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Precisely as Lombardy enacted the first western lockdown, media and political discourse in the West moved suddenly from Corona mitigation to mass containment.
This happened in a 72-hour period around Sunday, 8 March. https://twitter.com/eugyppius1/status/1346019063630327808
Precisely as Lombardy enacted the first western lockdown, media and political discourse in the West moved suddenly from Corona mitigation to mass containment.
This happened in a 72-hour period around Sunday, 8 March. https://twitter.com/eugyppius1/status/1346019063630327808
Books could be written about this pivot.
To start with: This tweet from last thread is wrong.
I should've typed that the early debate was between the containment camp *within* the WHO, and mitigationists *outside it* in national medical establishments https://twitter.com/eugyppius1/status/1346019946061557766
To start with: This tweet from last thread is wrong.
I should've typed that the early debate was between the containment camp *within* the WHO, and mitigationists *outside it* in national medical establishments https://twitter.com/eugyppius1/status/1346019946061557766
Michael Senger does important work tracing the deeper origins of Mass Containment as a guiding WHO doctrine.
Key is a report the WHO issued on 24 Feb - 2 weeks before the Lombardy lockdown was announced - endorsing the Chinese Hubei lockdown.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/china-covid-lockdown-propaganda
Key is a report the WHO issued on 24 Feb - 2 weeks before the Lombardy lockdown was announced - endorsing the Chinese Hubei lockdown.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/china-covid-lockdown-propaganda
The report reads like Chinese state propaganda. China's mass containment policy was "exceptional" "bold" "ambitious" "aggressive" and overwhelmingly successful.
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/who-china-joint-mission-on-covid-19-final-report.pdf
The report declares that the "global community is not yet ready" to enact "the only measures ... currently proven to interrupt or minimize transmission chains in humans".
That is: The West is not ready for lockdowns. The only hope is to make them so.
That is: The West is not ready for lockdowns. The only hope is to make them so.
China's influence over the WHO is an old story. It is so obvious and extensive, it is even acknowledged in official American propaganda like the VOA. https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pandemic/who-again-under-scrutiny-china-influence
What happened at the end of Feb, I propose, is simple: China's overreaction in Hubei had enormous economic & political costs
If western countries like Italy did just as well with a traditional, minimalist mitigation approach, China's leadership would be seriously discredited
If western countries like Italy did just as well with a traditional, minimalist mitigation approach, China's leadership would be seriously discredited
Four days after this obvious pro-China propaganda from the WHO, we see ripples in the media. Senger points out this egregious NYT article, for example.
The tropes are all there. "Mitigation" is surrender. We need a "brutal" "medieval" approach.
The tropes are all there. "Mitigation" is surrender. We need a "brutal" "medieval" approach.
As Senger notes, there were also demands from Science to develop novel plans for mass containment in the West.
Sometime in the first week of March, the Containment Camp in the WHO won the argument, not only within the Italian public health establishment, but worldwide.
All the messaging was ready to go in time for Italy's lockdown on 8-10 March.
All the messaging was ready to go in time for Italy's lockdown on 8-10 March.
This messaging had two purposes: It had to provide political cover domestically, for the Italian government's unprecedented population-wide quarantine; and it had to further promote the Chinese/Italian lockdown path to other nations.
This campaign proved hugely successful.
This campaign proved hugely successful.
The lockdown was only a few days old in Italy, when the massive pro-lockdown bot campaign documented in Senger's seminal article was unleashed in Italian social media.
This was only 48 hours, remember, after "crush the curve" entered the world.
https://twitter.com/eugyppius1/status/1346021521249214466
This was only 48 hours, remember, after "crush the curve" entered the world.
https://twitter.com/eugyppius1/status/1346021521249214466
An article by an otherwise obscure personality named Tomas Pueyo, "Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now", showed up on medium on 10 March. It went viral immediately. Within 9 days it had received over 40 million views. It was widely endorsed by medical bureaucrats.
