I am not really in the habit of defending the media. And I acknowledge that many were far too quick to dismiss the possibility that the virus that causes Covid-19 escaped from a Chinese lab, especially considering that whistleblowers have been saying for years
The gloating and dunking is valid and worthwhile. Millions of innocent people died and the media were complicit in a lot of it — mask, no mask, shaming, scolding, this and that.
The lab leak (if it happened, and it likely did) and how the WHO was complicit in covering it up (AND HOW THE US NIH AND DR FAUCI WERE ACTUALLY FUNDING THE G-o-F RESEARCH!!) contributes to the further erosion of the fifth estate and trust in public authorities. This is demonic and bad. Dunks must be had for the good of humanity.
And yes the US and PRC both must pay, and neither will.
I hope someone can explain *why* the lab leak theory was so forcefully opposed and mocked. I get Freddie linking that posture to a pro-Democrat bias. What I don't get is what the Democrats had to gain from denying the lab-leak theory.
"...if you only paid attention to all of the dunking going on you would be under the impression that we know for a fact that the virus emerged from a lab."
Well, it depends on one's reading comprehension skills. And maybe on what sources one chooses to read. I read Matt Yglesias's piece, and I've seen a few others, and all of them emphasize that we don't know if the virus came from the lab or not. The issues at this point are (1) certain elements of the left-leaning side of the media chose, either out of sloppiness or ineptitude, to discount the possibility of a lab origin, and (2) the Chinese government has not allowed a proper independent investigation. Both of these are worth noting. In connection with (1), it is particularly disturbing that the NYT's COVID report has been quoted as saying that we shouldn't talk about the possibility of a lab leak because the idea is racist -- an utterly idiotic statement.
I don't understand why the media initially dismissing claims that COVID-19 came from a Chinese lab is an example of pro-Democrat bias rather than not wanting to side with knee-jerk racism.
Though this was much, much smaller than the Capitol Riot or the lab leak story, I feel like the Jussie Smollett incident was a canary in the coal mine for this stuff.
That dude's story was ridiculous from Day 1. It made no sense, and everyone knew it. Yet so many politics-obsessed liberals practically wanted it to be true because it fed their outlook about the world.
Things suck right now. We have liberal media, whose job it is to protect the Democrats. And we have right-wing media, whose job it is to protect the Republicans. Principles and humility are gone.
>"the January 6th rioters were a bunch of idiot deadenders who, while deserving of the arrests and censure they have received, could not have taken control of a Chucky Cheese, let alone the US government."
True as far as it goes, but if they had found AOC in her hiding place, would they have harmed her? Assassinated her?
How about Nancy Pelosi? How about Mike Pence?
Are you really so sure that they would have just said "oh never mind" and walked away?
Freddie, I have to say, I love your longer reads, but this shows me that you're equally good at shorter reads, aka what we used to call "blog posts that just make a concise point and then end." I think it would be interesting to read more future thoughts that you have inspired by this, but this brief point is excellent.
Yes, well, I think after so many other previous media fiascoes borne of this excessive sort of partisanship, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for anyone in the chatting classes to "learn any lessons", slowly, or otherwise. I would love to be proven wrong on that, yet I doubt it.
The other aspect of this problem was the nearly uniform lockstep with which the major social media platforms went on the offense to start blocking content and even issuing bans to their users for even bringing it up, which essentially weaponized this partisan dogma.
This wholly partisan media class, coupled with the ability of platforms to enforce it as dogma on their users, is far more deleterious to society than almost anyone in the chattering classes is willing to admit. And it's not simply because this approach can, and ever will, get it wrong, but because it is endlessly laden with perverse incentive to simply go after the enemy du jour, whoever it is.
I went back to the original articles and they honestly seemed fine to me. Yeah, they missed an important distinction between the lab leak theory and the bioweapon theory, but I think that we were all freaking out a bit back in March.
The bigger problem, it seems to me, is the way that we took what should have been a decent starting point (the original articles) and somehow enshrined them as The Scientific Consensus (tm) instead of letting the news cycle develop further and naturally add more nuance.
To the extent that these can be separated (and maybe they can't), it seems to me more like a twitter problem than a media problem per se. And IMO the people who need to apologize aren't the people who wrote the first round of articles, but the people on twitter who shouted down anyone with a more nuanced take.
