Houston, we have a problem. The disease is, or isn’t a mortal danger. Pick one.
Limbaugh’s claims are, of course, non-sense. The coronavirus isn’t the common cold. It probably isn’t a weapon. It is a real danger. It does kill people. And if the media does exaggerate its threat, then it is because scary headlines sell, not because anyone is after Trump. (Though, frankly, the media probably isn’t exaggerating the problem a whole lot. Any disease which has a mortality rate of about 2% needs to be taken very carefully.)
Oh, and special kudos, by the way, to Chelsea Clinton, who took time out of her busy schedule to call out Limbaugh. It was well done. And, unfortunately, that took courage in an age when simple truth telling is to invite abuse on a grand scale.(2)
But, anyway, this isn’t the first time that Limbaugh has spread medical misinformation. You’ll recall that he denied the dangers of smoking for years. Right up to the moment he was diagnosed with a late stage version of the disease, he was saying that there was no provable link between smoking and lung cancer. (3)
We have no way of knowing how many people continued to smoke, or took up the practice, because they heard Limbaugh say it wasn’t a problem. But we can guess that many did. And of those, many, many have suffered because of it, or will suffer in future.
Now, he has said that coronavirus is no danger. That is a case where he may not have negatively impacted individual behavior -- no one is going and deliberately expose themselves to coronavirus because he told them to -- but it could be problematic to us all, anyway. If his audience believes him, then its members could work against the policies and individuals who could mitigate the spread and danger of the disease. Does the CDC say we have a problem and must take countermeasures? Nonsense. Fake news. The alarmist lies of libtard Eastern Elites...
And recall, already, Limbugh’s hero, Donald Trump, has done much to defund the very organizations -- like the CDC -- which could have helped stop or at least slowed coronavirus while there was still time. Trump and his administration should receive no support in continuing that policy.
My point? I have always, always been a proponent of unlimited free speech. I have always thought that people should be able to say whatever they damn well pleased. If what they said was false, well, eventually that would proven by public debate and experimentation.
This is different. This is telling millions upon millions of listeners that they may ...indeed, should! ...endanger their lives, and ours. This rates up there with Alex Jones’ Sandy Hook conspiracy theories (and, in the process, encouraging gun rights lunatics, to stalk and threaten the parents of slain children). It rates up there as well with anti-Vaxxers proselytizing dubious theories of autism, and encouraging parents to endanger their children by not having them vaccinated.
It is, in other words, a genuine public health care risk, and should be treated as such. There should be--and it pains me to say this--some sort of consequence for people who willingly spread health care falsehoods which could all too easily threaten the entire society.
Or, at the very least, we should have legions of fact checkers -- like Ms. Clinton -- who are willing and able to oppose lies and outright ignorance, and who would be protected afterwards.
Otherwise we are left at the mercy of plagues...
Whether those spread by insects, or foul water, or contact...
Or by men and women with access to microphones, and no restraint of conscience.
***
Two updates.
First, since I wrote this, I learned that Donald Trump has, indeed, begun to say things that sound very much as if they were taken from the Limbaugh play book (4)
Second, somehow I missed the fact that Rush Limbaugh lost his hearing a while back. I didn’t know it until I saw photos of him with cochlear implants.
The other thing I didn’t realize is why he became deaf. It hasn’t been proven, but there is some well-informed speculation that it was caused by his overuse of prescription pain killers.(5) In other words, he may have deafened himself, just as his constant recourse to cigars may have caused his lung cancer.
There is something terribly metaphoric in that.
Sources
1. https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/rush-limbaugh-coronavirus-trump-023911730.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=1_04
2. https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/public-global-health/484603-chelsea-clinton-rips-limbaugh-for-peddling-fake-news
3. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rush-limbaugh-nicotine-addictive/
4. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/25/white-house-struggles-contain-public-alarm-over-coronavirus-despite-panic/
5.https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=128270&page=1
~~~
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Oh, and it is lavishly illustrated by yours truly.
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***
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