Thread by @gauravsabnis

Hoarding oxygen cylinders is something I'm hearing only in my Indian circles. In the US, I've heard no one treating oxygen like something precious to hoard. In the early days of the pandemic, people hoarded random grocery items. But oxygen craze is like plasma craze, very desi.

Just to be clear, plasma craze is totally pointless.
Oxygen "craze" might be a bit harsh. It is necessary and there is a shortage. I'm just saying that beyond one or two emergency cylinders, it is pointless and counter-productive to hoard oxygen. Certainly not 50 like I heard.

What I'm hearing is that because there is this oxygen shortage and the government of course never does anything by deed or words to stop these panics, a bizarre and pointless market dynamic has emerged in India regarding oxygen cylinders. Elites with deep pockets causing a run.

An old classmate heard on his building whatsapp group that "a friend of mine has bought and stored 100 oxygen cylinders in his noida factory since last June in case anyone needs".

It doesn't seem like a Scamdev or Haggi or Chheechhee type scam at the expense of a deadly pandemic. Seems like a whatsapp forward that became a little too effective. That's why I compare it to plasma. And remdesivir. While each has some merits, neither should be in shortage.

What I'm saying that there is indeed a demand side problem too but Piyush Goyal's statement is gaslighting because it blames state governments for it. It's the IT Cell whatsapp university that's driven elites to hoard cylinders in insanely high numbers. Not just their needs.

So when calling out Goyal, make sure to point out that even the demand side problem is their fault. Their general attitude, from making daily wage workers walk a thousand miles to this oxygen shortage has been "y'all be atmanirbhar". They don't govern. Just manage the narrative.

To properly counter these predictably wrong propaganda whines, it's important to still keep the focus on substance of their failures and their sabotages.