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@IsabelOtt | |||||
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The reason public health people are furious with Feigl-Ding is that such groundless, hand-waving paranoia continually coming from someone coded as an "expert" is sufficient to take people's fear (natural and normal) and ferment it into panic. (1/
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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31. sij |
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Panic has been studied in depth by experts in the academic field of Disaster Management. Here's an article about it - I'll pull an excerpt. (2/
researchgate.net/publication/28…
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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31. sij |
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"Although some disagreement exists on the exact conditions that evoke panic in individuals, researchers have identified key environmental and situational cues which generate and facilitate panic behavior.
(3/
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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31. sij |
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"These include: 1) perception of an immediate great threat to self and/or significant others; 2) belief that escape from the threat is possible, but routes are rapidly closing;
(4/
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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31. sij |
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"3) a feeling of helplessness in otherwise dealing with the threat, particularly when others are not seen as able to help (Auf der Heide, 2004; Quarantelli, 2008)."
(5/
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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31. sij |
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In most "crisis" situations (again, not a comment on this outbreak specifically), the fear, Part 1, is there.
Once panic kicks in and starts driving political decision-making, public health professionals lose the ability to implement strategic, limited controls. (6/
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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31. sij |
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And when people like Dr. Feigl-Ding, a nutritionist, start fanning the flames of "this is an apocalyptic conspiracy that no one is prepared for or can hope to control," which he's *still* doing, you get to Parts 2 and 3 pretty quickly, and people panic. (7/
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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31. sij |
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So instead of planning interventions and dealing with the many nuanced dimensions of international outbreak response centering around a country the U.S. is in an ongoing trade war with, professionals have to spend time talking politicians out of doing human rights violations. (8/
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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31. sij |
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If you read that article, panic as a common first response to fear/crisis is pretty rare. People are generally rational, generous, and helpful in crises. You only consistently see deviation from that when the circumstances for panic are present. (9/
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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31. sij |
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And panic is really damn hard to put back into the bottle once it's been unleashed, to be honest.
So people are very frustrated with EFD, and publicly refuting his asinine comments, *because* they know he's actively making people unsafe with his rhetoric. (10/
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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31. sij |
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It’s also pretty clear at this point that the primary benefit of this for him is attention. He’s terrifying people and actively undermining the public health community’s response...for attention. As I’ve said before, public health is a *deeply* collaborative field. (11/
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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31. sij |
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So it’s fair, normal, and genuinely part of public health professionals’ roles to tell EFD to get his shit straight and stop spreading panic and misinformation. Don’t tone police people over that; they’re doing their jobs. (12/12)
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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1. velj |
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Quick PS: EFD has repeatedly touted his Harvard affiliation to boost the credibility of his statements. *Actual* infectious disease epidemiology professors at Harvard School of Public Health have clarified his position & soundly rejected his statements. twitter.com/mlipsitch/stat… twitter.com/mlipsitch/stat…
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Isabel Ott
@IsabelOtt
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1. velj |
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Another person who’s been abusing their perceived credibility is Laurie Garrett. She’s an established science journalist who’s been flagrantly and carelessly sowing panic since this began. twitter.com/isabelott/stat… twitter.com/isabelott/stat…
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