In the rogues' gallery of right-wing propagandists, I find none more odious than Tucker Carlson, the Child of Privilege that has gone full-on neo-Nazi. He was born wealthy, he doesn't have to push insane conspiracy theories to make a living... well, nobody does, but it's especially galling because Tuck seems to be doing so out of sheer malignity.
Carlson's latest outrage is his claim that elderly COVID-19 victims would have died anyway:
In a report from July of last year, the CDC itemized all deaths from February to May 2020. Found the median age of death from Covid was 78. At that point and for all 12 months of 2020, life expectancy in the U.S. was younger than that. It was 77. Do you think they hyped Covid a little bit? They did. The median age of people dying is older than life expectancy, they hyped it. But it didn’t slow Joe Biden down. Today, he said the administration wants to go door-to-door to make people take the vaccine.
Even if the raw statistics are true, many younger Americans have died of COVID-19, as this heartbreaking Twitter thread by Dr Cleavon Gilman documents. This doesn't even take into account the long-term effects of COVID-19 on survivors. Anecdotally, I know of a woman in her 50s who has suffered permanent cardiac damage as a result of the virus, and I have a neighbor who still has headaches after her recovery a few months ago.
My friends who died of COVID-19 were an 85 year old with a remarkable biography, and a 69 year old man with an effusive, dynamic personality. They were both seniors, they were both beloved members of the community. These are the people that Tucker Carlson dismissed with his glib distortions.
Post title taken from this classic song from my youth:
As for myself, I'm old enough to remember when Fox talking heads were ranting about 'death panels'.
Life expectancy = a child born today can expect to live to age X
ReplyDeleteThe life expectancy of a 77-year-old = 10 years for men, 11.6 years for women
It's almost as if F*cker is exploiting his viewers ignorance and innumeracy.
Shocking!
I was born in 1958. I do not have personal understanding of what happened before me, or what will come after i am gone.
ReplyDeleteThe old people told me stories about war and murders and economic turmoil and corrupt politicians and losing our cities and our fields and country side. Most of my family went with the Republican party because they were just too tired.
As peasants, we always have to make decisions.
I think they made the wrong decision. Most of them chose trumpism.
At least they are not here to see what is happening.
I think i need to talk to a therapist about this.
Meanwhile, older people might have something to say.