I Think China Gave Me COVID-19 Through a 5G Tower
Some people want you to think this COVID-19 pandemic is, variously, nonexistent, exaggerated, a population control scheme, a bioweapon, or an immune reaction by Mother Earth. If some conspiracy seems to have been missed there, don’t worry. Now, there’s been plenty of analysis and outright nonsense published about the pandemic. I hope this isn’t news to anyone at this late date.
Where does the garbage come from, and why? Do some of these people really believe their own garbage or not? How do you know? How much of a difference does it make if they believe it or don’t believe it? This article takes a deeper sociological look at those questions, depending on the first claim in that opening paragraph.
The Pandemic Myth:
Various kooks and trolls have published various versions of this idea. They say the virus doesn’t even exist. They’ll tell you that the virus is no worse than the flu. Do your own research — a favorite phrase of conspiracy theorists and cranks — and draw your own conclusions. I want to offer some names here, but I don’t want to “help” these people by giving them links. (Keep reading for some notes on what I like to call “mental hygiene”). At least one person online claimed that the death toll is overstated because most of the people who are dying would be dead by the end of the year anyway. Parkinson’s Disease, cancer, or a failing heart would kill some of the older patients by the end of the year, maybe. It doesn’t matter.
Why not? Facts matter don’t they? Whether facts matter or not depends on your purpose. If you want to understand viral diseases or pandemics, then, yes, you want the facts. If you want to sow fear, mistrust, cynicism, and political division, then facts are just window dressing. If you want to troll or annoy or anger, then facts can be useful sometimes.
Controlling the Population:
I’ve seen two versions of this idiocy. In one version, the government is using coronavirus fears to clamp down on the population. Are you sheltering in place or whatever? Well, the government has you where they want you. Maybe the United States government is about to use the pandemic as an excuse to confiscate guns, arrest Christians, sterilize homosexuals, or God knows what.
The second version of this foolishness is even worse: The government (one assumes this is the Chinese government) released the virus to kill lots of people for…well, the reasoning is hard to follow.
The Virus is a Weapon:
Were some Chinese clowns making a bioweapon and it got loose? Is this like “The Stand” or “World War Z”? This silliness feeds into our natural love of having Secret Knowledge about what’s happening in the world. We know governments keep secrets. Governments have experimented with germ warfare in the past. It makes some kind of sense that an accident could happen.
But, how do we know if the novel coronavirus is a weapon or not? We don’t. But we can look at the evidence and do some research. We can found out how bioweapons development works, what kinds of germs have been used and how, and so on. We can also check our sources.
The 5G Connection:
Can 5G signals cause a disease? Are signals from wireless towers activating a virus? Creating a virus? Causing chemical changes that mimic an infection? One doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
In reality, there is a connection between 5G communications and COVID-19 outbreaks. The connection is population density. Lots of mobile phone users live in cities, and when lots of people live close together, infectious diseases have more opportunities to spread.
Correlation does not equal causation. It doesn’t matter if a connection makes sense or fits with your previous experience or fits your political ideology. It seems like activists and pundits and politicians make a point of confusing correlation with causation whenever they can.
Mental Hygiene:
There is a point from Critical Thinking 101 that all of us tend to forget sometime: Get all or most of your information on specialized topics from places that your society recognizes as honest and reliable. If you have disease questions, go to WebMD or Healthline. Don’t go to Becky Jane, Certified Energy Healer, or Brandon Bloom, Reiki Cancer Therapist. Mental hygiene is the simple act of cutting out (mis-) information peddlers.
Think about this: How many people has tobacco ever killed? The tobacco didn’t kill anyone. A chain of events initiated by a person firing up thousands of cigarettes over the years is what normally kills someone. Sure, some Jane or Joe might fall asleep while smoking and burn to death but that is carelessness not tobacco.
This sort of foolishness is almost as dangerous as a pandemic caused by germs. A misinformation pandemic might not kill anyone directly, but it can cause harm. Saying that X never killed anyone is a deflection, a con job, a simpleton’s way of dismissing something they’d rather not think about.
In thinking about social problems, we can run into these same problems. Uncle Ron might know quite a bit about the causes of poverty or about the risks and benefits of owning a gun for self-defense. But, he might not. He might not even be able to judge the arguments he’s heard. Instead of a detailed analysis of poverty or gun violence, he tells you what he read or heard. Does his source know what they are talking about? It can be hard to say? If the source is competent, are they honest? When the issue is contentious and tied up with religion or with political ideology, you can’t assume a source is competent and honest.
I hope this short discussion of COVID-19 foolishness makes more sense now.
