The Pandemic Pariah
Can we all just take a moment and understand that @ProfEmilyOster will now be remembered for this đ instead of her early efforts to #OpenSchools.
There was a brief moment in Summer 2020 when Emily Oster was considered #OGTR. While the vast majority of people were still scrubbing their packages and losing their minds, Emily was one of the few âexpertsâ who seemed to understand that this was all insane. The data and the stats and the reality on the ground simply did not match the collective hysteria that was destroying our society at the time. Our kids were being harmed in-real-time by these hysterical policies, and Emily Oster seemed to see that. Her âUnapologetically Data-Drivenâ approach was exactly what was needed to help us stop the madness.
We were just a ragtag group of parents. Albeit parents who had become armchair virologists and epidemiologists; reading all the studies and papers, parsing the data, plotting the trends and quickly becoming pandemic âexpertsâ in our own right. But Emily had the credentials: which, like it or not, was the only thing seemed to have any effect on these tiny tyrants who were destroying our world.
She wrote a few helpful things, she participated in a few of our zoom presentations, and she seemed to be on the right side of history. But then Emily Oster felt a little heat.
At the exact moment when millions of others were waking up, speaking up and fighting back, at the exact moment this country needed her to be strong Emily chose a different path: in early Fall of 2020 Emily Oster turned around and went backwards.
Emily Oster folded.
We were all, frankly, shocked. We had seen so many wake up by that point, but we hadnât seen anyone willingly decide to go back to sleep and opt for the fake steak. It was a huge bummer, not only because we lost someone who had some (supposed) gravitas, but we all knew why she was doing it: purely and solely for herself. And thatâs what made it pitiful.
Not to mention the pushback Emily received was tame compared to what so many have had to endure over the past 2.5 years. Weâve lost jobs, family members, and friends. Weâve sacrificed blood, sweat and countless hours to our tireless advocacy for normalcy. Yet we persisted.
Emily Oster not only abandoned the nationâs kids on #OpenSchools at the first whiff of headwinds, she doubled back on force-masking them, and then tripped down on outright medical tyranny.
âWe need to forgive one another for what we did and said when we were in the dark about COVIDâ.
Really?
We werenât âin the darkâ. Emily Oster just closed her eyes.
She absolutely folded. I was "there" and remember it well.
Your emphasis, Erich, is a good reminder for those on Twitter who are claiming Dr. Oster is the victim of misogyny with all the blowback on her Atlantic piece. If her gender is any influence on the response, it's because those of who were mothers & fathers, fighting for open schools and being called every name under the sun, could not believe that a mom armed with data and influence would walk away like she did.
Even in her article, she gives tacit approval to politicians who would mandate the covid shot for school attendance. She hasn't retreated from her about-face, except to admit it was a mistake to mask outdoors.
Incredible.