On-Line Piranhas Feed On Fear, Anger To Fuel COVID-19 Lies
Like millions of fans of Monday Night Football, my friend was horrified when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field following a tackle during a game Monday night against the Bengals.
Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest but his heartbeat was restored on the field before he was taken to the hospital, He was listed in critical condition at a medical center in Cincinnati.
Then my friend went down the all too familiar rabbit hole of conspiracies.
“A lot of these mysterious deaths are happening,” said my friend, who will not be named. “I think it’s tied to COVID.”
She is not alone in having paralyzing fears that stop her from getting COVID-19 vaccinations, fears that are based on lies that are being stoked by social network piranhas who make millions off spreading misinformation and fear mongering. Halting the ocean of conspiracy theories is almost as difficult as stemming the spread of COVID-19.
The false information of myths and lies continues spreading over COVID-19, nearly three years into the pandemic, as cases, hospitalizations and deaths rise in parts of the country, while doctors and hospitals remain overburdened. The U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention reported more than 100,000 positive tests in the last week of the month.
Very soon after Hamlin’s accident, right wing social media host and anti-vaxxer, Charlie Kirk, tweeted that the player’s collapse fits in a series of recent incidents involving “athletes dropping suddenly,” something he said has become an “all too familiar sight right now.” The tweet was designed to fuel fears that have been debunked that COVID-19 vaccinations are making people sick or worse. The tweet was quickly copied and repeated to many, many people around the nation, including my friend.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., reacted swiftly and angrily at Kirk for capitalizing on the injury to further his misinformation and his wallet.
“You are absolutely the biggest piece of human garbage that can possibly exist right now. I literally think you are done now,” Kinzinger wrote on Twitter. “Using this tragedy for your BS lies is sick. Sick disgusting human beings. This isn’t politics this is straight up heartless, cold, evil.”
Kirk is founder of the pro-trump, conservative youth activist organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA) and its affiliate Turning Point Action (TPA). He has promoted vaccine resistance and lies among youths and since 2021, he has shared unverified reports of side effects allegedly caused by the COVID-19 vaccines.
Kirk posted a video on Facebook in October 2022 titled “Exposing What the Media Won’t Tell You About COVID Vaxx Side Effects.” In the video, Kirk claimed that the vaccines were developed “too fast” and were “rushed into market” without proper trials and checks. He also claimed that the COVID-19 vaccines have caused an “unusual spike in vaccine adverse events, in myocarditis, in heart-related issues.”
The claims were all labeled as “misleading” by Health Feedback, a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to science education.
Kinzinger similarly attacked other far right anti-vaccine activists, including Stew Peters, political activist Lauren Witzke and retired professional boxer Joey Gilbert.
The New York Times reported that researchers in Australia said the volume of toxic lies surged late last month with the release of “Died Suddenly,” a film that included baseless claims that COVID-19 vaccines set off “the greatest orchestrated die-off in the history of the world.”
The bogus documentary was created by Stew Peters, a 42-year-old, far right media personality and bounty hunter. With no evidence, the film blames COVID-19 vaccines for a spike of unexplained deaths around the globe over the past two years. Peters’ film also cites the so-called “Great Reset Initiative,” an economic recovery plan drawn up by the World Economic Forum 23 years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative and the World Economic Forum have triggered various conspiracy theories such as baseless claims that the COVID-19 pandemic was created by a secret group in order to seize control of the global economy.
Peters produced another anti-vaccine film in 2022, titled, “Watch the Water,” which claims that COVID-19 vaccines are derived from snake venom in order to transform people into “a hybrid of Satan.”
On another of his weekday radio shows, Peters claimed “COVID-19 is a AI Biosynthetic Parasitic Technology, IT’S NOT A VIRUS” and that the “Canadian Government is Promoting SUICIDE to CHILDREN!!!” Another segment took on New York rabbis who were warned that “Sucking Infant Genitals After Circumcision Can Transmit Herpe.”
Peters’ show is sponsored by far right conspiracist, Mike “The Pillow Guy” Lindell. Peters was a speaker at the ultra-conservative, 2022 America First Political Action Conference, where he called for the lynching of Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to the president. In late 2021, Peters was deplatformed from media services provider Spotify because of his opposition to COVID-19 vaccines and government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
An article on “Died Suddenly” was published on Nov. 12, 2022, in the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper, Canada’s leading Caribbean newspaper. The reporter, Simone Smith, the wife of rapper, LL Cool J, wrote that she was “horrified” after seeing the trailer.
