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A Speech by Dr. Jay
Got sent this last night from Tom Woods, who would make a good guest on any number of Ricochet shows, btw. It’s from our own Doc Jay and I thought I would share:
The great Dr. Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford, in a roundtable discussion headed by Governor Ron DeSantis, said this:
“Dr. Fauci’s been involved in infectious disease control for a very long time. He is a preeminent scientist for a good reason; he is an expert. But in early February, March, we sort of put him on a pedestal…to essentially give his knowledge about a whole range of things, some of which was in his control and knowledge set, and some of which was not.
“And I saw him a few months ago…where he very humbly said, look, I’m giving you my expertise, as an infectious disease expert, on how to manage this disease. I’m not looking at the broader policy context.
“We think about science as giving us all the answers, but that’s a mistake. What science does is tell us if we do A, we might get B…
“It’s up to…non-scientists to make a decision: Do we want to get B if we know the costs of getting B are C, D, and E? Do we really want zero COVID?…
“If you get zero COVID — I don’t know if it’s even technically feasible — we know that we’re going to have to destroy our society in order to get it. We’ll have to get rid of all of our freedoms; we’ll have to make sure that very few people interact with each other….
“Essentially, it’s so high a cost that it’s not worth it. Science can tell us: here’s how you can maximize the probability of getting zero COVID. But it’s up to non-scientists to decide whether it’s worth it….
“You can’t put one person on a pedestal and ask them to make that decision for society. I love that I live in a democratic society where those kinds of decisions aren’t up to experts; it’s up to people deciding together through electoral processes what we value.”
And now Toms follow-up:
That’s common sense, isn’t it?
No “expert” can tell you if costs are worth the benefits, because no “expert” can know your value scale. So when people say we need to listen to the experts as they urge us to dismantle everything that makes a society function and brings people joy, they have no idea what they’re talking about. This is a philosophical question, not a scientific one that any “expert” would have the standing to answer.
Unfortunately, for some people “science” isn’t an ongoing search for the truth and whose findings can help us make good decisions; it is a kind of priesthood. Whatever “scientists” tell us about anything, no matter how far removed from their areas of expertise, these people will obey.
The dangers of this should be obvious.
Not only do we have a priesthood that isn’t even thinking about tradeoffs or collateral damage from their COVID monomania, but we also have tens of millions of devoted followers who will help enforce whatever lunacy the priesthood proposes.
Your hopes, dreams, and livelihood will be placed on their altar, of that you can be sure.
Hence:
Until we can bring people to their senses, it’s worth thinking about how to run your life — and support yourself — via something the crazies can’t shut down in the bogus name of “health,” and that “peaceful protesters” can’t burn to the ground.
And I will drop the rest of the sales pitch from here. Hope this gives you some good news today.
Published in General
That doesn’t leave you many options. People can be inventive jerks.
This is the only thing to remember, when Leftists talk about policies and solutions. They don’t know what you value and they don’t care.
I think Fauci spent 25 years looking for an AIDS vaccine and downplaying treatments. Millions died, but now we have good treatments. Fauci is a horrible doctor.
I should have cut off the sales pitch a little earlier I guess
Tory,
These really are wise words. The hope that the experts can remove our duty to make good decisions for ourselves is a fool’s errand. Democracy is the right system because personal autonomy is the only right answer. It implies both personal freedom in our actions and personal responsibility for our actions.
Thanks Tory.
Regards,
Jim
Wait, what? DocJay?
Not DocJay, another doctor by the same moniker.
Yes, but he said “our own Doc Jay” . . .
I think he should have said Dr. Jay.
They’be been bringing him onto the flagship podcast recently to talk. He’s pretty good at it.
But then . . .
Thank you for the clarification. You all understand my confusion. “Our Doc Jay” has a different connotation for this long-time member.
Yeah, I bet this Bhattacharya guy doesn’t talk about feeding people feet first into woodchippers very often. . .
They need to come up with a better nickname than one almost like our real Docjay . . .
“What science does is tell us if we do A, we might get B…”
But you actually might have to look at different *fields* of science, involving different experts, to tell you that if you do A you might get B and get C but also might get D. The A experts, the B experts, the C experts, and the D experts are different people.
For example, in our current situation you have virologists and epidemiologists who are focused specifically on the spread and containment of Covid-19. But there are also public health people who are concerned about a broader health picture: for example, what is the impact of lockdowns on people getting treatment for *other* diseases? And sociologists and social psychologists may be able to tell you something about alcoholism, drug addiction, and other ‘diseases of despair’ resulting from isolation and unemployment. And speaking of unemployment, there are also the economists…
Well give him some time in the spot light and he see trashing comments about his good works in the Twittervese that will change quickly.
It will be full on chippers.
We went from “flatten the curve” to “zero” because zero was a more beneficial answer politically to the President’s opponents.
The zero is happening all over the world. Not just the USA
Happening, or being promoted as a desirable outcome?
You know who else had Zeros? The Empire of Japan.
Think about that one fascist.
Chosen as a foolish goal by politicians doing there best impression of trying to order the tides back.
Yup. For me, too. I have not heard from him in a long while.
He was on a podcast not long ago. I can’t remember which one.
The Dave Carter show.
I’ll have to look for it. Thanks.