Thread by @AndreiaSaveSwe

So, let's talk about online harassment & the debate climate in Sweden during the pandemic

(Thread)

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.

Others were accused of numerous things, like being after funding or just wanting fame. Threats were coming their way as well, which surely wasn't easy for them to handle.

We know this now, but back then there was no interest about it, no news about that harassment.

Meanwhile Tegnell got flowers at work & his fans were gathering 💵 to send him to a spa on his birthday. Ppl were tattooing his face & wearing t-shirts w/ pictures of him.

News were coming out about Tegnell being like a hero & ppl "who scream on the internet should be ashamed"

People like me, who have been critical of Sweden's strategy since the very beginning when people were flying in completely unchecked, felt extremely alone & unheard. The media wasn't critical of FHM, the political opposition wasn't critical either, the ppl were in love w/ Tegnell

Very soon we felt a need to find each other. A need to find people who had concerns about how Sweden was handling the pandemic. We started forming FB groups where we could talk about it. Meanwhile, others created Tegnell fan groups on FB. We were like 2 teams. Ours was minimal.

When me & others started protesting in Stockholm, Malmö & Gothenburg, we could barely gather 10 people to protest. Many told me "I'm sorry Andreia, I'd protest w/ you but I am scared". Some had been blocked by family members on social media, because of being critical of Tegnell.

Some were realizing they couldn't post anything on FB without ppl jumping on them claiming Tegnell was God's gift to Humanity & should never be criticized. They were thankful, because it was thanks to him that they could continue living as normal even though there was a pandemic.

We, people who were critical, have had a huge mental health toll during this whole ordeal. I lost count of how many people wrote to me on FB when I posted protest pictures, saying things I don't even wanna remember. I was called a pedofile, murderer, Russian troll, etc.

It wasn't easy to keep on talking about what I believed to be right, but I just blocked & moved on. Unfortunately I couldn't block ppl who caughed at me & laughed saying "didn't you hear Tegnell says masks don't work?" - but I continued to #WearAMask for my protection & theirs.

My fiancé wouldn't #WearAMask a mask when we went to the supermarket, because he saw how people treated me & stared at me. He was convinced something was gonna happen to me when I was out alone wearing a mask, but thankfully it never did. But it wasn't easy, that's for sure.

In the last few days, a lot of things have been happening in Sweden. Sweden's radio published about a FB group where I'm a member, claiming we were trying to damage Sweden's interests abroad & other juicy accusations. Since then there's been a lot of talk about online hate.

We on MEWAS have had campaigns that involved coordinating & writing to journalists, to the EU, etc. But now there's a lot of people thinking that we were sitting home all day & sending hate messages to people who didn't agree with us. I can guarantee that's not at all true.

The "democracy embassador" Emma Frans was on radio saying that after that article on Sweden's radio, some things made sense. She felt that she was being targeted & harassed on social media and now it made sense, since ppl coordinated online to advocate against Sweden's strategy.

We at MEWAS never targeted her at all. But now there's a general idea that the critics of Sweden's Covid strategy (MEWAS included) are harassing people. Ludvigsson, a Swedish doctor, even came to the media & said he's not researching Covid anymore since he got harassed.

Many people are now expressing themselves about how bad & dangerous it is to have such a debate climate. It's bad that doctors stop debating because of getting harassed online. Some famous ppl write now on FB that "Sweden was a troll-factory" (read MEWAS) & its dangerous.

I agree completely that harassment is not acceptable. Criticism is important but it's also important we are respectful of each other, even if we don't agree with each other.

But where were those values when the 22 were threatened & made fun of by the whole country?

Where were those concerns about online harassment when people on "Tegnell's fan club" posted pictures of our protests, saying "now it's war!!!"?

No. One. Cared.

And no one cared because we were the unpopular minority, with unpopular views.

I am sorry that so many people have been harassed in Sweden for their opinions about the Covid strategy. But I wish that someone had cared about us. I wish someone would have heard us out. I wish we didn't need to be scared of wearing a mask.

I wish people understood they're just starting to be exposed to what we have been suffering throughout the whole pandemic.