Monthly Archives: March 2021

You love the NHS, right? Well there was a time when the railways and utilities were owned by all of us and when social housing was not stigmatised and students didnt face a life of debt. The 1960s and 70s were no utopia, but maybe we have lost something incredibly valuable in our rush to put the individual over the collective.

How can you write an elegy to the past that informs a better future? This is the task author and broadcaster Stuart Maconie set himself when he wrote The Nanny State Made Me: In Search of A Better Britain, his paean to the post-war welfare state, the main thrust of which is to convince a new audience that we should be re-evaluating those decades. Community, statism, public ownership society call it what you will, Maconies thesis is that the past 40 years have been spent dismantling the states ability to manage society in the interests of the majority and portraying the years between 1945 and 1979 as the bad old days of strikes, inefficiency and decline. He says we have been sold a lie.

Maconie examines the positive aspects of this rich, complex era from accountable public ownership, stigma-free social housing, student grants and, perhaps more than anything, an acceptance that there were some aspects of life that should be kept away from the excesses of carpet-bagging capitalism. Theres plenty of nostalgia in this book: Maconie is typically romantic about the importance of libraries, working-class culture and life on the dole. But more than anything, The Nanny State Made Me (now out in paperback) is about reclaiming the sense of belonging to a shared society and the common purpose that could provide in the age of social media and the gig economy.

GQ How did you go about writing this without making it just a nostalgia trip?

SM I was aware of that and I tried to have to acknowledge it. I could see that I could be accused of sentimentalising the past and I was also very aware that I could seem the ultimate centrist dad. But good things are worth romanticising. I'm not saying the music of the past was any better or the food or the clothes or anything like that, but I am saying that the way we organised our water supply was better, as an example. For half a century we've been fed a false narrative that goes unchallenged that we had to dismantle all that because it wasn't working and we had to put our country in the hands of thrusting, virile entrepreneurs and private enterprise. And that's almost been an article of faith by successive governments since. Critics often say, You're romanticising the past but I think we are demonising the past and romanticising what we replaced it with. So we're seeing the 1970s as all football violence and British Leyland being on strike forever. But you can read it another way: that after the Second World War we reached a political settlement that did pretty well. We ushered in the new Elizabethan era of the Beatles and brilliant telly and brilliant comedy, a lot of which I think was to do with the supportive state system in schools, health and housing. And we're the only country in Europe to pretty much dismantle that and flog it off. And we've made ourselves kind of meaner, cheaper, sicker. I just wanted to say this narrative we've been fed since 1979 is not necessarily the truth.

I want to gently challenge this orthodoxy that the state is bad and business is always good. I am not anti-capitalist. I'm not anti private enterprise. But weve seen the downside of men in shiny suits running things during the pandemic.

We've made ourselves kind of meaner, cheaper, sicker. I just wanted to say this narrative we've been fed since 1979 is not necessarily the truth

It's a difficult environment in which to make your case because you're going up against those 1970s stock images of bins piled up in the street or the gravediggers on strike.

You get a lot of slightly smirking commentaries that go, Everybody knows the 70s were terrible? But were they? The case got a lot easier when, within two or three days of the book going on sale, the lockdown started. It closed the bookshops but was a great marketing strategy because when it comes to the crunch, who stepped up? Overnight, we found out that the business people were nowhere to be seen. They were leaving and begging for money and it was the binmen and nurses who became the heroes.

Just the ideas of state education or social housing are often portrayed as inherently negative now.

We're pretty much alone in Europe on this attitude. Look at Norway, which I know quite well. Its a centre-right country but the Norwegians I know think we are crazy getting into all this debt so you can buy houses that are assets for the future. So why don't you just rent nice houses? They've got a proper social housing sector. But cuts to social housing here have made it seem remedial, like comprehensive education. It's like that attitude of Only losers take the bus.

Apart from the NHS, every aspect of public ownership has been stigmatised. How do you turn that around in a world that is very different to 1979?

Well, we're going to have more and more of those little pinch points. Look what happened to Uber [who've been ordered to pay minimum wage, holiday pay and pensions]. As for the internet, that is way too important to be left a Mark Zuckerberg. People say you can't do anything about it, but you could have some form of state regulation of the internet though not for the same reasons the Chinese do. A kind of digital sovereignty if you like.

Cuts to social housing here have made it seem remedial, like comprehensive education. It's like that attitude of Only losers take the bus

Going back to Norway, you recount a story of a friend who was amazed how blas Brits were about tax evasion.

She said the idea of grown people around the dinner table in North London or wherever saying Ive got a marvellous accountant and he really reduced my tax bill was shocking. She said that would be like in Norway boasting youd done a runner from a restaurant. And she also said the idea of moving to a different postcode to get your children into a better school was insane to Norwegians. To them that would be like moving to get a different water supply. You should get a decent standard of education wherever you are.

What about the symbolic value of public ownership and a decent welfare system?

I think the idea of a shared endeavour is something we've lost and has become unfashionable. Even among the politics of the left in the past few years, we have seen a move to the idea that individual empowerment and individual emancipation is the most important thing in the world. That expressing yourself and being yourself is the greatest human goal. I'm sure it is great. But, to some extent, subsuming your own personal stuff is quite a good thing as well.

The NHS is the last remnant of that idea, isnt it?

