Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Andy Serwer interviewed the co-founder of Microsoft (MSFT) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates about an video from a group self-described as “America’s Frontline Doctors” that went viral on Monday that made “false claims.” Gates was described by left-of-center Yahoo as “a top backer of global public health initiatives,” without mentioning his specific connection to the funding the World Health Organization. Nor did Yahoo mention the Gates Foundation’s sponsorship of pandemic preparation Event 201 in October 2019.
Gates called the “outrageous” video an illustration of how rapidly “a lie” can be spread via social media. He said that such sites “probably should have improved” how they monitor such posts to prevent the viral outcomes like the one on Monday with the “America’s Frontline Doctors” video.
The video took positions at variance with what Gates and Dr. Anthony Fauci have taken on subjects such as the use of masks and the potential benefits of using hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus therapy.
The “America’s Frontline Doctors” video “spread so fast that even though, eventually, the social media people stopped it,” said Gates that “It was so famous that now people are still seeking it out.”
“You can’t find it directly on those services, but everybody’s sending the link around because it’s still out there on the internet,” stated Gates. Yahoo added some color by informing readers that Bill and his wife Melinda “donated more than $350 million to combat the coronavirus outbreak through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.”
Left-of-center CBS News said that the social media platforms “effectively censored” the video “because it made false and misleading claims.”
Dr. Stella Immanuel of “America’s Frontline Doctors” said “This virus has a cure, it’s called hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and Zithromax.” She added, “You don’t need masks, there is a cure.” She said she has treated 350 patients, some with underlying health conditions. “No one needs to die.” None, Dr. Immanuel says, that she treated has died. She is calling it “fake science” that ‘big pharma’ is pushing.
Note that there are places in their video below that specifically mentions when they use masks, and when they don’t. So, their nuanced and specific arguments should not be oversimplified and dismissed based on hyperbole.
There have been claims made for and against that stance taken by Dr. Immanuel, here in the U.S., and abroad.
CBS said that “The video published by right-wing website Breitbart shows a news conference in front of the Supreme Court steps with South Carolina Republican Rep. Ralph Norman.”
Another “Frontline” doctor in the video is Dr. Simone Gold. She is described by her opponents as a “Simone Gold is a “doctor-lawyer-writer-mom” who “has been pushing anti-mask and hydroxychloroquine statements out for months. She claims to have been censored in USATODAY when she made medicine political and is also against medicine being political.”
This post-viral video interview is with Dr. Gold, who viewers who listen to all 9½ minutes of this interview can assess uncensored for themselves whether her medical sources and rationale make sense.
Dr. Gold and Dr. Immanuel are hardly alone about thinking that this issue has been politicized.
Some of what this video by another M.D. published in late April about a rising second wave or ‘surge’ of cases has already seemingly come to pass. Dr. Steven Gundry. Dr. Gundry said in this video that his major areas of study at Yale as an undergraduate was in biologic and social evolution. So, his description of the risks and responses is in some measure framed through that study. Once more, published on April 27, this was during the partial-to-extensive “lockdown” phase of Wuhan originated coronavirus, meaning, the insights and relevance to what is occurring now is remarkable.
The following bullets are quotes from Yahoo’s report referenced above.
- A debunked conspiracy theory about Gates accuses him of seeking to develop and distribute a coronavirus vaccine in order to plant tracking devices in billions of recipients. Nearly half of Republicans believe the theory to be true, according to a Yahoo News/YouGov poll conducted in May.
- Gates attributed the spread of the conspiracy theory in part to social media. “Lies travel faster than the truth,” he says. “Particularly in the age of social media.”
This version of the big tech-censored video is from Real Clear Politics. It is branded by Tea Party Patriots, which will likely cause some to tune it out. But just as this platform sources across the left-center-right divide, there is a need for more Americans and professionals in our industry to objectively probe the thinking of those that they may reflexively disagree with.
This arguably softball interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN and Bill Gates incredibly makes the argument for censorship of opposing views, albeit masked under the claim that what they want to censor is ‘false.’ When there is at a minimum numbers of opposing voices, who is CNN or Gates to say that the view they oppose is ‘false?”
Note that it is a group of about 150 self-professed anti-Trump progressives who blasted the media and others who are trying to thwart free speech.
The answer, those progressives argued, is to push out false information with good information. That noted, why doesn’t Gates or Dr. Fauci engage these dissenting voices live on TV? Why not let both sides present their views, PowerPoints and evidence?