Those who dismissed lab leak as a racist conspiracy that had been "debunked" deserve to be dunked on. You can have epistemic humility about how COVID originated and still be scathing towards those who tried slamming the door shut on a perfectly viable theory.
(As an aside, I'd humbly request you do a post someday on the obnoxious overuse of the word "debunk," which has became internetese for "someone made an argument against it I personally found persuasive.")
It's interesting to read some of these comments. Seems like a lot of people fixate on the culture war points even as Freddie tries to reframe them.
A lot of people in the comments encounter the possibility that international scientists working in Wuhan could be somewhat responsible for covid getting out there and they don't actually see a question of truth but a question of Trump or not Trump.
Folks, I just want to say, if you say "it's possible that maybe some scientists who happened to work in Wuhan accidentally leaked covid," I promise you, I promise you with all my heart, that the Cancellation Police will not descend on you and put you in jail for being Officially Trump.
"It's not impossible that maybe some scientists who happened to work in Wuhan may have accidentally leaked covid," is not a magic sentence that turns you into Trump. It's just not.
The possibility of a lab leak was dismissed because there was no evidence for it. There still isn't. To claim that it was a lab leak without any evidence for that is dangerous and irresponsible.
"And now, though they may have pulled back from those specific claims, kicking and screaming, they will not relent on their general stance that this was an organized coup attempt that came close to succeeding."
When someone tells you who they are, you believe them. They were chanting "hang Mike Pence." They erected a gallows outside the building. It seems obvious to me that their intent was not peaceful. Mike Pence, probably Trump biggest bootlicker, whose crime here was that he was planning to accurately count electoral votes.
No, they had no chance of actually overthrowing the US federal government. But this was still some serious shit. Obviously there are no control groups in history, so we'll never know for sure, but it seems obvious to me that with only a little better planning on their side or a little worse luck, there could have been far more deaths.
The lab leak theory has always been worthy of further investigation for the simple astounding coincidence that a hitherto unknown virus appeared in Wuhan, home of a one of the few BSL4 labs in China, over a thousand kilometers away from where its closest naturally occurring related virus was found. Instead of pursuing this angle, the media simply accepted the word of a group of epidemiologists led by one of the two people in the world most responsible if there was a leak, without considering for a moment that epidemiologists are just as likely to close ranks around one of their colleagues as police are around a fellow cop accused of brutality. Then, at the start of a virus pandemic the likes of which the Wuhan lab was supposedly set up precisely to prevent and combat, the Chinese government shut down the lab and made all its research data unavailable. Why would they do that?
These facts alone warranted intense investigation into the origins of the virus, especially by the newly enlightened "science followers" who, presumably, would have liked to know where the virus came from and how another similar outbreak might be prevented.
Instead, the media bluecheck stenographers displayed a breathtaking lack of curiosity about where this new virus actually came from, especially considering their noisily expressed embrace of "science."
The national media and their friends at Big Tech deserve all the crow they will eat now (assuming any of them can be embarrassed, which I doubt).
But, if you think about it, once the totally insane practice of demonizing the always entirely reasonable lab leak theory as a "racist conspiracy theory" burned itself out (which was inevitable, due to the lab leak theory being quite strong on the merits) -- once the burning-out happened, how *else* was the culture going to self-correct other than by going through a period of "dunkage", i.e. overendorsing the lab leak theory and under-endorsing the "zoonosis not in a lab" theory? Seriously, I can't imagine any other way our culture has of doing this: "dunking" is precisely the sociological ritual we have at our disposal. We have no other way of adjusting the rudder.
At any rate, the real issue was the incredible degree of censorship and demonization of a reasonable and important scientific hypothesis which deserved to be aired. A discursive "overcorrection" may be happening now, sure -- but note that, to this day, nobody is censoring or demonizing the "zoonosis not in a lab" theory. So, the overcorrection doesn't seem to be *too* bad, really. The media did a horrible job with this one (FB's censorship policies being the worst offender), and since dunking on them is the one price for them that exists in our culture, I say bring on the posterization Olympics.
The gloating and dunking is valid and worthwhile. Millions of innocent people died and the media were complicit in a lot of it — mask, no mask, shaming, scolding, this and that.