I think it might be because when the welfare state was established, the NHS was its symbolic heart. And I think in many ways, that is in our deep national consciousness, all wrapped up with the victory over fascism, the end of the war and the new optimism. I think that is very much intertwined in our minds. Its such a part of our identity and it impinges upon us all. We don't all join the army and we may not all use libraries, but at some point, we will rub up against the National Health Service often at times when we are fearful and vulnerable.

Theres a lot of stuff about libraries in the book. Whats the potted version of why libraries are important in 2021?

A modern library isnt just a place where you take books out though that would still be a good thing. I'm celebrating the place where you can get advice, and where you can see a performance or be in a shared cultural space. Do we need places where you go and put six books under your chin? Maybe not. But do we need a place where you can go for information that you don't have to pay for? I think that's still really important. I'm extending the idea of the library to a shared space.

How do you assess your argument against the negative aspects of the post-war consensus, especially in culture for example, racism or sexism?

That's an interesting point. I am really not celebrating the entirety of that culture. We are talking about the mores of the past. I don't think the culture that made punk rock, for instance, was racist or sexist. But side by side with that were simple things we didn't used to question as we do now, like the use of our language. I think we now realise that the simple, everyday language people used needed to be challenged. I would hope my book is different to a right-wing writer who wouldnt argue that council housing or state education was better but that it was marvellous you could say anything you wanted about anyone. Im saying the economic and social fabric was better back then and Im sure right-wing writers would say the opposite. I dont mind at all that we are moving towards a culture that challenges entitlement.

What about the link between the politics you write about and the culture that was created in those times?

I want to again make the point that I'm not anti-capitalist or anti private enterprise, but I don't think you could have had The Beatles without council housing and state education. And I think the same applies to a lot of writers, playwrights and musicians. But I do think that, in both the production of an educated citizenry to appreciate it, and an educated citizenry to make it, it was really, really crucial. And this is one of my arguments against the culture we're experiencing now. I've got nothing against the actors or musicians who've been drawn from privately-educated worlds of what you might call the upper-middle classes. I know a lot of these people and they're nice people. The issue is that if you only have those people exclusively, you get one view of the world and it will be quite often, by definition, an accepting view of the world rather than a critical or dissenting view of the world. It will include one particular kind of art and art that always just makes you feel comfortable.

What about the role of benefits and grants?

Its about removing the kind of fear from people's lives. Of course, a lot of great art was made by working-class people in hardship. But if you exist in the precariat, as its called, if you're completely at the whim of the gig economy, you wont have the time or inclination to write or make music. What we had in those days was a culture that said you will be to a certain extent protected and provided for. You also need to see people who look and sound like you.

Before we rolled back the state completely, there was more of a feeling that we were not that different from each other. But I think as we've got rid of council housing and libraries, and as all kinds of things are fragmented, then I think our differences have made us feel very different

How does the notion of class inform your book?

Before we rolled back the state completely, there was more of a feeling that we were not that different from each other. But I think as we've got rid of council housing and libraries, and as all kinds of things are fragmented, then I think our differences especially economically have made us feel very different. And that applies to the right and the left. Our loyalties have become both less tribal to class and more tribal in the sense of very small micro tribes, which can be just a handful of people like you who agree with you.

You point out polling that suggests there is a broad, probably under-reported, support for public ownership. How does that butt against a media that doesn't really want to follow that agenda?

The way our country is owned and run now is so opaque. I don't think people realise this. I think that's absolutely true. Imagine if you went up to someone in the street and said, Who do you think should run the prisons? Do you think it should be the government or a company that makes bin bags? I genuinely don't think a lot people know who runs what. The irony is that our electricity supply is in state hands. It's just the French state. We have this weird and arcane system where we've flogged off everything, but most people dont realise that Seven and Trent Water arent the water board. You see with Matt Hancock giving his mates a test and trace contract, and people are beginning to go, hang on? Well, hello, this is how we've run the country for the past 40 years.

Would you concede that there must have been some appetite to get away from the world you are writing about in 1979?

I'm not ahistorical, I'm not saying the 1970s were a golden age. I am saying economically, socially, they're really not as bad as you thought. I don't think it was such a bad time to be a young working-class person, or indeed a middle-aged person. But I do take that point. And I am not saying that there was the golden age that we got rid of. We had an ideological revolution as ideological as the 1979 Iranian Revolution. It was absolutely driven by fundamentalist ideologues. With no great public appetite for it. I'm sure the average man and woman in the street would have said I wish people weren't on strike as much, but I'm not sure if you'd said to them, Do you want the trains to be privatised? there was any great public appetite for that. It wasn't all done for the good of the country. It was done, in many cases, for the good of a particular class and a small section of the country.

You always end up sounding like you're pining for the days when everyone had to watch the Morecambe & Wise Show or whatever. But I do mean we have lost a sense of some shared life experiences, and the celebration of shared life experience.

In lockdown weve learned how much we really missed other people. Sartre said Hell is other people, but I think we see heaven can be other people, too. Lots of the great things we do, we do together

How might that message be communicated and nurtured among Millennials and Gen-Z?

To an extent they're already grasping it. The pandemic has shown we cannot just depend on the very thin network of commerce to get us through. There is a generation that's grown up simply not knowing that once upon a time we had secure council housing. But how do we inform people? I don't know, maybe you write books about it?

Is there is a conflict between the idea of the sanctity of individual identity and the idea of collective action and subsuming yourself into something greater?

We saw on Clapham Common that people getting out with other people is a good way of showing your anger and protesting. Its much more effective than signing a petition. So I think it's interesting. I think that kind of collective communality may be making a comeback.