Pueyo's article broke down the epidemiological reasoning of the WHO for a broad audience. This pro-lockdown propaganda was widely translated. His follow-up piece, "The Hammer and the Dance" (lockdowns & measures) was also read very widely.
[Side note: Who is Pueyo? Hard to say. Before Corona
he was into "storytelling". He wrote a book in 2017 modelling the narrative structure of Star Wars, in which he fielded various predictions about what would happen next in the series. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4889232/Author-predicts-happpens-Star-Wars-movie.html
he was into "storytelling". He wrote a book in 2017 modelling the narrative structure of Star Wars, in which he fielded various predictions about what would happen next in the series. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4889232/Author-predicts-happpens-Star-Wars-movie.html
Here is giving a very bizarre TEDx talk about "Why Stories Captivate". This is the guy whose mysteriously popular medium article undeniably helped sway political debate in multiple countries. Something is not right here. End Side Note.] https://www.ted.com/talks/tomas_pueyo_why_stories_captivate?language=en
Social media also filled suddenly with horrifying tales of the triage happening in overwhelmed Lombardy hospitals.
Let's wrap up this look at the Great Propaganda Campaign of 9-24 March, with a look at one of the most important such Twitter threads. https://twitter.com/eugyppius1/status/1346024844891217921
Let's wrap up this look at the Great Propaganda Campaign of 9-24 March, with a look at one of the most important such Twitter threads. https://twitter.com/eugyppius1/status/1346024844891217921
It was posted by this account, which has a) been around since 2012, in which time it has b) tweeted a grand total of 42 times, c) primarily on 9 March, when it reported the experiences of an anonymous Italian colleague in an overwhelmed hospital.
Van Schoor does appear to be a real doctor, and I'm sure conditions in Lombard hospitals were rough in March.
Why exactly these conditions had to be reported at second hand, anonymously, and why they are timed so perfectly with the 9 March propaganda push, is another matter.
Why exactly these conditions had to be reported at second hand, anonymously, and why they are timed so perfectly with the 9 March propaganda push, is another matter.
This doctor "in northern Italy" purportedly got in touch with our anaesthetist to give a "personal update" (arguably his thread doesn't do that at all) and to provide "advice about what you should do" (it doesn't really do that either)
Then some throat-clearing. These reassurances that Lombardy had super modern super up to date hospitals were everywhere in the media at the time (not sure what people are imagining n. Italy is like, but whatever).
Then the meat of it. Hundreds of respiratory patients have so overwhelmed the hospital that people with trauma or strokes are going untreated. If you're 65+ or younger with comorbidities, forget about getting treatment.
The message became pervasive by April: If you don't lockdown, there will be no healthcare for *anyone*. It's not just about corona. Strokes, trauma will go untreated too
He elaborates that your hospitals will be overwhelmed according to a "pattern" that is "the same everywhere"
He elaborates that your hospitals will be overwhelmed according to a "pattern" that is "the same everywhere"
... And he doesn't really provide any advice, as he promised he would in the first post. "Everything about how to treat them is online" (???).
The important thing is, we should "not be afraid of massively strict measures to keep people safe"
The important thing is, we should "not be afraid of massively strict measures to keep people safe"
Governments need to impose these "strict measures". If they don't, your loved ones will be denied healthcare. Don't be one of those people who says "that's bad dude and then go out for dinner".
Above all: This will happen in your country, if you don't lock down.
Above all: This will happen in your country, if you don't lock down.
We all know the message by know: Lombardy is a disaster, because they didn't lock down in time. It is a certainty that your healthcare system, too, will soon see this disaster, if you don't lock down. Measures have to be imposed now, or your loved ones will go without oxygen.
Stories like this were put about precisely as the Lombardy lockdown was implemented, and not a moment before.
... This thread to be continued tomorrow, when we'll return to the Vox coverage and see how all this played out in elite media ...
... This thread to be continued tomorrow, when we'll return to the Vox coverage and see how all this played out in elite media ...
