Masks, Hydroxychloroquine, and a Reason to Vote Green

A reluctance to wear masks is one of the hallmark idiocies of Trump supporters.  Fortunately, reason prevails and even Trump has started wearing masks occasionally, while in most public indoor places in the U.S. masks are required.  Of course, there have been no random controlled trials proving that masks save lives, but observational data and common sense indicate that the inconvenience of occasionally wearing a mask is probably worth it.  

On the other hand,  opposition to the use of hydroxychloroquine is one of the hallmarks of Trump opponents.  It is quite probable that hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved by adopting covid treatment protocols including administration of hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and azithromycin to high risk patients who show the first symptoms of COVID-19 illness.  The effectiveness of this HCQ treatment plan hasn't been proven by random controlled trials, but the safety has been proven over a period of 70 years and is on a par with that of wearing masks.  

But this is not something that you will know if you are a mainstream Democrat and consumer of mainstream media such as the New York Times and CNN.  These outlets have been fearmongering and ridiculing Trump supporters with regard to HCQ ever since Trump made some awkwardly optimistic comments about HCQ back in March.  

Unlike the situation with masks, the fake news about HCQ is conventional wisdom.  This demonstrates that the Democrats and mainstream media have the upper hand in terms of misinformation and are a greater danger than is Trump.  This follows the path set by Russiagate and identity politics cancel culture, which are all good reasons to vote Green, and to not vote for Joe Biden.

See also https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/14/a-failure-but-not-of-prediction/ Goofus and Gallant ==>

In case you’ve been hiding under a rock recently (honestly, valid) the media not only failed to adequately warn its readers about the epidemic, but actively mocked and condescended to anyone who did sound a warning. Real Clear Politics has a list of highlights. The Vox tweet saying “Is this going to be a deadly pandemic? No.” Washington Post telling us in February “Why we should be wary of an aggressive government response to coronavirus (it might “scapegoat marginalized populations”). The Daily Beast complaining that “coronavirus, with zero American fatalities, is dominating headlines, while the flu is the real threat”. The New York Times, weighing in with articles like “The pandemic panic” and “Who says it’s not safe to travel to China”. The constant attempts to attribute “alarmism” over the virus to anti-Chinese racism. Etc, etc, etc.

One way people have summed this up is that the media (and the experts they relied on) did a terrible job predicting what would happen. I think this lets them off too easy.