In lockdown weve learned how much we really missed other people. Sartre said Hell is other people, but I think we see heaven can be other people, too. Lots of the great things we do, from collective action, or suffragettes, to being in a football crowd, lots of the best things we do, we do together. When we emerge from this, we will value the simple stuff like being able to give someone a hug or shake their hand. We might think how important that is to us and all that it implies, in its wider political resonances.

The Nanny State Made Me: In Search Of A Better Britain, Penguin, 9.99

Labour needs policies now: 2021 should be the year of ideas

The origins of The Specials Ghost Town (and why it eerily resonates today)

Domestic abuse after lockdown: controlled, confined and cut off

See the rest here:

Stuart Maconie: The pandemic showed Britain the value of shared experience. The collective is making a comeback' - British GQ

You could say it began with a smoothie. In the summer of 2018, Jordan Younger, otherwise known as @thebalancedblonde (228,000 followers on Instagram), posted a big anti-inflammatory cinnamon spirulina smoothie bowl on her popular account. Pea-soup green and sprinkled with cinnamon, it beckoned to Caroline*, a 29-year-old PR representative based in Los Angeles, from her Popular page like a beacon of good health. Maybe this was the answer to the mysterious stomach ailments that had plagued her for years. Her profile was like, I tried eating this way, and it cured my lifelong stomach problems!, recalled Caroline. @thebalancedblondes perspective on traditional medicinethat it often overlooked root causes in favor of quick fixes and overmedicationresonated.

But after a while Caroline started to notice that, in between dreamy shots of Youngers Brentwood kitchen and photogenic, plant-based recipes, she began promoting alternative healing methods, like water fasting. Caroline found them a bit too out-there. When the pandemic hit, Younger made her stance on vaccines plain: In an October 2020 podcast she proclaimed that she would not personally be getting a Covid-19 vaccine. I have some really strong opinions about [vaccines]perhaps I will bring on my holistic doctor to talk about that soon and our thoughts on diseases that are caused by vaccines in this country, she said. [Its] very, very corrupt. For Caroline, this went too far. She began to question all the advice the influencer had given over the years. While Im into functional, Eastern medicine, I think its dangerous to ignore science, she said.

Still, Caroline wasnt exactly surprised. Youngers views are typical of the kind of privileged, whitewashed, holistic health ideology that so often tips into science denialism, anti-vaccine activism, and, in some cases, the promotion of outright conspiracy theories.

There was a time when the language of vaccine hesitancywhich shares certain buzzwords with the language of wellness, wrapped in pleas not to judge, framed as self-empowerment, and bathed in the light and love of New Age spiritualitywas easy enough to dismiss. After all, the average adult, unless they had small children, probably didnt think too much about vaccines. But today, vaccines, and the question of whether or not the population will get them, is one of global urgency. In order for the Covid-19 pandemic to wane, scientists initially estimated that between 60 percent and 70 percent of people will need to develop resistance to the virus to reach herd immunity; more recently, Dr. Anthony Fauci put that number even higher at up to 85 percent. And while those whove had or will get the virus count toward those numbers, theyll also contribute to the spreadand the death tollmaking widespread vaccination by far the safest and most effective way to finally put the pandemic behind us. A November 2020 Pew Research Center poll found that only 60 percent of Americans said they would definitely or probably get a vaccine if given the chance, and while that number is a significant increase from what polls found in September, suggesting a positive trend, it is still woefully short of the target.

Anti-vaxx activists have been vocal; they see this as an opportunity to spread their message.Rene DiResta

Initial skepticism of the vaccine was understandable, even for those who wouldnt have blinked at getting vaccinated in the past: The timeline to introduce the first FDA-authorized vaccine was faster than any that had come before it, and it was heavily politicized, sowing doubt. Within Black and brown communities, decades of abuse and systemic racism have led to an erosion of trust in the medical establishment. But as peer-reviewed studies showing the safety and efficacy of various Covid vaccines continue to pile up, a lingering strain of vaccine resistanceranging from hesitancy to all-out conspiracy theorymay signal something more insidious.

Anti-vaxx activists have been vocal; they see this as an opportunity to spread their message, said Rene DiResta, research manager at Stanford Universitys Internet Observatory, where she investigates the rise of malign narratives across social networks. They sincerely believe that the Covid-19 vaccine is going to be a disaster and that it will convince a lot of people to come to their side.

It may be working. According to a July 2020 report from the U.K.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), the most-followed social media accounts held by anti-vaxxers increased their following by at least 7.8 million people since 2019. Last fall, in searching for vaccine on Amazon, Bloomberg reporters found that two anti-vaxx books had climbed into the top-five results. This past January, the CCDH reported that five prominent anti-vaccine groups had received more than $850,000 in loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program. While still president-elect, Trump met with notable anti-vaccination activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose organization Childrens Health Defense has perhaps the most powerful anti-vaccination campaign in the country, reportedly to explore the possibility of a commission on vaccine safety and integrity. In February of this year, Kennedy was banned from Instagram for promoting misinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines, including the debunked theory that Microsoft cofounder and philanthropist Bill Gates was profiting off them. Anti-vaccination rhetoric has even been used as a geopolitical weapon against the United States: A 2018 study out of George Washington University found that Russian bots were instrumental in fueling the online debate around vaccines between 2014 and 2017, uncovering thousands of Twitter accounts that had been used to spread misinformation and anti-vaccine messaging in the U.S. In doing so, the Russians may or may not have contributed to the dangerous measles outbreaks that started in the Pacific Northwest in 2019, but they certainly eroded public consensus on vaccines. In late April, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that nearly half of all Twitter accounts tweeting misinformation about the coronavirus were likely bots deployed, they hypothesized but could not substantiate, by China or Russia. By December, Josep Borrell, the European Unions top diplomat, was pointing fingers, accusing the Russian media of spreading baseless claims to discredit Western-developed vaccines.

