This is a long thread.
Like a super long thread.
Like one of the longest threads we’ve written about in a long time.
But it’s well worth your time, especially when you have a chance to look back at the mess our politicians, public health officials, and media have made of the entire pandemic.
Get a snack, you’ll be here for a bit but again, worth it.
You’re struggling to understand why some people are vaccine hesitant. The “let me help you” megathread:
Imagine you’re a normal person. The year is 2016. Rightly or wrongly, you believe most of what you see in the media.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
You believe polls are broadly reflective of public opinion. You believe doctors and scientists are trustworthy and independent. You’re a decent, reasonable person who follows the rules and trusts authority.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Imagine your shock then, when Brexit, which you were assured won’t happen because it’s a fringe movement led by racists for racists, happens. The polls, which widely predicted it wouldn’t happen were completely wrong.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Gasp!
The experts and media pundits who told you it wouldn’t happen day after day are also wrong. “Oh well” you say, “these things happen”.
Imagine that soon after Donald Trump is running for President. You are told by your favourite media publications that he is going to lose.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Yeah, they told us Hillary had a 99% change of winning or something, right?
Some experts say his opponent has a 99% chance of winning. https://t.co/Qa3KwuHFro
Imagine waking up on the morning after the election to discover that pollsters, media experts and politicians you still trusted were wrong again.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Again.
And now, the racist monster they told you would never get near the White House is the leader of the free world.
“How did this happen?” you ask yourself? How could all the people in charge of informing me be so wrong? “It was the Russians,” they tell you.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
THE RUSSIANS.
“The Russians did Brexit and they got Trump elected too”.
Imagine that for the next 3.5 years you watch as the media and the political class run with the Russia collusion narrative. They tell you the how, when and where.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
The dossiers, the whistle-blowers, the peeing prostitutes.
Imagine your desperation for things to make sense again. The Muller Report is coming and it will set your world straight.— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Evidence of foreign meddling in the 2016 election and Brexit is coming to save your unsettled mind.
Imagine your shock then, when you discover that Brexit and Trump had little to do with foreign meddling. The screaming about Russians and Brexit dies down as well.— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Imagine that bit by bit, you discover that events which the media and political class told you would not and could not happen not only happened, but happened without some sort of evil interference. Instead, millions of your fellow citizens voted for them.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Again, you ask “How could this happen?” and again the media has the answer: racism. “Your country is racist”, they tell you. If you’re white, this seems strange to you. Other than a handful of idiots, you’ve never met a racist.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
If you’re an ethnic minority immigrant like me, this seems even stranger. Why would people in one of the most welcoming, tolerant countries in the world want to convince themselves their country is racist when it’s so obviously not?
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Excellent question.
But the evidence is right there on your TV screen. Imagine your horror as a gay black actor is assaulted by MAGA hat-wearing thugs who racially abuse him and put a noose around his neck. He cries while talking about it: https://t.co/nron2IwoXr
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Imagine your outrage as you see news reports of a bunch of MAGA hat-wearing kids from a religious school contemptuously confront a native America elder. Reza Aslan tells you the kid has a “punchable face” and while you abhor violence, it’s hard to disagree.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Imagine that for days you watch coverage of these events, with expert after expert, pundit after pundit, sharing and fuelling your outrage about them. With every word, your belief that you are a good person and that your country is a good country wavers.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
We’re exhausted just thinking back about all of this nonsense.
Imagine that soon after, however, the Jussie Smollett story turns out to be an attention-seeking hoax. Imagine that you quickly discover that the native American elder was the one who confronted the kids and not the other way around. https://t.co/yFDZTbk8m3
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Oopsie.
“If this is such a racist country,” you ask yourself… “why would they need to make up stories of racism?” As you ponder this, you remember that for years now, you’ve been expected to go along with other make-believe.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Why indeed?
You’re expected to believe that whether you’re male or female is not as simple as you once thought. Whatever you learned about biology at school is wrong. You no longer know how many genders there are and it seems dangerous to try to find out.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Imagine reading that the experts at the American Psychological Association say that traditional masculinity is “pathological and harmful”. https://t.co/O2f6vrD4NB
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Everything IS stupid.
Imagine that you still want to believe the media and their experts, but now that requires you to think your country is racist, men are bad and gender is a social construct, whatever that means.
It is at this point that a pandemic emerges on the other side of the world.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
You are initially unconcerned, but as scenes emerge from Italy and other countries, it is clear that something big is happening.
You watch nervously as politicians give press conference after press conference, flanked by experts, to explain the situation.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
The racist Donald Trump shuts down travel from China. In response, the mayor of Florence advises citizens to fight racism by “hugging a Chinese person”. https://t.co/LsiwwHW5gb
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Shortly after, Nancy Pelosi, a respected Democrat visits Chinatown in San Francisco to explain “there’s no reason tourists or locals should be staying away from the area because of coronavirus concerns.”
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Good times.
“Thank God there are some sensible non-racist people who aren’t overreacting,” you say to yourself.https://t.co/5xsbVnbqhr
Imagine watching as Trump doubles down on his racism by claiming the virus may have come from a lab in Wuhan.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
But the UK’s Chief Medical Officer tells you not to wear a mask and wash your hands instead.https://t.co/8tV5KhHTzD
As lockdowns are introduced around the world, you diligently follow all the rules. You stay at home, only go out once and live off savings or government grants.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
You are proud to be doing your part.
