the-viral-conspiracy-video-s-claims
Great breakdown of the major allegations of the video, put out by NPR. All
responses carefully cited.
https://www.facebook.com/jenniferkastenmd/posts/a-response-to-videos-including-plandemic-by-judy-mikovits-phd-on-the-origins-of-/133429318310015/
One of the best, most well-written responses in my opinion. She sticks to facts
and avoids inflammatory language that may generate an emotional reaction that
stops you from reading. Well cited with reliable sources.
https://respectfulinsolence.com/2020/05/06/judy-mikovits-pandemic/
The first response I saw to the video. Slightly inflammatory. I admit I along
with many pediatricians/physicians who have been responding to vaccine hesitancy
for several years now do find it strenuous and sometimes tiring to find
ourselves in the same arguments over and over again as we work so hard to
protect our patients and our families. But this is an excellent piece with
citations for every counter-argument. It sticks to the facts.
https://instrumentofmercy.com/2020/05/07/why-your-christian-friends-and-family-members-are-so-easily-fooled-by-conspiracy-theories/?fbclid=IwAR1hkFgPo_zjOAEjmkB_GVGSm_WhWnAJ3ZOx-EXcCmoZWK3f-1HuE9hhGdk
Probably the most inflammatory. I am a Christian, and I have also seen a
pattern of Christians (not all, but a handful) I am friends with on Facebook, posting
conspiracy theory content more frequently than connections from other parts of
my life. Skip the intro and dive in at the section titled ‘Why we all love a
good conspiracy theory.’ Some really great psychology and logic behind why we
as humans are intrigued by these theories and how we can think critically
through them.
https://theconversation.com/is-this-study-legit-5-questions-to-ask-when-reading-news-stories-of-medical-research-117836
Lastly, a great read on how to differentiate between good and bad scientific
studies. While not directly related to the Plandemic video, a lack of knowledge
about science writing and how to critique research articles leaves anyone
vulnerable to misinterpreting data, science and facts. I will fully admit that
scientific papers can be hard to read and interpret.
I hope these responses to the Plandemic video are helpful to
you. No offense meant in any way. While I am happy to answer questions and have
healthy discussions, I am not interested in debating this video so please don’t
comment or message me with comebacks as to why I’m wrong or the video is
correct. I’m not changing my view on this one and if you aren’t open to thinking
differently about these issues this isn’t the place for you.
Stay safe everyone,