The lab leak (if it happened, and it likely did) and how the WHO was complicit in covering it up (AND HOW THE US NIH AND DR FAUCI WERE ACTUALLY FUNDING THE G-o-F RESEARCH!!) contributes to the further erosion of the fifth estate and trust in public authorities. This is demonic and bad. Dunks must be had for the good of humanity.
And yes the US and PRC both must pay, and neither will.
I hope someone can explain *why* the lab leak theory was so forcefully opposed and mocked. I get Freddie linking that posture to a pro-Democrat bias. What I don't get is what the Democrats had to gain from denying the lab-leak theory.
"...if you only paid attention to all of the dunking going on you would be under the impression that we know for a fact that the virus emerged from a lab."
Well, it depends on one's reading comprehension skills. And maybe on what sources one chooses to read. I read Matt Yglesias's piece, and I've seen a few others, and all of them emphasize that we don't know if the virus came from the lab or not. The issues at this point are (1) certain elements of the left-leaning side of the media chose, either out of sloppiness or ineptitude, to discount the possibility of a lab origin, and (2) the Chinese government has not allowed a proper independent investigation. Both of these are worth noting. In connection with (1), it is particularly disturbing that the NYT's COVID report has been quoted as saying that we shouldn't talk about the possibility of a lab leak because the idea is racist -- an utterly idiotic statement.
I don't understand why the media initially dismissing claims that COVID-19 came from a Chinese lab is an example of pro-Democrat bias rather than not wanting to side with knee-jerk racism.
Though this was much, much smaller than the Capitol Riot or the lab leak story, I feel like the Jussie Smollett incident was a canary in the coal mine for this stuff.
That dude's story was ridiculous from Day 1. It made no sense, and everyone knew it. Yet so many politics-obsessed liberals practically wanted it to be true because it fed their outlook about the world.
Things suck right now. We have liberal media, whose job it is to protect the Democrats. And we have right-wing media, whose job it is to protect the Republicans. Principles and humility are gone.
>"the January 6th rioters were a bunch of idiot deadenders who, while deserving of the arrests and censure they have received, could not have taken control of a Chucky Cheese, let alone the US government."
True as far as it goes, but if they had found AOC in her hiding place, would they have harmed her? Assassinated her?
How about Nancy Pelosi? How about Mike Pence?
Are you really so sure that they would have just said "oh never mind" and walked away?
You are correct that Officer Sicknick's head was not bashed in, but he did collapse that night after being pepper sprayed, and died the next day. And, per the Wall Street Journal's recent review, "Other police officers were hit in the head with a fire extinguisher." https://www.wsj.com/articles/officer-brian-sicknick-what-we-know-about-his-death-11619010119
Freddie, I have to say, I love your longer reads, but this shows me that you're equally good at shorter reads, aka what we used to call "blog posts that just make a concise point and then end." I think it would be interesting to read more future thoughts that you have inspired by this, but this brief point is excellent.
Yes, well, I think after so many other previous media fiascoes borne of this excessive sort of partisanship, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for anyone in the chatting classes to "learn any lessons", slowly, or otherwise. I would love to be proven wrong on that, yet I doubt it.
The other aspect of this problem was the nearly uniform lockstep with which the major social media platforms went on the offense to start blocking content and even issuing bans to their users for even bringing it up, which essentially weaponized this partisan dogma.
This wholly partisan media class, coupled with the ability of platforms to enforce it as dogma on their users, is far more deleterious to society than almost anyone in the chattering classes is willing to admit. And it's not simply because this approach can, and ever will, get it wrong, but because it is endlessly laden with perverse incentive to simply go after the enemy du jour, whoever it is.
I went back to the original articles and they honestly seemed fine to me. Yeah, they missed an important distinction between the lab leak theory and the bioweapon theory, but I think that we were all freaking out a bit back in March.
The bigger problem, it seems to me, is the way that we took what should have been a decent starting point (the original articles) and somehow enshrined them as The Scientific Consensus (tm) instead of letting the news cycle develop further and naturally add more nuance.
To the extent that these can be separated (and maybe they can't), it seems to me more like a twitter problem than a media problem per se. And IMO the people who need to apologize aren't the people who wrote the first round of articles, but the people on twitter who shouted down anyone with a more nuanced take.
