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Comment by JumpCrisscross | Hacker News Reader

> the belittling and censoring of voices that were skeptical of the narratives, which engendered even more distrust

What are examples of this? Most of the U.S. was quite loose about lockdowns and mask requirements until their specific geography got hit. (For example, I summered in the Smoky Mountains June of 2020. Compared to New York, it was as if nothing had happened. The tone changed by December, after the South had its wave.)

To the extent there was belittling, it was around the promotion of treatments, a set of claims that has always been tightly regulated. (Also, the early, intentional miscommunications around the efficacy of N95 masks, which was horrible.)

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Massive, coordinated, media-sponsored mocking of people who discuss Ivermectin, calling them stupid horse paste guzzlers. I don't know if works for covid, but there is enough serious data and published science for a normal conversation to be had about it, instead of disdain, ridicule and suppression.

It also completely ignores the fact that ivermectin, whatever its merits for covid are, is an actual human medication. It is not a veterinary drug, although it has utility in animals too.

Isn't it as a prescription-only drug for humans (as a dewormer)? In that case, everybody who considers self-medicating with Ivermectin would be using the veterinary supplies (because they can more easily buy the intended-for-horses version), which the associated risks of overdosing.

It's a protease inhibitor as well as anti parasitic. Much easier to get the animal brands. Overdosing is difficult unless your doing it on purpose. People ingesting the pour on cattle version or consuming products that mix ivermectin with other related but unsafe active ingredients likely caused the very small number of legitimate issues.

For me, taking ivermectin and having it clear up my long covid almost instantly was great. Then weeks later witnessing this coordinated take down was a real turning point for me. Hard to trust anything now.

It's an antiparasitic. Prescription only yes I believe.

> What are examples of this?

Ever tried to express even the smallest amount of criticism? People you know in real life will rip you apart and call you very horrible things.

The gaslighting and level of sanctimonious nonsense has been out of this world.

I’ve been called “dangerous” for merely posting screenshots of public health department data.

People are nuts!

It's not that people are "nuts" as such. They're scared and, more often now, terrified. Scared people aren't known for their ability to reason.

Its why governments often abuse fear for political means. Its rocket fuel for propaganda.

An example that jumps to mind is all of the media and academics that opposed the theory that the virus was a lab leak in china, primarily because Trump espoused the view. As much as Trump deserved ridicule, that was a perfectly valid theory.

Another that was roundly mocked was Trump's idea about bringing "UV light inside the body" as a treatment. Lo and behold a year or so later.. [0]

>Ultraviolet light treatments introduced into the tracheas of five critically ill COVID-19 patients appeared to be safe and associated with a reduction in the respiratory load of SARS-CoV-2—the virus responsible for COVID-19—in all but one patient, according to a study conducted by Cedars-Sinai.

[0] https://www.cedars-sinai.org/newsroom/reduced-viral-loads-se...

I have no link, but at the time everyone was falling off their chairs laughing at Trump some company was involved in trials of some sort with a similar technology with the FDA.

The human mind is the most amazing phenomenon, simultaneously so amazingly capable yet so silly.

Pretty much.

https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-medias-lab-leak-fiasco

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/the-lab-leak-theory-...

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