If Tobes’ position were truly aligned with reality, not only would he have a wider audience, but he would also have strongly influenced the Government. It isn’t. And so he hasn’t.
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Monday, 16 May 2022
Toby Young Still Down The Rabbit Hole
The loathsome Toby Young is not a stupid man. But he is wilful to the point of turning himself into little more than an object of ridicule, a modern-day example of Liebling’s Law. This law, devised by A J Liebling of the New Yorker magazine, as J K Galbraith later recalled, “held that if a man of adequately complex mind proceeds in a suitably perverse way, he can succeed in kicking himself in his own ass out the door into the street”.
And so, out there in the street, Tobes has been working away on an online publication called the Daily Sceptic, misusing the English language in no style at all. “Sceptic” means someone who is not persuaded, but is in “show me” mode. But, for instance, climate change sceptics are just climate change deniers. Eurosceptics are just anti-EU. Covid sceptics just deny that the virus exists, or causes all that death, or is so serious.
Thus so many who protest that they are mere “sceptics” end up down the rabbit hole, happily spewing out misinformation in an effort to tell the world they are not one of those silly Sheeple, but ending up as tedious contrarians. Take this Tobes gem: “The UK Met Office's latest climate scare story is to predict that a jump in global temperatures of half a degree may occur in the next five years. But what's the truth behind it?”
It’s not really happening! Don’t believe the Met Office!! But then it gets serious as Tobes moves on to the Covid pandemic. “Covid levels continued to drop in England last week, falling to their lowest levels since the start of December before Omicron took off. ONS data also suggest BA.2 may be half as deadly as BA.1”. Let’s look at the actual evidence.
The Government’s own figures show that, although hospitalisations are indeed lower over time, more than 850 people a day were admitted at last update. Moreover, the number of Covid related deaths is still almost 200 a day - 1,389 in the last seven days prior to last update. IT’S NOT GONE AWAY. Never mind, let’s have a face covering scare story.
“Wearing a face mask results in exposure to dangerous concentrations of carbon dioxide in inhaled air, even when the mask is worn for just five minutes when sitting still, a study has found” tells Tobes. Let’s have a look at this study, shall we? “The study, a pre-print (not yet peer-reviewed) from a team in Italy”. Not yet peer-reviewed. Next.
And then comes the totally wacko “Masks have gone in most parts of UK society now, but healthcare settings like GP surgeries remain a notable exception. Why are medics the last holdout of the masking obsession, and what can be done about it?” Precaution is the new obsession! And the great libertarian wants something doing about what others are deciding of their own free will. The supporting article does not help Tobes’ cause.
It tells, for instance, “the scientific evidence for widespread asymptomatic spread is paltry”. Of two citations quoted in support, one says this “may not” drive spread of infection, and the other is from the National Review. The author talks of the “coronapanic”, and asserts “doctors are ignoring the evidence that masks have little or no positive benefit to the wearer or to others” (the “evidence” link being to another libertarian opinion piece).
If Tobes’ position were truly aligned with reality, not only would he have a wider audience, but he would also have strongly influenced the Government. It isn’t. And so he hasn’t.
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If Tobes’ position were truly aligned with reality, not only would he have a wider audience, but he would also have strongly influenced the Government. It isn’t. And so he hasn’t.
https://www.patreon.com/Timfenton
“Masks have gone in most parts of UK society now, but healthcare settings like GP surgeries remain a notable exception. Why are medics the last holdout of the masking obsession, and what can be done about it?” asks the twit Young.
ReplyDeleteWell, perhaps because a GP surgery is full of, you know, ill people and those feeling run down/under the weather. Many are going to have various illnesses and will have a compromised immune system. Which is why they are visiting their GP in the first place!
Do people like wearing a mask? Not particularly. However, in certain setting such as a GP's surgery where patients should be shielded as much as possible and should do as much to help themselves and one another, what's the f@cking issue, Young????
Let us consider the health of the honest burghers of that Japan, who seem routinely to wear masks* even when there’s no apparent reason to. Are they dropping like flies as a result of this behaviour? I think not.
ReplyDelete* Trufax: back in the pre-plague era I found myself visiting Horseshoe Bend on the Mighty Colorado in Arizona. Miles from anywhere. Crystal clear skies. Pollution level negligible. Also there was a busload of Japanese tourists, all masked save their driver. Mind you, he should have had a mask fitted to his arse to muffle the series of long and loud trouser coughs he was emitting on the trudge down to the overlook.
And then comes the totally wacko “Masks have gone in most parts of UK society now, but healthcare settings like GP surgeries remain a notable exception. Why are medics the last holdout of the masking obsession, and what can be done about it?”
ReplyDeleteTwo reasons.
A) Healthcare falls into GP's area of expertise.
B) For reasons not fully understood, GP surgeries tend to attract sick people.
*Ponders thoughtfully* If masks are so dangerous then why are they worn during surgery?
ReplyDeleteNext time Tobes Thickhead has brain surgery shouldn't he respect the medics health and demand that they should not wear masks?
As bad as my work colleague who still insists that only those who have something to hide wear masks...
ReplyDeleteI think a rule of thumb should be:
Get healthcare advice from Toby Young? You are fucked.
Just surprised Tobes, hasn't gone full 'FREEZE PEACH' by sharing the libelous content against food blogger & all round good person Jack Monroe, put out by his mate Lozza Fox!
ReplyDelete@Grumpy: first they'd have to find his brain, which could be trickier than they initially imagined.
ReplyDeleteIt's only a matter of time before hate-pedlars like Young aggregate a British equivalent to the horror in Buffalo. We've already had two political assassinations.
ReplyDeleteSo on this occasion I disagree with you, Tim. Young IS stupid, dangerously so. But of course he isn't the only or even worst example in corporate media.
Goebbels would envy the utter widespread brutal far right evil smeared across British culture. Stupid Young is merely a tiny-minded one-dimensional symptom of it. He:s an intellectually bankrupt crackpot.