Correction: what FHM retweeted was this tweet by the mentioned go-to expert, saying "I think this explains why I & (someone else) at the end needed to limit the possibility to comment our tweets" and then proceeds to thank Sweden's radio for investigating the FB group MEWAS
The fact the the Swedish Public Health Authority retweet such a claim, insinuating that it's the people in MEWAS that coordinate online attacks, forcing her to limit the comments to her tweets, is unacceptable. There is no proof that we did such a thing.
Emma Frans is just an expert who has become famous in Sweden during the pandemic, so the fact that she accuses MEWAS of that without bases for those accusations isn't good, but it is a lot less problematic than the Authorities themselves retweeing such a tweet.
Note that she continued under that tweet that FHM retweeted:"I also know researchers who don't express themselves on media about C19 after being harassed. This type of groups are a threat to democracy".So, FHM didn't RT the "threat to democracy" part but it was part of the thread
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So, let's talk about online harassment & the debate climate in Sweden during the pandemic
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First of all I'd like to point out that no matter what you think about Sweden's management of Covid, you must have noticed that in the beginning of the pandemic it was a taboo to be critical of Sweden's strategy. Please recognize that, because it is a fact.
When the experts know as "the 22" openly criticized FHMs strategy to deal with Covid, they did it at great personal cost. Lena Einhorn got mocked endlessly online for her hairstyle & her interior design choices ⬇️. She was called "hysterical" & basically striped of credibility.
So I just heard Emma Frans saying on radio she doesn't know if MEWAS is responsible for any harassments, but she thinks such groups are dangerous b/c ppl can get radicalized. I wonder if she ever heard of "Tegnell fan club" on FB, where criticism is forbidden, w/ 33.000 members
What do I mean by "criticism is forbidden"? ⬇️
"Negative comments about Anders Tegnell & FHM will be deleted!"
You were right @Anton_Vikstrom it's not 90.000. But I do think there's another group that has that number of members or close. I'll look. Maybe @WicMar knows?
About the now famous secret FB group that is critical of Sweden's Covid strategy: I am a member of MEWAS. In Sweden I am what many call "a threat to democracy" & "a traitor".
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I have been a member of MEWAS since as long as I can remember. Just like me & many others, MEWAS has been critical of Sweden's Covid strategy since the very beginning of the pandemic, when we saw people flooding in from countries with widespread Covid, completely unchecked.
One of the very first interviews I did on international media was in my own country, Portugal. I was interviewed on TV by @SICNoticias, about what I was seeing here. I explained how at my work at the preschool, even if parents had Covid, they could still leave their kids to me.
No matter how much gaslighting, how many threats, how much bullying- I'll never stop speaking up about what I saw in Sweden during the pandemic. For me, it'll always be unacceptable that Sweden had an anti-masker, pro herd immunity as state epidemiologist. I'll never get over it.
Ppl are being harassed in different ways every single day in Sweden, because they're against the Covid strategy. The simple act of wearing a mask is like a protest, for f*ck's sake! I lost count how many times ppl have laughed, screamed, pointed & coughed at me for wearing a mask
Employers are going through their employees social media accounts, checking if they write negative things about Sweden, then calling them for meetings & lecturing them on the immorality of criticizing the country. This is not normal, not is it acceptable, in a free country.
As most ppl know, in Sweden we have a very controversial state epidemiologist. Tegnell took controversial decisions, which we always knew was due to a belief in herd immunity by infection. He denies it, but emails say otherwise ⬇️ "I believe more in herd immunity"(than lockdowns)
From 3 alternative ways of dealing with the Covid19 pandemic:
1️⃣Stop all movement & contacts for 4 weeks
2️⃣Find as many infected as possible, contact trace & put them in 2 weeks quarantine
3️⃣Let the spread happen, slowly or fast, to reach an eventual herd immunity
It sure sounds good when @SwedishPM says "people's freedom is a strong right in the Swedish Constitution". Many abroad praise Sweden for respecting freedoms during the pandemic. But let's be clear, a price was paid, & it was paid by the unpriviledged. I was one of them.
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Seen from abroad & without much knowledge of what really happened here, I understand it's easy to get the wrong perception of how respectful Sweden is of people's rights & freedoms. But please don't be fooled.
A right that was respected was the right of parents to leave their kids in childcare. "It's for the children's best & for the families' best", we heard. The price was paid by childcare workers like me, who until Dec 1st (!) were forced to take care of kids who had Covid at home