Thanks to you and millions of your fellow citizens the first wave of the pandemic does not overwhelm the healthcare system. While thousands sadly die, you’ve helped to protect the NHS.— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Imagine your confusion as the same people who have spent 3 months telling you masks don’t work and you shouldn’t wear them introduce mask mandates. We’re “following the science” they tell you. This makes little sense but a pandemic is no time for questions.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
As you cautiously go to the supermarket, you notice that masks have made people far less likely to socially distance.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
You remember reading somewhere that bicycle helmets work similarly: they give the wearer more confidence and the result is more accidents and injuries, not fewer.
“Silly people,” you say to yourself. “If only they would follow government advice”.— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
You turn on your TV to learn that shoppers at your local supermarket aren’t the only ones who have been ignoring the rules.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Neil Ferguson, the man whose projections were used as the basis for lockdowns, appears to have broken his own rules to get some action with his married lover.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Boris Johnson’s chief advisor, Dominic Cummings, drove half way across the country to ensure he had a better place to isolate. The journalists who berate him for this are later found to have attended a birthday party in breach of the rules. https://t.co/njY2dmd8lK
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
The lockdown continues. However, a man is killed in Minneapolis while being arrested for a petty crime. The man is black. The officer is white. The arrest is captured on video and quickly goes viral around the world.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Imagine your horror as you watch an officer of the law kneel on another man’s neck until he passes out and later dies. “This is disgusting,” you say to yourself. “I hope they throw the book at him”. Overnight, a huge campaign for racial justice springs up around the world.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
No one explains what racism had to do with the incident but they don’t need to. As you know by now, the West is racist and therefore any time a white person does anything bad to a black person, there can only be one explanation.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
The fact that an identical incident happened to a white man called Tony Timpa is never mentioned for context.
While the lockdown rules remain in place, the protests against injustice spill out onto the streets. Tens of thousands of people crowd into major cities.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Context? What’s context?
Few wear masks and social distancing is non-existent.
Clashes with police ensue, and in America protestors loot stores, attack residents and start fires. A retired black police officer called David Dorn is among dozens of people who are murdered in the chaos.— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
The media describe these events as “mostly peaceful protests” as their reporters stand in front of burning buildings. After months of harsh restrictions, the media and political class offer no criticism of protests which violate every element of lockdown. pic.twitter.com/zZoWp19zZS
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Remember this?
After months of telling you to stay at home to avoid spreading COVID, doctors explain that rather than being a mass COVID spreading event, “protest is a profound public health intervention”https://t.co/w16EtCYSy7
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
COVID doesn’t spread when people are protesting.
Big Tech companies go into overdrive to stop the spread of disinformation. All discussions of alternative points of view regarding the efficacy of masks and lockdowns, as well as the origins of the virus are censored.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Ok, this is sorta depressing now.
Attempts to discuss the negative impact of lockdown on health and mental well-being are suppressed.
As the year runs on, with a pivotal American election looming, President Trump promises a huge push to develop a vaccine.— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Kamala Harris, who is later elected Vice President, says that she would not take the vaccine if Trump told her to:https://t.co/w2d6bNhASp
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
*sigh*
On the eve of the election, a publication in America releases a damaging report about Hunter Biden, son of presidential candidate Joe Biden. The story alleges corruption which may involve his father, as well as drug taking, use of prostitutes and more.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Twitter and other social media companies prevent the story from being shared. The media lines up commentators to claim the story was “Russian disinformation”.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
That really was terrible.
And yet here we are.
Once his father wins the election, it becomes clear that several key elements of the story are likely accurate and the laptop from which the information was recovered is in fact Hunter Biden’s laptop.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Meanwhile, the numbers of COVID patients and deaths turn out to have been wrong. For some time, anyone who died at any point after a positive COVID test was counted as dying of COVID, even if they were killed by a drunk driver.https://t.co/jCZD8IBtYR
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Oops.
This figure is later revised again. The number of people who are in hospital because of COVID also turns out to be incorrect. https://t.co/9wqS9AUkph
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Oops again.
Now that racist Donald Trump is no longer President, closing borders is no longer considered xenophobic and is widely advocated for in the media.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Imagine your horror as you learn that the reason thousands of people died in the first wave of the pandemic was that elderly patients with COVID were allowed to be released back into care homes.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
This is especially true in the UK and in New York, run by Governor Andrew Cuomo, brother of CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.
Governor Cuomo’s publisher suspends promotion of his book about leadership during the pandemic amid the enquiry into nursing home deaths.— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
Meanwhile, Texas and Florida which remained open continue to thrive. https://t.co/IB9sJU2wtZ
In the UK, the Health Secretary, the person responsible for saving lives, is found to be cheating on his wife with a married aide in breach of social distancing rules.
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
The man making the rules for you does not follow them.
It is at this point that the vaccine, which you were initially told would need to be given to the vulnerable before restrictions are lifted, becomes the main drive of Government policy and media commentary.— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
The same people who told you Brexit would never happen, Trump would never win, that when he did win it was because of Russian collusion, then because of racism, that you must follow lockdowns while they don’t, that masks don’t work and then that they do work, that protests…
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
…during lockdowns are a “health intervention”, that ransacking black communities in the name of fighting racism are “mostly peaceful”, that Jussie Smollett was a victim of a hate crime, that men are toxic, that there is an infinite number of genders, that COVID didn’t come…
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
…from a lab and then that it probably did, that closing borders is racist and then that it’s the most important thing to do, that the Hunter Biden story is Russian disinformation and then that it’s not, that they would not take Trump’s vaccine and then that you must take the…
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
These same people are now telling you the vaccine is safe, you must take it and if you don’t you will be a second class citizen. Understand vaccine hesitancy now?
— Konstantin Kisin (hee/haw) (@KonstantinKisin) August 2, 2021
And they wonder why people are vaccine-hesitant.
Yup, we get it.