Thread by @StephTaitWrites

I’m gonna be the Debbie downer here, but I don’t think an H5N1 pandemic would have the results you’re expecting.

Here’s what I think I would actually go down:

https://twitter.com/thememeticist/status/1785192929511755890

First off, folks would take the very successful “ “lockdowns’ & school closures turned out to be an unnecessary overreaction that caused deep & lasting harm” rhetoric & use it as the basis to REFUSE any similar measures for H5N1 - and the CDC would go along with that.

Could that eventually change if/when deaths got too high for the economy to keep running the way they want it to? Sure. But it would take so long and require SO much death that the damage would be unthinkable already.

But we’d be validated THEN at least, right? I don’t think so

I think at that point people will actually BLAME those of us who stayed vigilant about Covid.

“If y’all hadn’t kept trying to shove masks down everyone’s throat when they weren’t necessary, people wouldn’t have been so resistant now when they could have actually helped!” Etc

“If you guys hadn’t been so nasty about people eating in restaurants & going to crowded indoor events when Covid was over, ppl would have actually listened when warned about H5N1! You made it so everyone tuned out and ignored that stuff, and now people died because of you!”

I fully believe they will take their grief and anger out on people who sounded the alarm on the risks of these pandemics, by labeling us the “ones who cried wolf” and insisting WE’RE the ones responsible then for THEIR unsafe choices.

I don’t think we’ll be validated at all.

Lots of CC folks hypothesized last yr that once a large % of people were hit with LC and once spikes in heart attacks/strokes, the obvious signs of immune damage, & significant cognitive problems(esp in kids & teens) became clear, the tide would shift.

I disagreed.

And unfortunately I was right.

Because people’s brains will twist them into absolute pretzels to avoid being forced to recognize that they were wrong about this, and the inevitable questions that would raise about the risks they took - ESPECIALLY for their kids.

(See thread)

https://twitter.com/stephtaitwrites/status/1698028944854057453

Even if H5N1 makes the successful leap to human to human transmission, and even if it ends up being the WORST case of the possible scenarios?

I still don’t see a world in which people in any way validate people like us.

The stakes would be even HIGHER for their psyches.

They’ve invested way too much into the cognitive dissonance to let this change anything.

Their brains are not going to accept any blame or personal responsibility for something with stakes THIS high when it would be so much easier to direct all their blame & anger at us instead

I really REALLY don’t want to be right this time. Truly. I honestly WANT to end up with egg on my face on this one.

But FWIW, I’ve been right about this so far. 🫤

I’m pretty certain we will continue to be the punching bags for their unresolved trauma, grief, & anger.

Sorry.