As a frequent target of harassment who routinely receives threats of physical & sexual violence, Dr. Gottlieb nails it.
I cope because it's valuable to advocate for scientists & public health as best I can & I'm fortunate to have this platform. But Twitter can do better.
And I'm not the only one. Many of my colleagues have had similar run-ins with people threatening us, our friends, & our families. And accounts that consistently encourage this behavior continue unchecked, as do those that actually engage in this behavior.
Here's an example. This account has been locked multiple times for violations of every @TwitterSafety rule in the book, yet is still not suspended. "Violent threats," "Hateful conduct," "Abusive behavior"...still gets his nth 2nd chance to regain access.
Here's one tweet that I reported from this account. I tagged @TwitterSafety. Nothing happened. Meanwhile he was free to harass me & numerous colleagues ad nauseum. And several bigger, verified accounts kept following him, winking at him & amplifying him.
And what was amplified? Sharing personal information about people's family members, including their children. Naming their workplaces & schools. Encouraging people to harass them there. False allegations of serious crimes. Abhorrent sexism, racism, & ableism. Viciousness. Lies.
Only after weeks of this did @TwitterSafety step in. But vast damage can be done in that time. Not only does this encourage people to harm others, it can encourage the targets to harm themselves. So miss me with "but we can't censor people or silence the debate" excuses.
A relentless campaign of social media abuse can inflict severe damage to the target's mental health. That's the point: to break down the target by causing them so much anguish and endangering them to the point they leave the debate.
So who exactly is being silenced here?
Being the subject of a Twitter brigade can be agonizing. It's doubly so when you talk about what has happened to you & the pain it has caused, & that's trivialized & you are blamed for bringing it upon yourself.
This is not about disagreement or insulting people. It's a tactic.
And @TwitterSafety needs to seriously improve its ability to distinguish between protected speech—even when it's offensive—and patterns of dehumanizing abuse before they get to the stage of causing irreparable physical or emotional harm.
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As the accursed ostrich situation continues to get simultaneously more stupid and gravely serious, I decided to write up a very long analysis of many of the key issues. Bottom line: so long as this flock lives, it is a threat to Canada's national security. 🧵
5 months ago I was scrolling & came across some tweets from @sisuvanhell that was my first exposure to the far-right extremist ostrich convoyers. They accused CFIA of sending "murder drones" to covertly cull their flock of ostriches after a H5N1 outbreak open.substack.com/pub/rasmussenr…
In Dec 2024, Universal Ostrich Farms had a confirmed H5N1 outbreak on their remote farm in BC. They did not report to CFIA as required by law. They lost 69 ostriches. CFIA found out anyway & tested 2 dead ostriches. They were positive. They issued a depopulation (cull) order.
This is interesting. The BC ostrich farmers have consistently misrepresented the “scientific research” they were conducting, but it seems they also may have not been entirely truthful about their ostrich meat, oil, & leather business, as well 👇🏻
The ostrich farm claims they are a scientific research facility to study ostrich antibodies. Birds have antibodies in their egg yolks & ostrich eggs are huge, so you can get a lot of antibodies from them. The farmers implied they were studying antibodies to COVID & flu.
But there’s nothing to show that’s true. They’ve never published a paper on the research or shared data/results. There’s a difference between doing research & producing antibodies to sell. According to court documents, they were producing eggs for the latter purpose.
I am always happy to talk to reporters like Nancy MacDonald @globeandmail covering the BC bird flu ostrich story with objectivity & a focus on the evidence.
I hope this clarifies why I think the cull of these birds should proceed whether they are tested or not. Short thread 🧵
The thing people need to realize is that, although the ostriches were infected 10 mo ago, they still pose a health risk & a HUGE economic risk. If CFIA spares them, Canada will violate trade agreements, jeopardizing the entire $2B poultry export market.
CFIA is responsible for ensuring the safety & health of Canadian people & animals by regulating agriculture & food. A big part of the agricultural mandate is to ensure compliance with trade partners' import requirements, to maintain trade. inspection.canada.ca/en/animal-heal…
I'm not uncomfortable with an interview. I don't wish to contribute to anti-government extremist propaganda that imposes the will of a few on Canada's health, food security, economy, & $2B poultry export market. I believe in upholding the law.
1. You can test these ostriches for antibodies. To do it reliably you need to do either a microneutralization or a hemagglutinin inhibition (HAI) assay. These require a high containment lab & trained personnel with HPTA security clearance because they use live virus.
Not many labs in Canada can do these tests. You can't do ELISAs due to cross-reactivity across other flu subtypes. Many overlapping subtypes circulate in birds (H5Nx; HxN1) & humans (H1N1). So you can't just measure antibody binding by ELISA, you must do HAI or microneuts.
I take Ozempic, a GLP-1 agonist, for weight loss. I lost 80 lbs. It has completely transformed my life and health, both physical & mental. But it is not without cost.
Microdosing without evidence is a bad idea. Here are a few reasons why👇🏻
I wrote about this about 6 months ago, when the MAHA Executive Order came out hinting that these drugs are bad. I’ll never stop Ozempic unless forced to. It has improved my life immeasurably.
But I knew the risks & benefits because it had been tested extensively for weight loss
Our methods for evaluating drugs rely on rigorous, well-controlled clinical trials. It allows patients & doctors to make informed decisions. GLP-1 agonists are great for diabetes & weight loss in many people. We know this because of a mountain of clinical trial data.