On January 6, 2021, as rioters were storming the Capitol, Dr. Christiane Northrup (@drchristianenorthrup; 753,700 followers across Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube) was starting a six-day water fast at her well-appointed Airbnb. Northrup is a board-certified OB/GYN and something of a den mother to the New Age and anti-vaxx communities. That day, Northrup, whose shoulder-length white-blonde bob and blue eyes and rosy cheeks lent her something of a Martha Stewart vibe, had uploaded a video pledging to consume nothing but alkaline water, with maybe a pinch of Himalayan sea salt, as part of a reset.

In the following days, Northrup proselyted that Covid-19 vaccines would disrupt mankinds enlightenment, lowering our vibrations. The dissonant blend of holistic health advice and conspiracy theory has become a hallmark of Northrups video sermons, delivered in a soothing ASMR voice and sometimes accompanied by her playing the harp. Although she has long been an outspoken critic of vaccinations, during the pandemic Northrup began to reference QAnon tenets like the Great Awakening, a reckoning of religious proportions that will see lightness overcome darkness on earth, and espousing conspiracy theory that the pandemic had been planned by the government with the help of Bill Gates and George Soros. By October she was outright advocating for Q: I want you, personally, to look up Q, she said in an October 12 video. Just go ahead and look it up. You decide.

When Sarah* first encountered Northrup around six years ago, she was a new mom and had recently separated from her babys father. I had no idea what kind of mother I was going to be, she said. She assumed she would do all the regular things, like getting her son circumcised, vaccinated, and having him sleep in the crib shed set up in the nursery. But once she gave birth, everything changed. She was immediately bowled over by the intense love and protectiveness she felt for her son. Suddenly the idea of jabbing him with a needle to protect him from diseases she hadnt heard of in a long time seemed wrong. I thought, Ive got this perfect child, and Im going to do what to him?

Looking for advice, Sarah started reading books recommended by other moms in her affluent white circle of friends, who ascribed to the same attachment-style parenting she was now interested in. One such book was Northrups Womens Bodies, Womens Wisdom. The book, first published in 1994 and now in its fifth edition, presents sound medical advice (like eating well and getting enough rest) alongside woo-woo musings from astrologers and psychics, including a how-to guide to Shamanic Imprint Removal, to heal emotional wounds. It also includes a section titled Vaccines: Helpful or Harmful, in which Northrup encourages the reader to decide for yourself, while at the same time dismissing certain vaccine ingredients as potentially toxic, and drawing a link between childhood vaccinations and the rise in cases of autism and ADHD (a theory that has been consistently refuted). Sarah said she liked that Northrup was balanced, and just presented the facts, and wasnt trying to jam a message down my throat, like with doctors who act like youre crazy if you even ask one question about vaccines. She also liked that Northrup validated her gut instinct to delay vaccination.

Thats like asking me to light my child on fire to save yours. Jen Stoeckert

Fast-forward a few years, and Sarahs son is healthy and mostly vaccinated, and a pandemic is upon us. Sarah is still tuning in to Northrups channels. The Great Awakening, which shes noticed in posts from Northrup and other wellness influencers, strikes a chord. I think intuition is powerful, and some of usnot because we are better but because weve worked on itare able to perceive things beyond whats there on face value, she said. There is a major divide we can see everywhere, and I think there will be an uprising, an upheaval. When I asked Sarah what she thinks of QAnon, she told me, Ive heard about it, of course, but I dont actually know what it is. Should I be following it?

The troubling genius of both QAnon and anti-vaccination campaigns is how innocuous they can, at first, appear. The Great Awakening and the hashtag #savethechildren, two highly effective viral QAnon campaigns, do not scream far-right extremism. Do your own research, the rallying cry of conspiracy theorists everywhere, is a misleading logical fallacy. Facts and data do not have meaning in isolation. They need to be analyzed by someone with enough knowledge and context to communicate their significance. Doctors and scientists do not toil alone in secrecy; rather, there is a strict peer-review process in which research is challenged, evaluated, and interpreted.

There are a number of predictive factors that are linked to whether someone may believe in a conspiracy theory, but one of the strongest indicators is whether they already believe in another one. For New Agers who had already bought into the anti-vaccination movements core tenetsthat the government is lying to us, endangering usthe door was open to extremism and conspiracy.

The meeting point of QAnon and the wellness communityits vaccinesits where everything converges, said Derek Beres, who, along with Julian Walker and Matthew Remski, created Conspirituality, a popular podcast that explores the growing overlap between New Age spirituality and right-wing conspiracy thinking. Before the pandemic, vaccines were not a central topic of interest to QAnoners. But as the virus spread, lockdowns followed, and people were spending more time than ever refreshing their social media feeds, theories began to proliferate that Gates had planned the pandemic for the sole purpose of creating a vaccine mandate that would make every injected human trackable by a GPS microchip. To Walker, the refocus was not a coincidence. I really think that, somewhere in the network of people who were propagating this QAnon stuff, there was an attempt to figure out how to really reach people in [the wellness] community, and they realized vaccines were the way to go.

