A Spooky Story for a Spooky Time

Gather ‘round. Let me tell you a story. It may feel familiar, but keep reading to the end. You’ll surely be surprised.

There once was a nation embroiled in politics. In the thick of their political passions, a virus emerged. It struck the people of this nation in waves, the first one smaller. The president ignored the virus, as did many local politicians. Much of the media ignored it at first too, not wanting to hurt morale or detract from the president’s ambitions.

Doctors tried to warn the public to distance from each other, to wear masks. But voices with other agendas drowned them out. The media parroted these voices, and the people parroted the media.


I refuse to live in fear. Fear is the real enemy.

It’s just the regular old flu.

There is no reason to be alarmed.

Our enemy across the ocean purposely spread this illness to us.


Soon a pattern developed around the country: Downplay, distract, die.

Fringe doctors and con men began to loudly tout untested, sure-fire, silver-bullet prophylactics and cures for the disease, and ads popped up everywhere peddling such remedies.

Quinine.

Disinfectant injections.

Common over-the-counter medications and supplements.


Downplay, distract, die.

Meanwhile, the second wave rampaged the country. It took many, many more lives than the first.

Some cities tried to shut down shops and restaurants to prevent the spread of disease, but it only really helped in places where people fully embraced the idea that they needed to isolate from each other.

Scientific studies began to circulate before they were peer reviewed, meaning they were far from complete. There just wasn’t time to wait around. But many of these studies were poorly conceived, poorly executed, and poorly analyzed. Some were downright fraudulent. They should never have seen the light of day.

Many homeopaths claimed 100 percent cure rates from their herbal remedies, stealthily removing all the dead patients from their rosters.

Downplay, distract, die.

The country’s official death count from the virus was 675,000. Globally, many millions more died. These statistics are likely vast underestimates of the total mortality.

Now here’s the astonishing twist: this is not the story of the Covid-19 pandemic. It may as well be, but it’s actually a book report on John M. Barry’s The Great Influenza, which chronicles the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Scientific innovation has progressed to the point that we now have the ability to end the Covid-19 pandemic using highly effective vaccines coupled with basic public health measures. But over the last century, much of the public has not progressed in their understanding of how science works, what it offers us, and what it is not, resulting in an extreme vulnerability to misinformation. And so, even though it no longer has to, the same pattern continues to ring in our ears today:

Downplay, distract, die.