Thread by @ashtonpittman

THREAD: COVID-19 disinformation agents have killed countless people.

Most victims weren't dedicated soldiers of the anti-vaccine cause; they passively absorbed it from those who were.

Such is the tragedy of "Teresa," a mother, grandmother & waitress who feared the vaccine. 1/

Most of Teresa's Facebook posts consists of her sharing photos of her children and grandchildren, happy birthday wishes to her parents, and most of all, memes.

Many of those memes are ones she identifies with as a working class waitress in the food service industry. 2/

Teresa doesn't have much to say about race, though she did once share a sharebait "white lives matter too" meme. She's also shared self-deprecating memes about her whiteness and about white "Karens." 3/

Teresa comes from a small Oklahoma town of 1,200 with an 18% poverty rate.

Like many on Facebook, Teresa often shares memes with questionable information—such as these memes purporting to display quotes from Maya Angelou and Bob Marley that... could use some fact-checking. 4/

On July 14, Teresa shared a Facebook post with an meme of a syringe with an anti-vaccine meme about people desperately getting "injected" with something they knew "absolutely nothing about." (We know plenty).

"Not me," she wrote. 5/

Three days ago, Teresa made another post: "Please pray for my daughter, K---. She is really sick. Covid is kicking her ass at the moment but she is alot like her momma so I know she is gonna win in the end." 6/

Later that day, Teresa posted an update, including a photo of a blue-eyed, 4-year-old little girl with pigtails.

COVID had spread from her daughter to her grandchildren, including "Ali," who she said she was "really worried about...because she already has respiratory issues." 7/

The next day, Teresa posted the photo of the little girl with pigtails again: "Ali" had died.

"I lost my best friend, my everything this morning. She was the most amazing little thang. ... I just wanna go to sleep and not wake up." 8/

Later that day, Teresa posted that her daughter, Ali's mother, was taking Ali's brother, "Jack," back to the hospital.

"He is not doing too good. I need your prayers. I can't lose him too" 9/

Last night, a Reddit user posted screenshots from Teresa's page with her real name visible to the group "Herman Cain Award," describing her as a "racist, anti-vax grandma."

Overnight, people found her Facebook page using that name. Their comments have been merciless. 10/

Comments on this grieving grandmother's posts in the past few hours include remarks like, "Even if there's a heaven, you won't be seeing your granddaughter when you croak because you'll be going to the other place for killing her." 11/

Over the next few days, you may see the screenshot of Teresa posting the syringe meme from July as well as these: One meme about not getting the vaccine in January and one joke meme about masks in May.

But that was the extent of Teresa's posts about vaccines and COVID. 12/

And while people are portraying her as a right-wing, anti-vax grandmother, Teresa's posts don't really align with that.

Two days after January 6, she shared a meme disavowing the left and the right. Otherwise, the closest she gets to politics is pro-worker memes. 13/

So many COVID victims and their families weren't dedicated anti-vaxxers. They passively absorbed disinformation that shaped their choices without much deliberation—bad information that was allowed to flourish by social media networks and encouraged by craven politicians. 14/

I am not saying that people like Teresa deserve some paternalistic presumption of innocence or that they have no fault.

But the world isn't split into pro-vaxxers and anti-vaxxers. Many people simply go with what they hear. 15/

You probably will not convince the dedicated anti-vaxxers in your life who post anti-vaccine propaganda every day.

But you might, and should try, to convince people like Teresa who have shared two anti-vaccine memes in the past six months amid a mountain of other memes. 16/

So many people, who aren't even dedicated to a cause or political ideology or to a party, nevertheless fail to ever hear alternative voices to the default around them.

Make sure those people hear an alternative voice to the anti-vaccines garbage filling their newsfeeds. 17/

And for God's sakes, hold the pro-COVID politicians out there accountable who have turned this into a "freedom vs. tyranny" battle all for their own self-serving political ends. Their actions and demagoguery has gotten so many killed—and it's still getting people killed. 18/

For those of you asking about Teresa's other grandchild, who I called "Jack" here (again, not using their real names), neither she nor her daughter have posted about his condition in the last two days, which is probably a good sign based on their past posts. 19/

When you say, "Why didn't they just inform themselves?" I hear you.

But not everyone knows how. Which sources would they use? The first ones that pop up on Google? The links they see when they search Facebook that are faked to look like a real news site. 20/

Media literacy and to sort through legitimate information vs. bad information are, sadly, often privileges that not everyone's life circumstances & education afforded them.

But even seasoned journalists, myself included, sometimes still get tricked by bad sources at times. 21/

That's why it's so very, very important for the powerful—political leaders, social media companies, news entities—to use their power responsibly in this pandemic and to find ways to promote a culture of greater media literacy and to help defang deadly disinformation. 22/

Lastly, this thread isn't about asking you to see anyone as a victim, to feel sorry for someone, or to absolve them of any guilt you may think they bear.

It's about describing a person who represents many unvaccinated people who are neither anti-vaxx activists nor pro-vaxx. 23/

Why? Because many of those people in that gray area can be persuadable, and convincing enough of them to get vaccinated is the key to ending this pandemic.

Your empathy or judgment or compassion—whatever you feel—is up to you. This is about helping us all end this pandemic. 24/

"You and all the antivaxxer savages need to f**k off for all eternity."

There is absolutely no reason I should've received an email like this in response to this thread.

Aside from being hateful, classist, and ableist, it misrepresents pretty much everything I said.

The point of this tweet isn't that "White Lives Matter" memes aren't racist.

It's that it doesn't appear to be part of some ideological pattern—just as there aren't any partisan memes and just 2 vax memes.

It's a lot easier to reach people who aren't devout ideologues.

https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1436295044357632011

Someone who is regularly engaging with racist content, I probably can't dissuade from their racism by educating them.

Someone who is regularly posting anti-vax conspiracy theories, I probably can't dissuade from their conspiracy theories by educating them. 25/

I know someone who shared an "All Lives Matter" meme (racist) or once supported keeping Mississippi's old state flag (racist) who, after conversations with them about systemic racism & real history, they now support BLM causes & supported changing the state flag in 2020. 26/

I won't reach the devout racists tweeting regularly about "t**gs" in Chicago.

But as a white man, I should try to reach the other group of white people whose ignorance hasn't been challenged & try to change as many minds as possible to make this society better for all. 27/

In the same way, straight allies won't reach devout homophobes who constantly compare gay people to pedophiles.

But straight allies should make an effort to change the minds of other straight people whose casual, socially-learned homophobia has never been challenged. 28/

I feel the same way about my duty as a vaccinated person equipped with knowledge about COVID-19 and vaccines.

I won't reach the devoutly anti-vaxxers. But I can reach those who have casually adopted negative views about the vaccine from unchallenged ignorance & I should try. 29/

In all 3 examples, the goal is this: a better, safer, healthier society. It's about having an impact, not making excuses for anyone.

If we're serious about making our society better, in all facets, it's important to distinguish between persuadable & non-persuadable people. 30/

As a gay man who grew up in Baptist/evangelical south Mississippi where anti-gay beliefs are the default almost from birth, simply tossing everyone in my life who has ever said something anti-gay, casually or otherwise, into the basket of deplorables wasn't an option. 31/

Over the past 10 years especially, I've watched so many people I love and care for change their beliefs about gay people and ditch homophobic attitudes they once held, often in response to conversations with me in which I shared knowledge they hadn't heard before. 32/

I couldn't have reformed a devout homophobe behind a pulpit. But for so many people, it took having conversations no one had had with them before.

I insist the same is true with many vaccine-resistant people. The stakes of not trying are more lives & an endless pandemic. 33/