Northrup declined to be interviewed for this story. A spokesperson wrote to suggest that it would be better to obtain a quote from the real expert, Carrie Madej, D.O., because [Dr. Northrup] learned pretty much everything about this Covid vaccine from her. Madej is a widely discredited osteopath whose outlandish claims about the vaccines supposed ability to rewire our DNA has drawn the ire of the medical establishment. Nevertheless, Northrup continues to post baseless theories about the vaccines on her social media channels.

One thing we know is that when people are trying to evaluate new information, they go to the people they already trust to see what they have to say about it, DiResta said. While the average person wouldnt ask their local barista to look at the funny mole on their back or go to their mailman for dieting tips, to their legions of followers, influencers like Northrup and Younger dont seem like strangers. Theyve been with them through heartbreak and pain; theyve watched them fall in love, grieve partners, and raise their children. Leveraging that trust, these influencers enjoy outsider status even though some have followings that match those of the mainstream media personalities they often rail against.

One of the most pernicious fallacies promoted by anti-vaxx rhetoric is that good health is an individual responsibility and achievement, when it is more often the result of privilege. Northrup and other wellness influencers preach that health obstacles can be overcome with an all-organic diet, exercise, sufficient vitamin D levels and, most importantly, a positive mindset. Walker, who cohosts the Conspirituality podcast, described the phenomenon as this idea of, if I can have this blissful ignorance about how other people suffer realities of oppression and poverty, and that can somehow be unconsciously baked into my spiritual sense of self-reliance and not needing anybody or anything, then everybody else could also be this way, if they were also this spiritually advanced.

Jen Stoeckert (@minimalbeauty; 9,963 followers on Instagram) is a Miami Beach holistic facialist who occasionally promotes vaccine conspiracy theories in between gua sha tutorials and skin-care tips. If you decide not to take the vaccine, youre taking responsibility for your own health, she said. Id personally rather take responsibility for my own health versus, like, the government. She continued: I believe in freedom of choice. As long as youre not harming anyone or the planet, you should be able to have that freedom; you shouldnt be ostracized because your belief system is different. When I pointed out that refusing to vaccinate could very well lead to the preventable death of someone you unintentionally infected, as was the case in the 2015 West Coast measles outbreak, Stoeckert told me, Thats like asking me to light my child on fire to save yours, a common refrain among anti-vaxxers.

The most frustrating thing...has been to explain to people why they should care about other people.Laurel Bristow

If you listen long enough, the natural immunity that the overwhelmingly white anti-vaxxers and wellness influencers preach about starts to sound a lot like social Darwinism, the dangerous belief at the core of eugenics and, in turn, Nazism, that the human species can be improved by breeding out less desirable traits. It also ignores the fact that a daily meditation practice, all-organic diet, eight hours of sleep at night, and sufficient vitamin D levels is a fantasy well out of reach for large swaths of the population. Black, Indigenous, and Latinx Americans have suffered far worse than white ones during the pandemic. It is also these populations that, due to systemic racism and poverty, are more likely to live in food desertsplaces where the availability of affordable, nutritious food is close to zeroand have less access to child-care and health-care options. Arguing in favor of natural remedies that only the privileged can afford in place of a widely available vaccine is to exhibit a toxic strain of the same dangerous white supremacy that has spurred on the QAnon movement.

Though the pandemic has unleashed a torrent of misinformation, it also presents a new opportunity for the medical establishment to rout out anti-vaccination efforts. The word vaccine is appearing in mainstream headlines like never before, along with lengthy explanations of how and why they work. The impact of Covid-19 on our daily lives is undeniable, and could offer the biggest incentive yet for someone to get vaccinated.

DiResta, the researcher at Stanford, believes that social media plays a crucial role in determining which information will ultimately float to the top. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube need to be held accountable for the conspiracy theories allowed to flourish there; greater restrictions, closer monitoring, and further transparency will be vital, and users who spread misinformation should be demonetized or deplatformed. But she also believes that, in order to combat the vast amount of misinformation spewed by anti-vaxxers, the medical establishment will need to adapt to the new digital landscapeand fast. In other words, the sedate press conferences that organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have relied on for decades are just not going to cut it anymore. Places where people are searching for information where theres a lot of user-generated content, theres going to be a narrative battleground, DiResta said. You dont fight compelling stories with a dry table of facts, unfortunately. You have to recognize that a lot of people are responding to these stories because theyre emotional. DiResta recommends coordinated efforts to work with community leaders and other influencers who can share personal stories about being vaccinated, as well as the victims of Covid-19.

Laurel Bristow, an infectious disease researcher at Emory University in Atlanta, represents a new model of communication for the medical establishment. At the start of the pandemic in mid-March of last year, Bristow began posting videos to her then-private Instagram account (@kinggutterbaby; 354,000 followers), explaining to her then 600-person following what the scientific community understood about the virus after she received questions from family and friends. When they asked if they could share these videos with other people who had similar queries, Bristow decided to make her account public. I thought Id make it public for, like, 24 hours, she said. But when she saw how misinformed and confused people were getting over conspiracy theories proliferating online about both the virus and the vaccine, she decided to leave her profile open. By the end of the year, Bristow had built a following of more than 300,000 for her relatable and easy-to-understand videos that explain complicated scientific processes (like how a vaccine works) and debunk conspiracy theories. I still have all my personal pictures up, from like birthday parties and stuff, she said. I thought about deleting them when I started to get all these followers, but then I thought, No, its important that people see I am a normal person.

