David Zweig

Thanks for having me.

Thanks for having me.

yeah i think you were quite prescient obviously this was not the right thing to do i wrote a 450 page book about why this was not the right thing to do and in my view this was possibly the worst, other than people who died from COVID, this was the worst result of the interventions that the public health professionals had implemented during the pandemic.

yeah i think you were quite prescient obviously this was not the right thing to do i wrote a 450 page book about why this was not the right thing to do and in my view this was possibly the worst, other than people who died from COVID, this was the worst result of the interventions that the public health professionals had implemented during the pandemic.

This was a catastrophe that could have and should have been avoided. And that's what I discuss in the book at length.

This was a catastrophe that could have and should have been avoided. And that's what I discuss in the book at length.

It's quite an extraordinary circumstance that the degree of tribalism that occurred during the pandemic and still does now in certain respects. And as you described it, I mean, I occupied a pretty rare lane where I was writing a lot of pieces in Wired, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, pieces that really challenged the establishment view.

It's quite an extraordinary circumstance that the degree of tribalism that occurred during the pandemic and still does now in certain respects. And as you described it, I mean, I occupied a pretty rare lane where I was writing a lot of pieces in Wired, The Atlantic, New York Magazine, pieces that really challenged the establishment view.

But I was doing it from the establishment and I was maligned. You know, I mean, very early on, I was called a murderer, you know, a trumper, et cetera, et cetera, all for just pointing out the evidence. That was it. I approached this topic apolitically. as a journalist with my features, and then certainly with the book, that I have no agenda, not trying to win points.

But I was doing it from the establishment and I was maligned. You know, I mean, very early on, I was called a murderer, you know, a trumper, et cetera, et cetera, all for just pointing out the evidence. That was it. I approached this topic apolitically. as a journalist with my features, and then certainly with the book, that I have no agenda, not trying to win points.

I'm trying to make things clear to the American public. This book is almost like a case study of the failure of the expert class.

I'm trying to make things clear to the American public. This book is almost like a case study of the failure of the expert class.

Yeah, don't hold your breath on that, unfortunately. I mean, look, people are generally not inclined to admit when they were wrong. You know, what I- David, I'm gonna stop you.

Yeah, don't hold your breath on that, unfortunately. I mean, look, people are generally not inclined to admit when they were wrong. You know, what I- David, I'm gonna stop you.

Well, you're obviously the exception, not the rule. Most people, and perhaps particularly so in media, corrections on things are not always forthcoming. One of the things that I think you'll find interesting is that, and that hopefully your audience will, is that

Well, you're obviously the exception, not the rule. Most people, and perhaps particularly so in media, corrections on things are not always forthcoming. One of the things that I think you'll find interesting is that, and that hopefully your audience will, is that

In the book, one of the things I try to show is that a lot of the way the media covered the pandemic, and in particular children in schools in America, it's not necessarily that there were factual errors, although there were plenty of those, but rather what I try to show is how it's really through framing. It's the information that's left out And it's the particular kind of the same pundits.

In the book, one of the things I try to show is that a lot of the way the media covered the pandemic, and in particular children in schools in America, it's not necessarily that there were factual errors, although there were plenty of those, but rather what I try to show is how it's really through framing. It's the information that's left out And it's the particular kind of the same pundits.

There is this one emergency medicine physician who now got rewarded by being put in charge of one of the public health schools at Yale for her punditry.

There is this one emergency medicine physician who now got rewarded by being put in charge of one of the public health schools at Yale for her punditry.