by Travis Mateer
I am learning so much about information, like what kind is GOOD and what kind is BAD. I’m also learning that some MISINFORMERS are BAD and get articles about them in the Missoulian, while others are less bad, and not discussed in legacy media.
It’s all very confusing, so allow me to help you. First, here’s some good information I got from Providence, via email.
While a previous infection provides some natural protection or immunity, it’s unclear how long this protection lasts. That’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the vaccine even for people who have already had the virus. Recent evidence shows that being fully vaccinated creates more effective and longer-lasting immunity than natural immunity from infection. One study showed that among people who already had COVID-19, unvaccinated people are more than twice as likely as fully vaccinated people to get reinfected with COVID-19.
These vaccines are safe. In fact, the COVID-19 vaccine continues to undergo some of the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history. Fully vaccinated people with rare breakthrough infections have lower rates of hospitalization and death and appear to be contagious for a shorter period of time. Even if you’ve had COVID-19 and fully recovered, medical experts agree you should be vaccinated to protect yourself and those you love, including kids and those who are vulnerable.
Now that you’ve consumed some of the GOOD information, let’s take a look at the BAD info being reported on today. Thanks to the intrepid reporting of the totally objective Missoulian, we learn that the BAD info is coming from a University of Montana DOCTOR by the name of Justin Buls, who says TERRIBLY BAD shit like this:
“Mandating a vaccine that doesn’t prevent infection and doesn’t prevent transmission has nothing to do with science. Mandating masks in schools, when the science for 30 years has shown masks don’t stop the spread of respiratory viruses is not about science. This is all about politics and control,” Buls wrote on Oct. 26. “Attacking doctors for speaking up and supporting peoples ‘ freedom and medical autonomy is not ok.”
Yes, this is the BAD SHIT that only Trumpards are supposed to be spouting, not DOCTORS from the illuminated University system. I am SO GLAD we have the Missoulian to warn us about this terrible person using his so-called “freedom” of speech to dangerously misinform people.
When State Rep. Ellie Boldman misinformed people about the infamous FREEZER MORGUE back in September, no Missoulian articles were shame-written about her tweet, which I believe she deleted, but not before it was documented by the internets:
Yes, don’t EVER GODDAMN FORGET that NOT ALL misinformers are equal. Some are men with names like “Justin” who need to be purged from the halls of academia, and some are women with evolving last names who need to be protected from accountability at all costs.
What would Missoula citizens do WITHOUT the objective reporting of the Missoulian? I shudder to think of a world where news outlets like the Missoulian don’t do the difficult work of identifying who should be removed from the information landscape, and who gets to keep tweeting bullshit, like Ellie Boldman gets to do.
Thanks for reading!
JC
The Missoulian piece about the heretic doc had a terrible headline (not written by the reporter) but its content was quite even-handed. It covered the controversy fully by providing the positions of all involved, and illuminated the process by which the University determines whether speech by employees is sanctionable. In that regard, the employer was quite clear that its authority in that regard is very strictly limited by the state and federal constitutions. There was no indication that the doctor was facing any sanctions or that those picketing against him had caused him any job difficulty. Nor did the article advocate for any action. The article simply doesn’t resemble the depiction of it that you portray. I’m afraid that in that respect, your portrayal is the tract guilty of “misinformation.” But as a social critic, you’re under no duty to stifle your opinions, and shouldn’t.
You are closer to the mark, however, regarding Ellie, though your critique is unfortunately obscure and nebulous. She’s a politician, in every sense of the word, and unlike the heretic doc, was engaging in run of the mill polticial propaganda, which is not intended to be, and should not be expected to be, objective or even entirely factual. Your protryal of her was not unfair, merely undeveloped.
By contrast, the WWAMI resident training physician whio was the focus of the Missoulian article — who is not an expert or specialist in infectious diseases, epidemiology, vaccinology, virology or immunology, is by any objective measure, propagating misinformation and advocating policies and behaviors that do not comport with current scientific knowledge or metrics, thereby being quite worthy of intense scrutiny. There was far greater public interest in that controversy, than in the silly and purely polemic post by pedantic Ellie.
Grade: C-
I don’t think history is going to look kindly at your generation and the medical apartheid you are supporting because sociopath mad scientists fucked around with the common cold.
Nothing like a little confirmation bias to spice up your weekend. Hang your hat on the words of one whacko that few agree with — not even the conservatives on Kalispell School Board he sits with — and you’ll be branded as whack as he.
Unfortunate for you, there are millions of us Millennials who will look at fellow Millennials like you as the lost generation that prolonged the pandemic just enough to kill off as many of their detested Baby Boomer progenitors and immunocompromised fellows as they could. Ageism par none. And it shrinks the social benefit pie to conservative’s liking. The old and infirm eating up too many tax dollars? Let’s just let the pandemic rage long enough to kill them off.
I am thankfully not a millennial.