The new age of unreason

I spend more time than is good for me on social media. I even still use what I insist on calling ‘Twitter’ (because the current owner’s renaming of it is risible).

Thanks to having long been a merciless blocker, my Twitter feed is relatively sweet-smelling compared to the charnel house atmosphere that is the broader context.

Of course, I can be accused of living in my social media echo chamber; I follow a few accounts that represent views that I don’t share and those that reciprocate are polite – we often simply agree to disagree or, as Rory Stewart says, disagree agreeably. I have even had an exchange about home cider-making with the leader of a political party to which I wouldn’t even give a preference on the ballot paper.

Instagram is a delightfully civilised place and it provides me with an escape from that part of the world that appears to be going to hell. I wallow in people’s posts about gardening, paintings, the great outdoors, the classic cars that I will never own, recipes, the better class of wine commentary, books, and gentle humour.

But it’s on Twitter that I encounter some of the more outlandish aspects of the modern world.

I am referring, in the main, to the anti-science brigade. Two recent examples spring to mind. There was the case of an unvaccinated seven-year-old boy, who ended up in a coma in a Florida hospital earlier this year having contracted measles and, subsequently, encephalitis.

However, the mother told the media that even if she knew the outcome, she would not have given her son the vaccine, and that God had ‘chosen’ him for a reason.

Covid-19

During the Covid-19 pandemic, we found that one of our more eccentric friends (whose wife turned out to be a Trump supporter) declined the vaccine. I was not entirely surprised.

I was surprised, however, even shocked, when one of my oldest friends, a highly intelligent man with a background in engineering and journalism, turned out also to have declined it. When I expressed amazement and pointed out that a mutual younger friend had died from Covid, he replied that it was too early to evaluate the long-term safety of the vaccine. Which, strictly speaking, was true at the time. But he was willing to risk  contracting this serious disease in order to avoid a possible – not even probable – adverse outcome.

While his decision, in my view, was misguided, he is not the kind of person who makes false claims in the teeth of all the evidence and sticks to that position regardless of all the facts.

Vaccine scepticism

Take Robert F Kennedy, whose appointment as the US Health Secretary in the Trump administration has been described by many as a sick joke. Kennedy has said, in effect, that more people died from the polio vaccine than died from the disease. At the same time – or very nearly – he has said that he is “all for the polio vaccine”.

Dr Vinay Prasad

He appointed Dr Vinay Prasad, as head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research, who had been a critic of aspects of Covid vaccine policy. In his FDA role, Prasad opposed Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine application by issuing a so-called ‘refusal to file’ letter.

According to the Los Angeles Times, this letter “was more than merely a rejection of Moderna’s clinical testing of the vaccine; it was a refusal even to examine Moderna’s data, which the company says was derived from tests on nearly 44,000 subjects”.

The report continues: “The FDA reversed itself Wednesday [17 February], bowing to an appeal by the company, Moderna announced, saying the FDA will now review its application to license the flu shot. But the reversal only underscored the chaotic decision-making at the agency.”

What this appears to indicate is that decisions are made, not on the basis of facts or scientific analysis, but on feelings. One wonders what this means for the future of the pharmaceutical industry worldwide.

What this appears to indicate is that decisions are made, not on the basis of facts or scientific analysis, but on feelings

Prasad is reported to have left the role in April.

The US Health Secretary does not accept that HIV causes AIDS, but believes that the development of HIV is vaccine-related. He believes that vaccines, paracetamol, and circumcision cause autism. He has suggested that Covid-19 targeted certain ethnic groups. He has mused that endocrine disruptors may cause gender dysphoria and that school shootings may be linked to increased use of antidepressants in adolescents.

When a high-profile government official repeatedly spouts such ‘views’, is it any wonder that so many people on social media have long ago waved goodbye to any connection with provable reality? They have found their tribe, their sense of belonging, and take pleasure in thinking themselves persecuted for their ‘truth’ telling.

There is only so much of this that I can take, so I have developed several strategies to escape from the grimmer realities of the world in which we currently live. If you would like to know more, you can read my account here: tomdoorley.substack.com

Wine of the Month

There’s always a risk that, when we think about Chile, it conjures up the wines that have made it a favourite of Irish wine consumers, ie, pretty basic Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc, often with a seasoning of oak.

Well, there’s a lot more to Chile than that and I have a glorious and keenly priced example for you right here: Leyda Neblina Riesling 2021 (€19.99, O’Brien’s).

Anyone who still thinks Riesling is sweet, it will come as a shock, because it’s not just dry, it’s as dry as a bone. And bracingly fresh with cool climate (helped by Pacific Ocean fog) aromatics of lemon zest, lime, flowers, and zippy acidity. Great with Thai flavours or oysters.