Those who dismissed lab leak as a racist conspiracy that had been "debunked" deserve to be dunked on. You can have epistemic humility about how COVID originated and still be scathing towards those who tried slamming the door shut on a perfectly viable theory.
(As an aside, I'd humbly request you do a post someday on the obnoxious overuse of the word "debunk," which has became internetese for "someone made an argument against it I personally found persuasive.")
It's interesting to read some of these comments. Seems like a lot of people fixate on the culture war points even as Freddie tries to reframe them.
A lot of people in the comments encounter the possibility that international scientists working in Wuhan could be somewhat responsible for covid getting out there and they don't actually see a question of truth but a question of Trump or not Trump.
Folks, I just want to say, if you say "it's possible that maybe some scientists who happened to work in Wuhan accidentally leaked covid," I promise you, I promise you with all my heart, that the Cancellation Police will not descend on you and put you in jail for being Officially Trump.
"It's not impossible that maybe some scientists who happened to work in Wuhan may have accidentally leaked covid," is not a magic sentence that turns you into Trump. It's just not.
A minor nitpick: it's "Chuck E. Cheese".
(The E stands for Entertainment. I am not making this up.)
The possibility of a lab leak was dismissed because there was no evidence for it. There still isn't. To claim that it was a lab leak without any evidence for that is dangerous and irresponsible.
"And now, though they may have pulled back from those specific claims, kicking and screaming, they will not relent on their general stance that this was an organized coup attempt that came close to succeeding."
When someone tells you who they are, you believe them. They were chanting "hang Mike Pence." They erected a gallows outside the building. It seems obvious to me that their intent was not peaceful. Mike Pence, probably Trump biggest bootlicker, whose crime here was that he was planning to accurately count electoral votes.
No, they had no chance of actually overthrowing the US federal government. But this was still some serious shit. Obviously there are no control groups in history, so we'll never know for sure, but it seems obvious to me that with only a little better planning on their side or a little worse luck, there could have been far more deaths.
The lab leak theory has always been worthy of further investigation for the simple astounding coincidence that a hitherto unknown virus appeared in Wuhan, home of a one of the few BSL4 labs in China, over a thousand kilometers away from where its closest naturally occurring related virus was found. Instead of pursuing this angle, the media simply accepted the word of a group of epidemiologists led by one of the two people in the world most responsible if there was a leak, without considering for a moment that epidemiologists are just as likely to close ranks around one of their colleagues as police are around a fellow cop accused of brutality. Then, at the start of a virus pandemic the likes of which the Wuhan lab was supposedly set up precisely to prevent and combat, the Chinese government shut down the lab and made all its research data unavailable. Why would they do that?
These facts alone warranted intense investigation into the origins of the virus, especially by the newly enlightened "science followers" who, presumably, would have liked to know where the virus came from and how another similar outbreak might be prevented.
Instead, the media bluecheck stenographers displayed a breathtaking lack of curiosity about where this new virus actually came from, especially considering their noisily expressed embrace of "science."
The national media and their friends at Big Tech deserve all the crow they will eat now (assuming any of them can be embarrassed, which I doubt).
But, if you think about it, once the totally insane practice of demonizing the always entirely reasonable lab leak theory as a "racist conspiracy theory" burned itself out (which was inevitable, due to the lab leak theory being quite strong on the merits) -- once the burning-out happened, how *else* was the culture going to self-correct other than by going through a period of "dunkage", i.e. overendorsing the lab leak theory and under-endorsing the "zoonosis not in a lab" theory? Seriously, I can't imagine any other way our culture has of doing this: "dunking" is precisely the sociological ritual we have at our disposal. We have no other way of adjusting the rudder.
At any rate, the real issue was the incredible degree of censorship and demonization of a reasonable and important scientific hypothesis which deserved to be aired. A discursive "overcorrection" may be happening now, sure -- but note that, to this day, nobody is censoring or demonizing the "zoonosis not in a lab" theory. So, the overcorrection doesn't seem to be *too* bad, really. The media did a horrible job with this one (FB's censorship policies being the worst offender), and since dunking on them is the one price for them that exists in our culture, I say bring on the posterization Olympics.
"I am not really in the habit of defending the media."
You have a marvelous gift for understatement, Freddie.