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The Government Censored Me and Other Scientists. We Fought Back–and Won
- dekhn 3y agoOur government definitely did dopey things during the pandemic. Any attempt to suppress the Great Barrington Declaration was a real mistake (in terms of allowing dissenting opinions during a crisis). I feel for the challenges that public health officials have (in terms of trying to put forward a coherent plan that works that people will follow), but ultimately, if you suppress ideas which aren't completely terrible, everybody loses. That said I think Dr Battacharya telegraphed his political opinions in a way that brought him into direct conflict with the establishment.
- _0ffh 3y agoOne problem is, all the relevant people were on board with the long standing emergency plans for a viral pandemic - which was to protect the most vulnerable groups, while leaving everyone else alone - right up until a viral pandemic hit; then the former expert consensus suddenly went out the window, along with everyone who held on to it.
- dekhn 3y agoI mean, it was a chaotic emergency situation and public health officials were under intense pressure to make lots of different people happy at the same time, while also getting masive social media criticism and armchair quarterbacking of their opinions. It does not surprise me if we spent some amount of our time acting like chickens with our heads cut off.
- _0ffh 3y ago> it was a chaotic emergency situation Which is exactly what long standing emergency plans are for, which can be thoroughly thought through by cooler heads, free of time pressure and chaotic circumstances. Having these plans and then not abiding by them (for no good reason) is an alarming sign of the incompetence, cowardice and opportunism affecting the highest levels of our institutions.
- dekhn 3y agoWel, I don't agree that it was a sign of incompetence, cowardice, and opportunism. Nor do I think that emergency plans should always be executed blindly, especially if underlying data changes. That seems like an overly pessimistic analysis of a truly complex situation where a huge number of public health officials sacrificed a great deal to help us. Personally I'm thankful to the establishment and don't really think they could have done much better, considering the circumstances.
- mikecoles 3y agoThe 'pessimism' you see is actually others rationally observing the pandemic being blown out of proportion to harvest fear. "Health officials" sacrificed nothing. They sought to inflate their ego and boost their self-importance.
- Animats 3y agoYes. "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." - Patton. Do not forget that in the early stages of the epidemic, there were refrigerator vans filled with dead bodies in body bags.
- mandmandam 3y ago> I think Dr Battacharya telegraphed his political opinions in a way that brought him into direct conflict with the establishment. Everyone with a shred of independent thought has opinions that conflict with the establishment. And everyone has a right to express those opinions, on Twitter and Facebook and anywhere else, without facing global censorship and smear campaigns from their own government. It's bizarre to me that people aren't pissed about this - I guess it would be seen as 'helping the other team'. Seems to me that treating politics as sport is stupid and dangerous, but apparently that's an opinion, rather than accepted common sense.
- Nifty3929 3y agoI think you're missing the point. It's not about whether, in this case, the censored message was true, or at least reasonable, or at least not completely terrible. It's about saying that the government should not in any way be the arbiter of truth at all. It's not up to them to decide what is true, reasonable or crazy. "which aren't completely terrible" - Who decides which ideas are completely terrible and (implicitly in your comment) worthy of censorship, vs those which aren't and therefore okay to publish?
- giardini 3y agoFrom the decision: The panel upheld the most important portion of U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty’s preliminary injunction order in Missouri, et al. v. Biden, et al., prohibiting those officials from pressuring social media companies to suppress constitutionally protected speech. The panel decision modified the injunction against federal officials to now read: “Defendants, and their employees and agents, shall take no actions, formal or informal, directly or indirectly, to coerce or significantly encourage social-media companies to remove, delete, suppress, or reduce, including through altering their algorithms, posted social-media content containing protected free speech. That includes, but is not limited to, compelling the platforms to act, such as by intimating that some form of punishment will follow a failure to comply with any request, or supervising, directing, or otherwise meaningfully controlling the social-media companies’ decision-making processes.”
- epivosism 3y agohttps://archive.ph/kuqFi https://archive.ph/kuqFi
- bradley13 3y agoPower corrupts. People in high positions (like Fauci) have a lot of power. The corruption needn't be monetary - it can also manifest as a belief that everyone should bow to you, and do whatever you say. Abuses like this are partially responsible for driving the opponents to extremes. Part of the blame for the general distrust of vaccinations can be laid at the government's feet. The mRNA technology has amazing potential, sure, but it really did have unexpected side-effects. Those of us who had heart problems as a result will certainly view future government decrees with skepticism.
- Barrin92 3y agoI remember in 1975 when a high court found that then-prime minister of India Indira Gandhi had interfered unlawfully in an election[...]I remember the shock of these events and our family’s collective relief that we were in the U.S., where it was unimaginable that such things could happen. This is a slightly odd historical view given that 1975 was only one year after Watergate concluded (with a pardon). Not to mention the McCarty era. The US once had 'loyalty boards' that kicked teachers out of teaching positions, private loyalty firms, corporate blacklists and much more along the same lines
- mikecoles 3y agoNot much has changed.
- Simulacra 3y agoThe issue is that the line is constantly being pushed and redrawn. If it's not this government then it's the next, or the next. IMO only a police of free speech absolutism is the only way to protect speech once and for all.