Internet Experts
One of the hardest problems about the COVID-19 pandemic is who to listen to. In this “Reddit, YouTube, saw it on Facebook” age, there are hundreds of so-called “experts” explaining everything about the virus. We are told that the virus actually doesn’t attack the lungs, even though most of those who died suffered “lung failure”. They told us that an anti-bacterial, Chloroquine, used for treatment of malaria, was an effective medication for COVID-19. And then there are the statistical “experts” who say that since there is such a low chance of dying from the disease, we should just let it happen.
One of the biggest problems is that the “real” experts, the folks who have spent their careers studying viral infections and epidemics, aren’t giving us good news. They aren’t telling us to “go back to life”, and they aren’t offering miraculous cures. They are saying that they really don’t know how bad this outbreak will be. Their best guess: things are likely to get ugly as we open up our society again, and then again in the fall when we all go back inside.
Easy Answers
We want a miracle cure. We don’t want to wear masks, wash our hands, and socially distance. And when those are the only real solutions offered, we go looking on the “Internet” for something better.
We ignore experts at our peril. It’s happening with this disease, and over 108,000 Americans are dead because of it. We are still doing it with the environment, and pretending that the consequences “won’t be that bad”. “Anti-vaxxers” do it, pretending that they can ignore diseases and not be harmed by them. We go to the keyboard, and find excuses.
We are in an age where everyone can become an expert, just by getting on a computer. And even worse, we don’t even have to read; we can have it spoon-fed to us on YouTube, with cool music in the background and nifty graphics. This instant knowledge, told by folks that are absolutely certain about their conclusions, is more than seductive. They are telling us what we want to hear, and they are absolutely certain they’re right.
And the real experts, aware enough to realize they don’t have the answers look pale and puny compared to the YouTube geniuses. Take Anthony Fauci, a man who has for almost forty years led America’s battle against lethal viruses. “Oh, but he worked with the big pharmaceutical companies, so he can’t be trusted!” He was trying to find vaccines and medications for brand new diseases. Who would you expect him to turn to for help? Sure Louis Pasteur worked alone, but that was one hundred and fifty years ago. Fauci went to the experts, the best at creating medications quickly. And they produced results, for AIDS and Ebola, and for many of the other pandemic viruses we faced.
But it’s not just pandemics and climate.
Balancing Rights
President Trump finds that the Governors and Mayors won’t listen to his “expert” approach to controlling protests over the death of George Floyd. But he can control how the Federal District of Columbia responds, so he has created his own “expert” to control DC – Attorney General Bill Barr.
Washington has a duly elected Mayor, a Police Chief, a large metropolitan police department and a full range of city administrators. But the President seems unwilling to allow those folks to do their jobs. Instead, from an “FBI Command Center” in downtown, Bill Barr uses Federal agents from across the alphabetical spectrum to take over. FBI, DEA, ATF, Bureau of Prisons, Customs Enforcement, and National Guard all are “flooding the battle zone” (a football and warfare concept combined), in spite of the protests of the local government authorities.
And the “expert” Barr has an even bigger “card” to play if he wants to: he’s dragged out the “Insurrection Act of 1807” to allow him to use the US military. He’s stationed active duty troops just outside of Washington. That may be a “bridge too far” for the Defense Department. Defense Secretary Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Milley have just now started to push back against using the military on American streets, late in realizing what may happen. But that might not stop the Attorney General.
The Siege
Bill Barr’s a high priced lawyer. He’s twice been Attorney General of the United States, and both times been involved in controversial interventions in the American justice system. But he’s no expert in crowd control, defending First Amendment rights, or city or police management. His expertise seems to be in one thing only: garnering more power for the President, regardless of what the Constitution says.
It’s hard to imagine Bill Barr watching YouTube. But I bet he’s seen the 1998 movie The Siege starring Denzel Washington and Bruce Willis a bunch of times. It’s when the 101st Airborne takes over New York City under martial law. Mr. Barr must fall asleep in the middle though, because the final message of the movie is that the occupation doesn’t end too well for New York, the Constitution, or America.
