Thread by @gregggonsalves

I spoke to @emmaogreen for this piece and now wish I didn't. It turned out to be a hit piece and an encomium for the status quo. 1/

https://twitter.com/emmaogreen/status/1608212826518327296

The title alone is the second ludicrous lead in a story in a major American publication this week: masking is forever. This is just silly, meant to drive a wedge between anyone who wants more from our leaders and the readers of their stories. 2/

In fact, if you read the Nature consensus statement on COVID19, you'd see a more comprehensive approach to the pandemic is pretty uncontroversial unless you think Nature is some socialistic periodical. 3/ nature.com/articles/s4158…

And as someone who was in ACT UP, yeah, sure our rhetoric was white hot, but more often than not the policies we advocated for were on-target. Here the author uses the high-pitched rhetoric to bait mainstream experts into slamming the People's CDC. 4/

The most super-annoying thing is that the author's policy preferences, politics and biases are well-known. 5/ theatlantic.com/politics/archi…

And the schtick is the same, take outlandish remarks, the most extreme quotes you can find to caricature criticism of the current approach to the pandemic in a way that makes any departure from the status quo seem foolish or nuts. 6/

So, Emma. Let's hear it. 400 dead per day for months, third leading cause of death three years in a row--what do we do now? 7/

I don't have to buy into charges of eugenics or narratives of corporate influence to recognize that this story is about the author's cozying up to power, kissing up and punching down, a testament, a proof of her allegiance to never rocking the boat. 8/

The point is Emma: we have among the highest per capita COVID mortality and excess deaths in the G7, US life expectancy is sliding ever downwards, and we have a new leading cause of death near the top in America. Those are the facts. We could have, could do much much better. 9/

This story could have been about a better future for all of us, but your stories suggest we've been doing too much for too long on this pandemic, you caricature criticism of the status quo with a gusto of someone who has the luxury of ignoring its current impact. 10/

As my friend and mentor Paul Farmer once said: “Those whose lives are rarely touched by structural violence are uniquely prone to recommend resignation as a response to it.” 11/

More people will die over the next few weeks than died on 9/11--two, three or more times over. Many, most of them preventable deaths. 12/

I am not part of the People's CDC, but right now I stand with them, as you try to push them to the margins of the debate, though you are really more interested in silencing criticism of the current US response to the pandemic, which suits you just fine. end/