So, in Gate’s worldview as stated to mainstream media, those opposing him are fast-spreading lies. It is worth noting that “debunking” a “conspiracy theory” isn’t the same thing as debunking all of the allegations being leveled against Gates.
Indeed, some of the allegations against this pristine image that Gates is trying to project with the benefit of fawning news operations still holds true despite his and their claims. The ‘follow the money’ trail evidence linked above and below are examples.
What even nonprofits that Gates, Warren Buffett, George Soros – among others – support are those that have documented that these billionaires are profiting wildly during this pandemic.
Is it a coincidence that their businesses are benefiting from the partial shutdowns, even as large swaths of the economy – particularly independent smaller businesses – are being harmed?
What precisely is it about Gates and company that has ‘earned’ them the reputation that so many in the media bestow upon them?
Additional MHProNews Information, Facts, and Analysis
“Dr. Dan Erickson,” says PolitiFact, “is a California-based osteopath who co-owns an urgent care clinic. In the video, he claimed that state lockdowns have little effect on the coronavirus fatality rate.
“So this measured approach I’m talking about isn’t made up. It’s going on in Sweden, and their deaths are about 564 per million. UK, full lockdown, 600 deaths per million,” he said. “So we’re seeing that the lockdowns aren’t decreasing significantly the number of deaths per million.””
Per Politifact:
- Erickson co-owns an urgent care clinic in the Bakersfield, Calif., area. He is a former emergency room physician and has a medical license through the Osteopathic Medical Board of California.
- In May, Erickson appeared with Dr. Artin Massihi, co-owner of Accelerated Urgent Care, in another viral video called “Plandemic,” which is filled with conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic. In it, they claimed that stay-at-home orders and face masks are not necessary because they weaken your immune system. The doctors made similar assertions in an April press conference and on Fox News.
The controversial Plandemic is another viral video that has been ‘censored’ by those who oppose its message. Note that what Dr. Erickson argues for in the Americas Frontline Doctors video is for providing information to Americas to empower them to make their own informed decisions. While he has his views, he specifically is encouraging a thoughtful consideration of other views than those that Gates and his allies are promoting.
“We’re here only to help American patients & the American nation heal.
We are not held down by the virus as much as we’re being held down by the spiderweb of fear; & that spiderweb is constricting us & draining the lifeblood of the American people, society, & American economy.” pic.twitter.com/wnQUYAoQPU
— Dr. Simone Gold (@drsimonegold) July 29, 2020
As a point of clarity, MHProNews isn’t specifically advocating for or against a treatment or strategy per se. Rather, reports like this article are to illustrate that discussion in the public square is being shut down, despite arguably credible voices, even if they have had some fringe thinking or association in their history. The principle of separating wheat from the chaff is precisely that even flawed people or organizations can produce good information or useful efforts. That noted, PolitiFact, says Influence Watch has a “left leaning bias” is funded by the Democracy Fund and has ties to other left-leaning groups, such as the Google Foundation. The Democracy Fund, says Influence Watch – which routinely cites its sources meticulously – is in turn supported by “George Soros’s Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation.”
Returning to Gate’s narrative worldview as stated by him to the mainstream media, those opposing him are ‘fast-spreading lies.’ It is worth noting that those that mention a “debunking” of this or that “conspiracy theory” is not the same thing as debunking all of the allegations being leveled against Gates. Again, the principle of separating wheat from the chaff applies. Not all allegations are credible, but that doesn’t mean that others don’t have meat on the bones. Blandly labeling everything a ‘conspiracy theory’ is thus a ploy equivalent to an ad hominem attack, which is a logical fallacy.
That noted, PolitiFact is one of those source that has also ‘debunked’ the ‘conspiracy theories’ behind the also tech-censored viral video, “Plandemic.”
These America Frontline Doctors are asking for a discussion and debate. That’s American.
It can’t be ignored that the Gates, Soros, Buffett and billionaire tech giants are profiting wildly during this pandemic.
Is that coincidence? Or is that a reason to question more deeply those – Gates, Buffett, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Soros, et al – who have profited from this pandemic. If the profit is honest, fine. If it is dishonest or manipulative, that’s a problem that public officials and legal authorities should probe and deal with as the evidence warrants.
DOCTORS SIGNATURES NEEDED on letter to The White House
-HCQ has been FDA-approved since 1955
-State pharmacies & medical boards should NOT block physician prescriptions
-Request for an EUA clarifying that doctors are allowed to prescribe HCQ off-labelhttps://t.co/MMHJT9xPbi
— James Todaro, MD (@JamesTodaroMD) July 30, 2020
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By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHProNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing.
For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com.
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