Thread by @ElonBachman

1\ Fauci's new paper on COVID-19 is a tissue of falsehoods, which isn't too surprising

But what surprised me is what a terrible writer he is. The introductory paragraph could serve as cautionary material for a freshman course in writing style:

2\ The thrust of the paper is that the last decade has seen "unprecedented pandemic explosions" (Fauci's words)

Given that per-capita virus deaths have set record *lows* over the past decade, you'd be forgiven for wondering what Fauci is smoking

He's just...flat wrong

3\ The body of the paper is given to a stilted recital of virus facts, and a sophomoric insistence on providing scholarly citations for the most platitudinous utterances. Fauci seems to particularly enjoy citing himself:

4\ After numbing the reader with virology platitudes, Fauci is ready for his grand pivot:

He is going to tell us that viruses are punishment for man having left the Garden of Eden:

5\ Never mind that global forest cover is at its highest extent in decades (and still increasing). Never mind that man's mastery of nature has allowed us to nearly eradicate virus deaths

Fauci has imbibed Gaia Worship in a single swallow, and he wants us to be *scared*:

6\6 After 13 pages of turgid nonsense, I imagined Fauci could at least rouse himself to a grand synthesis. But no.

"Unbalanced interactions with nature"

"Creative harmony with nature"

I'm sorry, but how did anyone mistake this clown for a scientist?

7\6 If you want to horrify yourself, here is the paper itself:

cell.com/action/showPdf…