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THE DOCTOR IS IN - I just absolutely HATE conspiracy theories, but I really hate conspiracy theories that actually prove true.
Gaslighting and coverups are things we have had too much from our most recent and current President, and from left/right-wing media, and late night talk show hosts who demean large swaths of Americans as stupid, ignorant, or even criminal.
But we deserve better from the expert relied upon by both Presidents Trump and Biden to give us the right answers to the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused the deaths of millions. And if Dr. Anthony Fauci is either a gaslighter, or even a downright liar, then there is a major problem...
...because both liberals and conservatives alike have died, some due to their own foolishness and some despite anything they could have done to avoid their deaths.
And let's not get started on those who've been maimed or disabled by "long COVID", which can be as destructive to those who've survived as anyone who's been through a heart attack, stroke, or scarring pneumonia.
After being told that only right-wing lunatics were decrying that the "Wuhan Virus" came from the same infectious disease laboratory that Chinese medical scientists--fleeing for their lives, and some "disappearing" while others died of COVID-19--were reporting, it does appear that this virus very much WAS potentially man-made.
Man-made by accident, man-made by learning how to minimize future coronavirus outbreaks (like SARS or MERS), and opposed by (and not known by) then-President Barack Obama, but supported (either directly or indirectly) by Dr. Fauci and others who wanted gain-of-function (overall knowledge/treatment-based learning) over coronaviruses.
This virus breaks a lot of the rules for a lot of reasons. Bat-to-human and other zoonoses (animal-to-human) viruses can be dreadful with respect to Mother Nature and evolutionary protection of humans to viruses they're not prepared to resist...
...but if the story of a "bat-to-human" transmission (which I truly wish WAS the case) is a big, fat lie, then we deserve to know.
Lots of economic, political, and sociological change has been thrust on us all, and even the course of human history has been dramatically altered by the COVID-19 virus, which means that there are those who've been enriched and empowered by this new viral pandemic...and they'll likely do ANYTHING to stop this terrible attack on humanity.
Hence it's not just partisan politics that has a GOP-controlled House of Representatives investigate but rather Congress doing its job.
And if the previous House of Representatives did not weigh into these origins in the right manner, then perhaps THEY are guilty of partisan politics...and all the while ignoring the deaths, disabling, and misery of Americans and other human residents of Planet Earth.
And if President Biden, who in large part got into the White House after our economy and quality of life went into the toilet in 2020, is slow-walking the possibility that YES, COVID-19 was man-made in a lab, well that's partisan, too.
So as CNN, CNBC, and USA Today report of the need to learn more of the pandemic, let's get past any nonsense of "those stupid Republicans" and "that monster Trump" unleashed hell on humanity with COVID-19.
Certainly, the New York Times, which is as partisan as Breitbart or Fox News, is not entirely wrong when the Republicans lack a "smoking gun" for a lab leak theory for COVID-19, but they are wrong when it suggests they're pushing that theory inappropriately.
And when Dr. Anthony Fauci describes the suggestions of Elon Musk and others that Dr. Fauci might require investigation and prosecution that he KNEW more about the very-possible Wuhan Lab origins then he let on is insanity, then maybe the "conspiracy theory" isn't as conspiratorial as we once thought.
Maybe the crazies are right on this one, because physicians and scientists of all backgrounds have raised the issue, too--including many who really don't relate to former President Trump and the GOP.
And after being gaslighted that shutdowns, masking and the like would make all the difference (isolation and separation of clustered individuals and proper ventilation and separation, combined with lots of handwashing and other cleanliness efforts), I think a little bit of open-mindedness is long overdue.
Again: I just absolutely HATE conspiracy theories, but I really hate conspiracy theories that actually prove true.
And so should us all.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to his wonderful wife and two cherished children. He was termed out of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) twice after two stints as a Board member for 9, years and is also a Board member of the Westside Village Homeowners Association. He previously co-chaired the MVCC Outreach, Planning, and Transportation/Infrastructure Committees for 10 years. He was previously co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, the grassroots Friends of the Green Line (which focused on a Green Line/LAX connection), and the nonprofit Transit Coalition His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)