Bristow usually films her videos right at her kitchen table, against the backdrop of her colorful floral wallpaper and magnet-covered fridge. I think there needs to be a real effort within the scientific community at transparency, and communicating better and connecting better with the general population, she said. If people could see that we scientists are just normal people, who are trying to do the right thing and working hard, instead of these white-coat figures in an ivory tower, theyd feel more trust toward us. Not that its been easy, so far, to step into that role. Bristow has been the frequent target of anti-vaxx trolls, and regularly receives abuse in her inbox. When I asked her what has been the most persistent myth shes had to debunk, she paused for a moment. I think, she began carefully, the most frustrating thing, and the most common thing, has been to explain to people why they should care about other people.

*Name has been changed

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The Virus, the Vaccine, and the Dark Side of Wellness Harper's Bazaar - HarpersBAZAAR.com

Derrick Masangu

Allow me to utter a word or two in your newspaper on one of the traditions that is slowly fading and eroding away, which is the celebration of Independence Day.

Nowadays Independence Day in Namibia is celebrated just like any other ordinary day of the calendar, and even Valentines Day enjoys more momentum and hype than it.

To drift you a bit back, on the 21st of March, 1990, I was barely two years old and I really cant recall anything that transpired during that day and year. Most of the things I know about it have just been narrated to me by my dear mother.

Nevertheless, as I grew up and then started with my schooling I was introduced to the general history of this country (Namibia).

We were taught about how a few brave men and women sacrificed their personal and familys lives by deciding to join the armed struggle to liberate our nation, which they eventually did.

I also vividly remember the euphoria that existed in the 90s when I was in elementary school. I must say Independence Day was a day filled with pride and jubilation. From the dress code, dance to artistic expressions, indeed it was a countrywide thing then. Is it that I was just literally a kid in a candy store then, or have things really changed?

I dont know whether I am just oblivious, but I barely see that today, especially with the youth, consideling the fact that they are the majority! Now one asks the question: What could be the reason(s) to justify this philosophical status quo?

To understand this, we need to go back to the simple definition of the term democracy, as it is the foundation of independence. Democracy is the rule of the people, by the people. Nevertheless, this simple definition carries in itself a more deeper meaning that speaks power to humanity. It engulfs a number of principles, such as justice, freedom and equality. Meaning the absence of any of these principles triggers a sense of exclusion! Our current president has often said: Inclusion breeds harmony, while exclusion breeds conflict.

Namibia is now 31 years old as a sovereign state, with a democratic constitution that speaks volumes to political, social and economic freedom. Namibia has one of the best constitutions in the world, but one may ask a question: Is everyone really enjoying these freedoms and liberties, or is it only ahandful?

From the politicians perspective, definitely they will say yes in order to cover and safeguard their reputations, and maintain the status quo. They will say this by blaming and accusing the youth of being lazy and not being able to create avenues for self-employment and empowerment.

On the other hand the youth s perspective, which I really concur with, is that the government is not doing enough to help them uplift themselves. Yes, we have heard of government initiatives that are aimed at helping the youth with funding and start-up capital for them to venture into projects and SMEs, but I am also under no illusion that these funds often do not reach the intended and needy youth, as they literally end up in the pockets of the same politicians who preach self-empowerment. Can I talk about government tenders? Unfortunately I dont have enough ink to scribble the obvious.

That being said, for me the words Independence Day in the current Namibiancontext mean a day when our ancestors turn in their graves, because of the corruption which has rooted itself in the very nation that they put their lives on the line for. It has cenented itself and rotted out the core of moral cohesion in our society. It is a cancer that keeps on spreading.

There is an African proverb that says, A hungry man, is an angry man so is the case with our Namibian youth today. They have lost hope in our government, thats why they have resorted to all kinds of anarchy, rascalism and hooliganism. Its a pity to say this, but its the sad truth.

A person can endure a warm stove for a while, but the one sitting on a hot one has no patience!

The only way that government will win back the trust and loyalty of the downtrodden and the locked out, is to exercise honesty and transparency.

Let the government not just tell the youth what they need to hear, but do what the youth want to see being done. Sadly, the time to listen to sugar-coated liberation struggle stories is over, and we want to hear visionary stories now.

I suggest that on this day of 21 March, all of us should sit down to reminisce, introspect and have our checks and balances in order as a nation.

We should also have a thorough and deep introspection of our system as coined by our current president in 2020. This will help us in pinpointing where we have gone wrong, and what changes should we make. With the focus mainly highlighting the hopes and aspirations of our youth, as they are the ones who will eventually inherit this country.

In addition, despite all these adversities and frustrations faced by us as the youth, and the nation as a whole, let us try to emerge from these hardships through embracing our presidents declaration of 2021 as the year of resilience. Resilient people will always keep going, even if the going gets tough! If our forefathers conquered the political struggle, then so can we in the economic and current pandemic struggle. The blueprint is already there, as drafted by government, but it needs everyone on board for implementation.

Finally, let me urge my fellow youth to support the sovereign government in making this Independence Day a success. This is the time when we should all put our differences aside, join hands, show solidarity, and march in the spirit of One Namibia, One Nation.

