Thread by @equalityAlec

THREAD: The San Francisco Chronicle just published a Iong article on drug addiction. Prominent national journalist @ezraklein told people to "stop scrolling twitter and read it." The piece is a dangerous manipulation of a personal story for reactionary ends.

The article tells a tragic, moving story about a mom grappling with her daughter’s addiction. But this deeply personal story is leveraged to back up quietly asserted and highly consequential policy claims in favor of human caging and needles suffering.

https://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/1466616568473800704

Let me note right away and in simple terms that the article's pro-human caging policy suggestions are like climate science denial.

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1454486990083219461

The article's lifting up of prosecution and punishment for drug selling not only goes against the available scientific evidence, but it has enormous consequences. People subtly or actively promoting these policies bear enormous responsibility.

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1380200486129795082

While the article is ostensibly focused on a tragic emotional story, one must ask: why was it written? what was it's thesis? What solutions does it suggest? You don't need to know about this reporter's political history (more on that below) to ask these questions.

The article employs several main strategies: First, it suggests that the crisis of unhoused people is a problem of addiction and mental illness and not economics and capitalism. This is empirically ludicrous. And this matters because it affects public appetite for solutions.

Second, the story suggests that this family’s suffering lies in the failure of vaguely referenced politicians, including the DA, to criminally prosecute dealers and, by implication, shoplifters. There is no evidence for this, and its dangerous propaganda couched as concern.

Third, and here's the reporter's payoff for the emotion and innuendo: The policy solutions presented: cage more drug sellers and give fewer housing options and less other support to the unhoused (housing and support makes things too comfortable for addicts, and they won't leave!)

Fourth, the details of the piece are sprinkled with so many disturbing subtexts and a laughable understanding of the role that criminal prosecution would actually play or not in addressing addiction etc. Look at the truth:

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1462608442619793408

Most cynically, the piece pushes its reactionary carceral agenda through a seemingly benign framing of a mother’s love, which is real and poignant, but from a policy/evidence/science/economic and racial justice perspective just catastrophic.

Here's the bottom line: the pain of addiction deserves rigorous policy discussion consistent with science and humanity. This is a slickly told tragedy that ends up suggesting the same anti-science, fascist policy goals that this reporter argues for in her opinion work.

I should note that I have written several times about how unethical I think this reporter is. What makes this piece more dangerous is that, unlike the usual opinion-laden reporting that is overt about her politics, this piece is sneaky.

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1385990212870885377

Remember this other bizarre and unethical episode from the same reporter? I'll stop here because you get the point. It basically pervades everything they let her publish at this point.

https://twitter.com/equalityAlec/status/1438994937639579652

I addressed this at length because while the usual Chronicle nonsense is easy to debunk, longer-form manipulations like this are also common, and much more effective because they lure readers in to catastrophic policies by exploiting their genuine compassion.