Thread by @Lidsville

People really can be made to do anything against their own interests

Govt doesn't care about your mounting health damage from Covid infections & reinfections; it won't be paying for your declining health. You will, via Telus

When you don't wear a mask indoors, it's dark sci-fi.

As someone who works in communication and strategy, I'm actually in awe of the success of BC's communication campaigns on Covid, which involved taking a garden variety PHO and beatifying her into a saint to pull off a larger policy of few measures & public openness to infection.

Despite international press detailing the grimness of Sweden's model of sacrificing many so society could stay "open," Henry openly stated she was following the "Swedish model but with fewer deaths" (we later learned BC was simply under-counting deaths) & BCers fell into line.

I was just away in a BC region where no mask was seen indoors anywhere other than mine, even while we're in the midst of well-publicized health system breakdown.

The sheer ease with which govt has been able to pull this off, by and large with corporate media help, is impressive.

We all know which predatory characters will swoop in and steal the spoils of any health system breakdown - the large corporate actors who will mop up in the coming privatization of health, a very dangerous development in light of the coming crises we face as a society. #Telus

What has been instructive for me, as a communications professional who regularly has to come up against govt PR campaigns far more well-funded than ours on many issues (#SiteC, fracking, deforestation, housing & RE devt), is govt's sheer adeptness at... manipulating you.

This govt can't pull off what most people would view as good governing - things are clearly falling apart. All crises are surprisingly poorly handled from heat dome to health system. But the one thing this govt is good at (despite a few bad moves, eg BC museum) is grim, adept PR.

I mean, the bulk of BCers still think #SiteC is "clean energy" & will "electrify" fracking & LNG & this will be "Clean LNG." This would have been sci-fi-level brainwash even if #SiteC really were to be used for that, but it's not. LNG was switched to being gas-powered in 2018.

Yes, all of this can only be pulled off with a seemingly somnolent but more accurately corporate-entangled media, but govt's PR expertise includes expert mgmt of media, esp the bait of media access to ministers in exchange for favourable press. We call this access journalism.

Anyway, in spite of my almost inexpressibly low opinion of this fauxgressive, corporate-captured NDP govt, I must give credit for what they've pulled off. Despite my irritation with the BC public - ever happy to be misled - the blame (er, credit) really goes to Geoff Meggs & co.