See the rest here:

Independence Day in the Namibian context - Truth, for its own sake. - New Era

The University of Denver is committed to living our values of diversity and inclusion. We recognize that our community and institutional success is dependent on how well we engage and embrace the rich diversity of our faculty, staff, administrators, students and alumni. With that shared value in mind, throughout this academic year, we plan to publish a series of articles to celebrate cultural and ethnic heritage months. In partnership with Human Resources & Inclusive Community and the Staff of Color Association (SOCA), we will feature a staff or faculty member in recognition of each heritage month, along with an event to honor one another and learn about our unique differences.

When Edwina Simms took the job as the University of Denvers director of regional engagement for the southeast region, she refused to be pigeonholed. Not only did her Alexandria, Virginia-based position allow her to build relationships with alumni, it gave her the opportunity to work with students, families, faculty, staff and community partners.

When a global pandemic threatened to isolate her from the community she loved, Simms, once again, refused to be limited.

Its been so incumbent on myself and my regional colleagues to continue to build upon that sense of enhancing community and continuing to connect in different ways, she says. It has really, if anything, allowed for some of our creative juices to flow to find more meaningful ways to connect.

The result was C.U.E. (connect, uplift, empower) the Mic, a series of virtual events open to the entire DU community and focused on inspiring women. Five events drew more than 500 registrants on Zoom last fall and welcomed a panel of DU faculty and thought leaders for interactive discussions and dialogues. From a discussion of the role of the female voice in the 2020 election to a webinar on how to manage your career, Simms aimed to celebrate women in the DU community through education, advocacy, inclusion and mutual support.

It shouldnt just be a Womens History Month opportunity, Simms says. We should be celebrating the actions and achievements of women and uplifting and empowering them in different ways throughout the year. C.U.E. the Mic allows us to bring people into the fold that maybe we had not before, offer mentorship space for our students, offer the opportunity to highlight the level of excellence that exudes within our alumni community as well as our parents, and ultimately bring a better sense of community.

In celebration of Womens History Month, Simms joined the DU Newsroom to share her story.

One of your online bios starts with this sentence: As a woman who believes in serving causes far greater than herself ... What does that mean, and where does it come from?

Its a personal mantra of mine. I have always believed in working for causes greater than myself because we are all here for a purpose and its not self-serving. Its an opportunity for us to serve others. I believe that I am a public servant. In my faith, I believe that I am being used by God to do the work that hes called me to do. I feel its a part of all of our callings to fit into that space to really help push toward supporting equality, equitability or support for all.

How do that mantra and outlook intersect with the work you do for DU?

I see how theres a need for a diversity of thought and a diversity of opinion. Im happy that I can offer or share my personal thoughts, by no means talking on behalf of an entire group of individuals, but I see how my drive to work with causes far greater than myself allows for me to advocate and push for a true diversity of thought and an additional perspective into certain work were looking to accomplish as a university. In observing and seeing the work that has been done so diligently by members of the DU community and also recognizing some gaps, I saw that there was definitely an opportunity that existed with regards to highlighting, recognizing and drawing a greater sense of belonging for women in our community.

Tell us more about C.U.E. the Mic.

When you think about cueing the mic, youre teeing it up; youre preparing for someone to come to the mic and hopefully say something thats powerful, impactful in some way, shape or form. The acronym connect, uplift, empower thats motivating people to say something more meaningful and more powerful.

It was very much a passion project, but also an entrepreneurial opportunity to just home in on things that are so important to me. If theres an absence of your perspective or absence of your identity in the work youre being called to do, I think its incumbent upon you to step up to that plate and advocate for change and advocate for that additional thought or perspective to be present.

In the summertime, with the November general election quickly approaching, [I thought,] why not identify a platform to celebrate women in a unique way that we can also hopefully highlight the [100th anniversary of the] womens suffrage movement? It was going to be just an event to talk about voter empowerment and the womens voice. A colleague of mine said, Edwina, you should make this an actual series, not just a one-time transactional opportunity of thought and discussion and dialogue.

Its not by any means the Edwina show, but rather the University of Denver and our commitment to the public good and ensuring that all communities are celebrated in different ways. We can leverage this thematic series as an opportunity to celebrate and connect and uplift and empower women.

What has it been like seeing your idea come to life?

Its exciting. You have this thought, and you want to see it come to fruition. Then you start to see the gears move and the momentum happen and people actually acknowledge it and want to be a part of it. All of that warms my heart. It also lets me know that the work my colleagues and I put forth is not in vain.

[C.U.E. the Mic] is for everyone. Were celebrating the cultural and social achievements as well as work thats being done to push the needle forward on diversity, equity and inclusion.

I was very intentional with the words for C.U.E. the Mic as far as understanding the importance of allyship and the importance of inclusivity, because there are a lot of ways to be a woman. It is not monolithic by any means. It encompasses so many intersections. For some, womanhood is strength. For others, it could be tenderness. But there shouldnt be a definition of womanhood by relationships, jobs, body parts or anything else. It should be defined by you.

What is your definition?

Particularly as a Black woman, there are so many obstacles and challenges that you face. So the strength that lies within women, the sheer essence of continuing to push through and persevere and be resilient despite all obstacles, that is womanhood to me. I see it, I breathe it, I stand upon strong shoulders of women who have done it far greater than me. And I pray that I can be half the woman that my mother and my grandmother were. I know I have a little woman-to-be whos looking up to me in the same way that I looked up to my mom and my grandmother. Theres a sense of responsibility that comes with motherhood that youre not just doing it for yourself. Youre doing it for all women.

