The liberal press suddenly becomes concerned about the stigma engendered by disease.
During the Covid hysteria, the press, including National Public Radio, pushed mask and vaccine mandates and contributed to the liberal dehumanization and banning from public spaces of the unvaccinated via vaccine passports, while pushing for school closures that deprived public-school children of education and milestone events.
But when it comes to the gay community, the emphasis is on reserving judgment and preserving personal freedom: No shaming, no lectures about even temporarily reining in promiscuous behavior, or else you risk “stigmatizing people” with homophobia.
Rachel Treisman is a NPR journalist Morning Edition warned on Tuesday: “As monkeypox spreads, so do concerns about stigma.”
The lead, relying on the unreliable World Health Organization, was just as anti-science.
When the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a public health emergency over the weekend, it also warned of another threat to society:
“Stigma and discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus,” said WHO Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In fact, the WHO emergency committee that had previously considered whether to issue such a declaration was unable to reach a consensus in part because of concerns Concerning the potential for stigmatization, discrimination and marginalization of the most affected communities by the virus.
The global monkeypox outbreak appears to mostly affect men who have sex with other men. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 98% of people diagnosed with the virus between April and June in more than a dozen countries identify as gay or bisexual men, and the WHO says that 99% of U.S. cases are related to male-to-male sexual contact.
Public health can then target the communities at greatest risk with their messages and interventions. However, it can also stigmatize these populations and instill complacency within others who may still be at risk.
As “NYC Angry Mom”On Twitter, the following was argued: “Did@NPR care to stigmatize people for expecting basic human companionship. Education, showing faces and keeping basic medical information confidential during COVID?”
Treisman relayed the fact that monkeypox nearly exclusively affects gay men. He then used basic math to prove otherwise.
Public health experts stress that monkeypox is relevant to everyone, since it can spread through skin-to-skin contact and potentially contaminated objects like clothing or towels. Viruses can also infect anybody. The U.S. has already documented two cases of monkeypox in children, for example.
NPR maintained its monkeypox misinformation.
At a Tuesday briefing, White House adviser Dr. Ashish Jha urged people not to “use this moment to propagate homophobic or transphobic messaging,” instead encouraging them to stick to evidence and facts, and to do so respectfully.
NPR couldn’t ignore the politically inconvenient truth that “about 95% of infections are transmitted by sexual contact,” mostly among gay men, but discouraged public health from admitting it, in order to avoid “stigma.”
Titanji, a clinical researcher says that it is dangerous to mislead the public with health messages to suggest monkeypox does not concern anyone except men who have had sex.
Treisman quoted a spokesman for Gay Men’s Health Crisis, who ironically noted the importance of not shaming people over disease, and how the gay community should be given the chance to approach decisions about sex “with self-love and acceptance,” whatever that means.
A shame the left and its media allies didn’t follow that advice before shrieking about “killing grandma” at people who dared show their faces in public or engage in human companionship during the height of Covid hysteria.
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