DOCTORS' LOUNGE
(continued from page 31)
clockwork ones – died more from COVID-19 than
Mr. Carlson’s audience did.
The Chicago researchers surveyed 1,045 Fox News
viewers older than 55, asking questions centering on
which show they watched, and how often they washed
hands, stayed home, changed to safe behaviors, etc.
Not until early March did Sean Hannity even begin to
backpedal from his non-worry regarding COVID-19.
He changed abruptly to “much worry” only 10-12 days
later. His viewers did not begin to change their protective
behaviors for a full week after Mr. Carlson’s viewers
did. Mr. Carlson’s fans were seven days ahead in reporting
that they had gotten scared, were staying home,
getting masks, lining up helpers—and that week was
critical. The authors noted, “Our results indicate that a
one standard deviation increase in relative viewership
of Hannity relative to Tucker Carlson Tonight is associated
with approximately 32 percent more COVID-19
cases on March 14 and approximately 23 percent more
COVID-19 deaths on March 28.” Additionally, as the
scripts from both men began to converge to “worry
some,” the observed case-rate differences subsided,
day by day. The authors cite multiple studies showing partisan differences
for belief in the need for lockdowns and other measures,
using data dating to 2015 to identify US counties with two things:
1.) Huge market shares of Fox News viewership, at rates stable over
five years, and 2.) Successive Republican Party wins in multiple
elections.
Cell phone data in these counties showed widespread social
closeness, not social distancing. The authors wrote that their findings
showed a clear pattern of misinformation from a continuing source,
leading to more risky behavior throughout. The chart to the right
from Bursztyn et al. illustrates this.
Online media appeals to those across the political spectrum,
but in narrower bands for each set of beliefs. Yet what is written
there is often vilely inaccurate. The New York Times’ Kevin Roose,
in an article dated Aug. 12, outlined the tactics of QAnon (a farright
conspiracy theory) in hijacking otherwise worthy causes to
gain followers. He reports its members are posting maps of the US
with a lot of bright red dots that show areas of human trafficking.
People concerned about these children repost these and amplify
what QAnon added to the #SavetheChildren hashtag. He wrote,
“Many of them believed that President Trump was on the verge of
exposing ‘Pizzagate’ or ‘Pedogate,’ their terms for a global conspiracy
involving a ring of Satan-worshiping, child-molesting criminals led
by prominent Democrats.” Their M.O. is to piggyback onto all sorts
of social medial campaigns, get people to share them and then hijack
the content. The source for all these revelations is purported to be
some government insider named “Q” who builds an internet trail
about the “deep state” conspiracies out to hurt Americans.
I can hardly bear to mention the false medical claims on Facebook
– that bleach cures autism, that vaccines cause it, that billionaires
are holding hostage the doctors who can cure cancer – or the
ones about COVID-19, like “5G technology makes you vulnerable
to the coronavirus by suppressing the immune system.” Televangelist
Jimmy Bakker was hawking colloidal silver to cure COVID-19
during a Feb. 12 TV show, and got warned off on March 6 by the
Food and Drug Administration. WND.com, which publishes the
World Net Daily, featured Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine untruths
in a July 9, 2015 article citing the “massive doses of mercury in
some meningitis vaccines” and the new “aluminum adjuvants that
act synergistically to dramatically amplify the neurotoxicity of the
remaining mercury.” 5
We have been nearly overrun with bad news. Facts that are
heartbreakingly true can’t be softened: we have to absorb them. But
made up “news” and medical lies, with sinister interpretations, do
not help a single person get well - unless laughing at them is the
best medicine. Demon sperm, anyone?
References
1
Fox News. July 15 2020 Laura Ingraham show, also reported July 16 2020 by
Charles Creitz of Fox News.
2
Misinformation During a Pandemic, Univ of Chicago Becker Friedman Institute
for Economics Working Paper no 2020-44, June 15 2020, Bursztyn, Rao, Roth,
Yanagizawa-Drott.
3
Showbiz, Eric Schaal, Jan 11 2019.
4
The Washington Post, Chris Ingraham, June 25, 2020.
5
World Net Daily, Press Trusts Government Too Much on Vaccines, Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr.
Dr Barry is an internist and Associate Professor of Medicine (Gratis Faculty) at the
University of Louisville School of Medicine, currently taking a six month sabbatical.
32 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE