Last week, progressive Harris County, Texas, Judge Lina Hidalgo was sad to report that an unvaccinated man in his 50s had died from the omicron variant of COVID:
Sad to report the first local fatality from the Omicron variant of COVID-19. A man in his 50’s from the eastern portion of Harris County who was not vaccinated. Please – get vaccinated and boosted.
— Lina Hidalgo (@LinaHidalgoTX) December 20, 2021
The thing was that what Hidalgo was reporting had not, in fact, been confirmed. Unlike Hidalgo, Behind the Headlines journalist Dan Cohen actually looked into the matter, and what he learned called Hidalgo’s tweet into question:
Public officials and media reported that a man in Texas became the first American to die from the Omicron variant. I checked with the Harris County Public Health Department. Turns out that's not true.
Here's audio of my phone call. pic.twitter.com/fIDZNPzYuj
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) December 22, 2021
The first person to wrongly claim that the man died of the Omicron variant was the county's chief executive, @LinaHidalgoTX.
Will she correct the record or let this misinformation stand?https://t.co/Qr9Ql6oBk8 pic.twitter.com/eOmbtPwt89
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) December 22, 2021
And in a shocking turn of events, media ran with the story that the man had died from omicron, claiming that his death had been confirmed to be omicron-caused despite the fact that, as Cohen showed, there had been no such confirmation.
— Rich Weinstein (@phillyrich1) December 24, 2021
Yeah. Huh.
Why did none of the media outlets that echoed @LinaHidalgoTX's incorrect statement bother to check with the Harris County Public Health Department? Seems like they have an interest in spreading panic among the public.
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) December 22, 2021
You know, Dan, there might be something to your theory. Because if the media wanted to spread panic among the public, what, exactly, would they be doing differently than what they’ve been doing?
Matt Taibbi recently wrote a Substack article about the media driving so much of the panic surrounding the omicron variant, and his article featured a video by Matt Orfalea. Orfalea’s video quite entertainingly — and cuttingly — shines a glaring spotlight on the media’s disgraceful behavior and all-around insanity.
TK Mashup: "Omicron DEATH!", by @0rf @mtaibbi https://t.co/lDd9EfvqZE
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 31, 2021
Because a lot of people out there should see Orfalea’s work, Glenn Greenwald also shared it on his Twitter feed:
Disinformation is indeed a grave problem in the US.
But it largely comes from the very corporate media outlets that most flamboyantly claim to oppose it.
Omicron Edition — Video by @0rf, for @mtaibbi: pic.twitter.com/XDa6nG0n6a
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 31, 2021
And that’s only just a taste. Here’s Orfalea’s full video:
Genius.
NYT: "Studies Suggest Why Omicron Is Less Severe: It Spares the Lungs"
"[Animals] infected with Omicron had less lung damage, lost less weight and were less likely to die, the study found….[S]tudies on mice and hamsters reached the same conclusion."https://t.co/xsYU7yrhVD
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) December 31, 2021
Is omicron totally harmless and nothing to be at all concerned about? Only a fool would try to make that argument. For some people, contracting the omicron variant could prove very serious. But the data thus far have shown pretty conclusively that overall, omicron is less severe than alpha and delta, particularly for those who have natural immunity and/or have been vaccinated.
In a sane world, the media would be thrilled to spread that news. But in the world we’re currently living in, the media have a demented vested interest in keeping as many people as terrified as possible for as long as possible.
https://twitter.com/dannyrussell53/status/1476966069382389760
If you're an honest, free thinking, skeptical person, this should appall you. https://t.co/eSssvff5H0
— ChristopherChartsumbus (@chartsombus) December 31, 2021
Fearmongering nonsense from mainstream media. My goodness these people are vile! https://t.co/OYpjbpW472
— AlbowaSinema (@AlbowaSinema) December 31, 2021
And what makes them particularly vile is that, barring some kind of miracle, they’ll never have to answer for any of this. They’ve been getting things wrong from the outset of the pandemic, and they just proceed as though they’ve been consistent all along. They make zero apologies for their roles in making things infinitely worse.
This is disgusting https://t.co/5GoVE3Uisc
— Mike (@len0sky7) December 31, 2021
It’s not just disgusting; it’s potentially dangerous. The same media firefighters who have been self-righteously railing against the scourges of misinformation and disinformation are straight-up lying to people. The media evidently have no regard for the public’s health at all. Whatever narrative they’re running with at the time is the narrative they think will drive their ratings up the highest.
The media want to shame the Right, but the fact is that the shame is all theirs.
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