To my peeps in the medical community who are still sitting on the sidelines and not actively fighting against misinformation:
Please stop doing so. It is time to step up. It is long overdue.
Ignoring it only perpetuates the problem. And if you are not going to defend the medicine, the science, the career path you have devoted your life to, who will?
Some of us, like me, have taken a personal interest in the pandemic and have been educating ourselves and engaging others in intelligent discourse continually as a result. And I have chosen to share many of those discoveries with you.
There ARE innumerable physicians out there who are doing their best to educate others. Including one another. And sometimes, frustration sets in during this education process, and our message may not come out as effectively as we had intended.
So forgive us. We are human. And ultimately it is because we care about you.
But I also have come to recognize the limits of who I can influence or have an open discussion with, especially in the digital space. And when to pick my battles.
To paraphrase Kirk Lazarus in Tropic Thunder:
"You went full [conspiracy theorist] man, never go full [conspiracy theorist]."
It is fairly evident when people have gone "full conspiracy theorist". And I have found the only way for them to "get woke", per their terminology, is to not engage them directly anymore once this determination is made, and to allow those closest to them to influence them one way or another.
I am not a fool. I know the government has not always been truthful throughout our history. But I am out here defending science and its integrity, not the imaginary world of 5G sorcery or those with a clear personal agenda.
If you have reached that point of irrationality, then my rational thought no longer has a place at the table.
And to the <5% of peeps in the medical community who themselves are spreading misinformation, including conspiracy videos like Plandemic and anti-vax rhetoric - I am not kidding - I feel comfortable speaking for the >95% by saying:
This is disgraceful. You are endangering the community so JUST STOP.
Like the Bakersfield Bros and others who are an embarrassment to the medical community with their lack of ethics, ignorance, or both, including some in the multiple community physician groups online.
And finally, this has nothing to do with opinions, interpretation of data, or conspiracy theories.
It is a realization, after communicating with so many physicians online, how many physicians out there do not even seem to know the fundamentals of medicine. Like the basics of the immune system or how a vaccine works.
Heck, this is stuff that would take a small amount of time to review. Yet there seems to be a subset of physicians who have no interest in educating themselves and/or lack the insight to recognize THEY SHOULD KNOW THIS.
It is really disheartening. And terrifying at the same time. Especially when related to patient care.
This is not directed towards those asking the physician community to explain a complicated or nuanced topic. Those conversations are welcome and engaging.
This is directed towards those who do not understand how a vaccine works. Or the fact not all antibodies are considered equal. Or those who do not understand the viruses for HIV or influenza or COVID-19 cannot be compared to one another because, well, THEY ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT.
And because they do not even have this rudimentary knowledge nor the awareness of this lack of knowledge, they make statements that everything is nonsense because it does not make sense to them.
Dunning-Kruger occurs with physicians too. This is why building consensus in the medical community is ESSENTIAL. Not all doctors are created equal.
Remember: P = MD. Or DO. Or MBBS. Equal opportunity right here.
Listen, I am definitely NOT a genius. I do not remember many details from medical school because, well, sometimes my focus was directed "elsewhere" 😅.
But guess what? When something does not make sense to me, science-related or not, and multiple sources confirm the facts at hand, I read and pick peoples brains until it finally does.
Such as how I learned how ESTIMATED flu deaths are calculated.
By the way, we are months into this pandemic, and the FALSE comparison to the flu is STILL being made. By physicians. Ugh.
People, it's called LIFELONG LEARNING. But this also means you should not forget the important things you have already learned, including the fundamentals!
Given how much medicine changes as new discoveries are made and scientific fact changes, we must hold ourselves to the highest standard possible.
So get your head out of your Dunning-Kruger ass and learn ya something good from dem there books.