“There has been a bizarre surge of people dying unexpectedly, and an upcoming documentary explores the recent surge, a disturbing phenomenon many have observed that coincides with the rollout of the experimental COVID-19 vaccine,” Smith wrote.
She wrote that the film claims to document a “whirlwind of information, some pointing out anomalies being observed on a medical level, including: COVID-19 vaccine inserts being left completely blank, strange blood deformations, and giant blood clots found in vaccinated patients.”
“The vaccine that many of us were coerced into taking might just be to blame for all of the sudden deaths that we are experiencing all over the world,” Smith wrote.
The “proof” of the dangerous effects of the COVID-19 vaccine offered by the documentary include the unexplained 2022 death of a 55-year-old British radio host, live on the air; the death of a 26-year-old Baltimore Ravens pro football player with “no cause of death was given” and the death through “natural causes” of 25-year-old Caleb Swanigan, a former NBA player.
And there were the alleged reports in Italy, where “vacationers were dropping dead from ‘sudden and unexpected’ medical emergencies. Worldwide, beachgoers have reportedly been collapsing while strolling on the beach, or swimming in the water. In some cases, the beachgoers, including children suffered cardiac arrests and died.”
Kinzinger also singled out Lauren Witzke who was not to be outdone as she hoped her anti-vaccine rants would translate Internet clicks into advertising cash.
A self-styled “Christian nationalist” who supports QAnon and white supremacists, Witzke was the 2020 GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in Delaware. She collected 186,000 votes or 37.9 percent of the vote but lost in the general election to Democrat, Sen. Chris Coons.
The 33-year-old political commentator for the right-wing Christian conspiracy site TruNews, Witzke had said that COVID-19 vaccines were part of a satanic plan to cause “mass death.”
“Prior to 2021, Athletes collapsing on the field was NOT a normal event. This is becoming an undeniable (and extremely concerning) pattern,” Witzke Tweeted, adding syringe emojis to the tweet.
Also called out by Kinzinger was Joseph Gilbert, a 46-year-old retired professional boxer, attorney and sports agent, who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol. Gilbert has consistently denied that Biden won the 2020 presidential election.
“There have been too many recent #diedsuddenly cases to deny it anymore. THIS IS NOT NORMAL,” tweeted Gilbert.
Gilbert is the director of strategy for “America’s Frontline Doctors,” a right wing organization that spreads virus misinformation and opposes COVID-19 vaccinations and quarantines, along with other measures to contain the spread of the virus.
Gilbert was a Republican candidate for Governor of Nevada in 2022. He collected 48,156 votes or 27.6 percent of the total but lost the GOP primary to the eventual general election winner, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo.
Gilbert’s Instagram page shows a photo of a supposed cardiologist, with the caption, “Cardiologist who mocked the unvaxxed suddenly dies in his sleep after 3rd covid jab.”
One person responded to the Instagram posting, “Don’t worry. It’s just a stock photo. He’s not a doctor and he’s not dead. But let’s all get really upset anyway.”
Unfortunately the holidays have passed or I would have sent a special gift to all of those who lie about the COVID-19 vaccine and cause untold misery for those who get sick because they were not vaccinated.
For a relatively small charge, a company called “Poop Senders” will send an anonymous three pound bag of cow poop for just $49.95. How about a quart of elephant poop for $17.95 or even a quart of gorilla poop for $18.95.
“We will ship your friend, or enemy, a healthy heap of some of the nastiest, stinkiest, fresh poop packages that anyone has ever seen,”the website says. “We will NOT let them know who sent it!”
Is it real poop? The website answers, “Only the mad scientist that packs this stuff in the back room knows for sure and he wouldn’t tell us, but we do know this, it really smells bad back there, he is mixing up shit, and he does visit the local dairy farm and zoo about twice a week. (We also don’t want the delivery company to actually know what kind of shit they’re delivering.) We can assure you that it looks nasty and really stinks. It will get the point across to your intended victim.”
If you want to comparison shop, there is the Czech Republic-based, ShitForYou.eu, “a unique service, and leading European provider of the largest selection of animal shit, you can send our animal shit to anyone across the whole European continent.”
“We use only shit taken from animals of private local farmers who keep their stock in open ranges — meadows, where the animals live happily in their natural habitat. In case of exotic species we cooperate with leading Czech ZOOs, that belong to some of the most successful and most decorated ZOOs in Europe, such as ZOO Prague,” the website claims.