When we recognize Womens History Month and International Womens Day, what are you thinking about? Who are you thinking about?

Im thinking about all the women who came before me and what the future holds for my generation and generations to come. I am celebrating so much of the strength that exists within women I have looked up to, but I have to say, if I had to give you examples, the first and foremost, without a doubt, would be my mother. I think immediately of her and all she was able to accomplish.

My mother was a mother of three. She was a first-generation college student, and she also ended up pursuing paths that even she didnt know she was going to pursue. She was the first woman and African American to become a member of the Florida House of Representatives for District 118. That district, in the southern part of the state, didnt have women or people of color to represent that area. It wasnt until she took that step and had the people rally behind her that she was able to break that glass ceiling.

Looking at and thinking of women like [former U.S. Congresswoman] Shirley Chisholm and seeing what she did, paving the way for who we have now in our vice presidency. You cant help but be proud of those things, acknowledge and see the strength and perseverance and resilience that existed in them. Now it feels like the torch is being passed to all of us to continue to do something to impact the world on a positive level to the best of our ability. However you see yourself fitting in that puzzle, its incumbent upon you to do your work to, hopefully, positively impact society in some way.

In partnership with Human Resources & Inclusive Community, the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, The Cultural Center, Community + Values, and the Staff of Color Association, we will feature a staff or faculty member in recognition of each heritage month, along with an event to honor one another and learn about our unique differences. If you are aware of any events that are happening on campus or have an idea for Heritage Month events,we'd love to hear about themand promote them campus-wide.

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Celebrating Women's History Month With Edwina Simms - University of Denver Newsroom

By Lilian Ndilwa

Dar es Salaam. Phylisiah Mcheni, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at IRIS Advisory Services Africa - a Human Resource and Change Advisory Services organization talks to The Citizen Rising Woman about her experience in the recruitment world.

At the age of 16, I started working for an advertising agency as a sales representative on commission basis. At the same time I was attending a course in secretarial. On completion of the one-year course, I worked as a Personal Assistant for several organizations and from this role, I progressed to administrative assistant for a Marine & Fishing Group of companies whilst at the same time attending a course on advanced certificate in business administration and Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management, says Ms Mcheni.

Immediately upon her completion, Ms Mcheni joined Wartsila East Africa Plant as Human Resource Lead, thereafter she continued with her part-time studies pursuing a Masters degree in Business Administration in Human Resource Management.

Prior to starting IRIS Executive Development Centre, she had worked with Tanzania Cigarette Company (TCC) as Training Manager, Zantel as the Human Resource Systems Development Manager and Barclays Bank as the Head of Talent, Learning and Development.

My journey has really been one of resilience, challenges and great opportunities for growth, says Ms Mcheni.

She says when a person is young, it is normal to dream big, sometimes the dreams can become unattainable depending on ones background.

I had goals and as long as you possess goals, you will not be lost completely. I got detracted from them from time to time but, I would again re-focus, details Ms Mcheni.

She further says; I would not overlook my former bosses who recognized my potential and held my hand and allowed me to learn, presented me with resources and opportunities for growth.

Ms Mcheni explains that the most vulnerable moment of her life was when she lost her husband five years ago.

My entrepreneurial journey has been difficult and toilsome at times but one of the merits that I have acquired from my past experiences is resilience and strength. Nonetheless, each time I fell, I was obliged to obtain strength in order to rise. Thus each time I rose, I was a little stronger and more optimistic than before, she shares.

Ms Mcheni says she is naturally an extremely introverted person and in terms of her leadership style, she focuses more on execution and results rather than inconsequential issues like clocking in and out.

I expect that when I share my vision, then our focus should be on the deliverables, she notes.

Ms Mcheni appraised mentorship as she categorizes it as one of the growth processes in a persons life.

As we move along our life journey, we all need to have mentors, people that would challenge our status quo and way of thinking, when I was working at TCC, I was mentored by Tatiana Dearden and Patrick Foya, who I worked with, she says.

Ms Mcheni has been a mentor with several non-profit organizations like Manjano Foundation in Tanzania and also with Unreasonable East Africa and SHONA in Uganda to assist young start-ups in setting up their human resource infrastructure.

I have also been involved in unstructured mentor relationships with several young women who are in the HR profession, and mostly I would want mentees with a willingness to take feedback, she explains. She says that leadership is enhanced by skills development because in the current transformative working world, we need to focus on building skills.

I would also encourage leaders to make use of Assessment Centres, as the process will help build their emotional intelligence and self-awareness, says Ms Mcheni.

As she addressed lack of diversity in top leadership, Ms Mcheni says women need to continue building self confidence and ensure that they effectively participate in all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life.

We should not wait to be given, we need to take our space as equal partners. We must learn to use our voices where there are injustices and unfairness be it at home, workplace or in the community. Women change the world for the better the question is, are we doing it?, she notes. Ms Mcheni details that part of women empowerment methods is the establishment of women recognition initiatives that spotlights women generally whilst balancing gender. She says these kinds of initiatives can be sustained by encourage culture learning and personal and societal growth.

The society needs to do away with the culture of organizing events that dont add long term value to women, she noted, adding; The women empowerment initiatives should not only focus on providing fishing rods but also on the how to use the fishing rods effectively and opening up opportunities to women at all levels.

My proudest achievement since the establishment of IRIS, is that we pioneered the annual HR summit a gathering of human resource professionals in Tanzania for the past 10 years.

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Journey of resilience, challenges, and growth - The Citizen