The man pictured above is a medical doctor by the name of Robert Malone. He claims to have invented the mRNA vaccine process and according to him he has been “unfairly” deprived of his share of the glory. Thus he has turned to vaccine misinformation as a form of revenge. Not only does he regularly show up on all the conservative talking head programs claiming anything from COVID really isn’t all that bad to the vaccines are dangerous and unsafe. It was his appearances on the Joe Rogan podcast that caused the furor over Rogan spreading misinformation leading to Neil, Joni, et al telling Spotify to fold it five ways.
An aside: Let’s be clear about this, yes he is listed as one of the authors of the study that came up with the mRNA, but his is the last name in the list and credit for those papers always goes in order of how much input each person had in the final conclusions. In other words, yeah he was part of the team and he probably did do some research that ended up in the paper, but his overall contribution was minimal. This is borne out by what the others listed on the paper as well as those who worked on the project and are not named have said. In other words, he’s the braggart uncle at the end of the Thanksgiving table who claims to have written the current hit song when in fact he was the janitor at the recording studio. Yeah, he was there, but he didn’t write the damn song.
OK, so he’s just another guy looking for his 15 minutes of fame and maybe trying to stake a claim to some possible monetary remuneration for being involved in the process of creating the system by which most future vaccines will be created. But much as he may look like it, he is far from the most interesting man in the world. He may be one of the most dangerous men in the world.
What makes him a little more dangerous than the average vaccine misinformation dealer is the fact that his name is on that paper. Hence while reputable news organizations have refused to allow him to spew his crap on air or in print, those in the ether of crackpot media swoon over him because of his name being on that paper. Whether they or he are responsible for his claims that he “invented” mRNA is a matter of debate. What is not a matter of debate is that he DOES claim to have invented it.
So now he sits on his 50 acre horse farm spinning tales of how he’s been labeled a quack because the whole world is jealous of his genius. In the parlance of the street, he feels he’s been dissed.
Just like someone else in the news who, when he felt he had been dissed by a joke about his wife’s haircut, got up in front of millions of viewers and slapped the joke teller.
And there you have it, toxic masculinity on parade. We can ponder what was in Will Smith’s head as he took those few steps toward Chris Rock and we can make jokes about it. But Robert Malone’s turn can’t be laughed off or even pondered. His toxic masculinity is getting people killed. We should be used to it by now.
The entire history of the world has been a product of toxic masculinity. I have no doubt it began with one caveman wanting what another caveman had: a better cave, fire, meat, Ugga the cavewoman. From that point on it has been the defining algorithm of human history. The hunters coveted and conquered, first the animals, then the land, and finally each other.
We still do it today. Whether it’s caveman Will Smith slapping Chris Rock or Robert Malone feeling dissed and striking out. There is no bigger caveman in the world today than the one sitting on his booster seat in the Kremlin. Attacking Ukraine has plenty of socio-economic, realpolitik reasons, but at it’s heart Tsar Vlad was out there trying to prove he’s the biggest swinging d**k on the continent.
But we can’t have women running the world because, you know, um, well, they’d want everyone to cooperate with one another, build together rather than conquer each other, you know peaceful stuff. Haliburton can’t make money that way.
Oh, and their e-mails.
Let’s let Big Bird and his/her crew sing us out
Shapiro Out
What I find interesting is that a man (once) of science, familiar with the scientific method, and medical information, has decided to make up dangerous disinformation. He knows, in his heart of hearts, better. Members of the “See? That proves it !’ squad will suffer needlessly. Odd, as it is, this attacking proponents of your own message. Not to suggest that he is the first.
Regards the dust-up at the academy awards: I am sure that people have said worse and likely got roughed up back stage, or the next day, or something. This public display is not my cuppa chowder. That said, the Academy itself, I notice, after decades of slapping (figuratively) actors, writers, directors, composers etc of color in the face, comes out against Unruly Behavior, Pot calling the Kettle on the Speaker Phone, and all of that. I find their insults to the afore-mentioned a far greater sin. That also said, speaking publicly, negatively, about another’s spouse does no one any good
Don’t overlook China, which has at least 30 million more men than women. Those “surplus” Chinese men exceed the entire population of Texas — China thus has more than twice the testosterone poisoning of Texas.