This is a brilliant article. It brings to mind the Margaret Mead quotation:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
I've always thought that Mead was half right. A small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world for the better. A small group of well-placed malevolent sociopaths can do the same for the worse - indeed, the latter is far more common than the former.
So if we can't definitively say that masks work, can we start to push back with all the HARMS that mask wearing is wreaking on our elderly residents in care homes. Not seeing facial expressions of their care givers, visitors and family for 3 years is a form of abuse. I'm sorry but my father deserves better and I bet if you asked him (he has dementia that prevents him from verbalizing his thoughts, but most of the time you can tell he understands what you are talking about), he wouldn't care at all about some possible risk of contracting Covid or anything else. The facts are that he is unvaccinated, caught Covid (supposedly as we have never been given a straight answer as to how they diagnosed it -they say he "had Covid symptoms") and survived despite his family refusing to allow him to be put on Paxlovid or Remdesivir. The truth is that he IS going to die in that care home, he knows it and we know it and it is cruel and unusual punishment to continue with these protocols. I think its time for families and residents and care home staff to have a say in their home and work environment and let those who just want to go on and accept the risk - unvaccinated or not with full activities available again, regular visiting for families and friends and unmasked staff. This has gone on for far too long and our elderly deserve to live their last years in a humane and caring environment.
For starters I would never take anyone who is a professor of journalism at Columbia and a New York Times reporter seriously. And secondly and more importantly she sounds like an absolute moron.
To be fair, I think she’s pretty smart - which is what has made her uniquely destructive. We’ve definitely seen hordes of doe-eyed, twentysomething journalism graduates in the last few years with no life experience or particular domain knowledge declaring themselves “disinfo experts.”
Sadly, I have to agree. Dr. Tufekci figured out how to get lots of exposure for herself, started a crusade, and succeeded in misleading millions. I have to admit, I particularly resent the part about masks being "empowering," and showing "solidarity." I've never once felt "empowered' in a mask; more like "enraged/downtrodden." My personal theory is that those who continue to push masks have never felt uncomfortable in them; rather, they think they're just fine, and anyone who's uncomfortable ought to "grow up," and "stop being selfish."
And here's another pet peeve: I can't believe Dr. Tufekci would (unencumbered by evidence) just poo-poo the notion of masked persons harming themselves by being over-confident, implying that as a sociologist, she knew this would never happen. Where's the science in that?
Wow, never even heard of her before. These people (people like her, and even me) are displaced. No longer academics, it's hard to find your place in thr world, and tempting to over reach. Only thing I might disagree with was the use of "scientism" , ascribing this term to her misunderstanding doesn't seem right. This seems more like a standard lack of philosophical/logical comprehension.
Tufecki is like COVIDs Paul Krugman: Just right enough about some stuff that you can’t completely dismiss, but wrong enough about the really important stuff to be highly dangerous.
Perhaps this generation’s worst public intellectual
Normally the herd doesn't see the connections between what is actually happening.
The herd is almost always running in the wrong direction and that's because they're listening to the Main Line Media/Mainstream Media (MSM) who are looking in the rearview mirror being journalist activists (pseudo journalists) pushing narratives/propaganda and opinion pieces instead of being actual journalists.
What they're doing is trying to steer everybody to predetermined narratives and outcomes by reporting some stories and not reporting others, reporting some facts and not reporting others.
Zeynep Tufekci fulfills her role as a pseudo journalist very well.
Pseudo journalism lacks the standards of accuracy, objectivity, and ethical integrity that characterized genuine journalistic work from decades ago. It often prioritizes sensationalism and ideological agendas over factual reporting.
People like Orr and Tufekci fit neatly into the disgusting ecosystem of perception management. They satisfy some ambition, but I wonder if they're jealous of Eric Ding's cretinous success.
This is a brilliant article. It brings to mind the Margaret Mead quotation:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
I've always thought that Mead was half right. A small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world for the better. A small group of well-placed malevolent sociopaths can do the same for the worse - indeed, the latter is far more common than the former.
So if we can't definitively say that masks work, can we start to push back with all the HARMS that mask wearing is wreaking on our elderly residents in care homes. Not seeing facial expressions of their care givers, visitors and family for 3 years is a form of abuse. I'm sorry but my father deserves better and I bet if you asked him (he has dementia that prevents him from verbalizing his thoughts, but most of the time you can tell he understands what you are talking about), he wouldn't care at all about some possible risk of contracting Covid or anything else. The facts are that he is unvaccinated, caught Covid (supposedly as we have never been given a straight answer as to how they diagnosed it -they say he "had Covid symptoms") and survived despite his family refusing to allow him to be put on Paxlovid or Remdesivir. The truth is that he IS going to die in that care home, he knows it and we know it and it is cruel and unusual punishment to continue with these protocols. I think its time for families and residents and care home staff to have a say in their home and work environment and let those who just want to go on and accept the risk - unvaccinated or not with full activities available again, regular visiting for families and friends and unmasked staff. This has gone on for far too long and our elderly deserve to live their last years in a humane and caring environment.
For starters I would never take anyone who is a professor of journalism at Columbia and a New York Times reporter seriously. And secondly and more importantly she sounds like an absolute moron.
To be fair, I think she’s pretty smart - which is what has made her uniquely destructive. We’ve definitely seen hordes of doe-eyed, twentysomething journalism graduates in the last few years with no life experience or particular domain knowledge declaring themselves “disinfo experts.”
She’s worse. She knows enough to be dangerous
Sadly, I have to agree. Dr. Tufekci figured out how to get lots of exposure for herself, started a crusade, and succeeded in misleading millions. I have to admit, I particularly resent the part about masks being "empowering," and showing "solidarity." I've never once felt "empowered' in a mask; more like "enraged/downtrodden." My personal theory is that those who continue to push masks have never felt uncomfortable in them; rather, they think they're just fine, and anyone who's uncomfortable ought to "grow up," and "stop being selfish."
And here's another pet peeve: I can't believe Dr. Tufekci would (unencumbered by evidence) just poo-poo the notion of masked persons harming themselves by being over-confident, implying that as a sociologist, she knew this would never happen. Where's the science in that?
Wow, never even heard of her before. These people (people like her, and even me) are displaced. No longer academics, it's hard to find your place in thr world, and tempting to over reach. Only thing I might disagree with was the use of "scientism" , ascribing this term to her misunderstanding doesn't seem right. This seems more like a standard lack of philosophical/logical comprehension.
Thanks for the read!
Tufecki is like COVIDs Paul Krugman: Just right enough about some stuff that you can’t completely dismiss, but wrong enough about the really important stuff to be highly dangerous.
Perhaps this generation’s worst public intellectual
I had never heard of her before her “conversation with Tyler”
It turned me off to both
Normally the herd doesn't see the connections between what is actually happening.
The herd is almost always running in the wrong direction and that's because they're listening to the Main Line Media/Mainstream Media (MSM) who are looking in the rearview mirror being journalist activists (pseudo journalists) pushing narratives/propaganda and opinion pieces instead of being actual journalists.
What they're doing is trying to steer everybody to predetermined narratives and outcomes by reporting some stories and not reporting others, reporting some facts and not reporting others.
Zeynep Tufekci fulfills her role as a pseudo journalist very well.
Pseudo journalism lacks the standards of accuracy, objectivity, and ethical integrity that characterized genuine journalistic work from decades ago. It often prioritizes sensationalism and ideological agendas over factual reporting.
People like Orr and Tufekci fit neatly into the disgusting ecosystem of perception management. They satisfy some ambition, but I wonder if they're jealous of Eric Ding's cretinous success.
That was a great article. Thank you.
Thank you!