By Heather Houser
16 April 2020

A healthcare worker stands in a crosswalk to block hundreds of pro-death/pro-Covid protesters in Denver, on 19 April 2020. Photo: Alyson McClaran / Reuters
A healthcare worker stands in a crosswalk to block hundreds of pro-death/pro-Covid protesters in Denver, on 19 April 2020. Photo: Alyson McClaran / Reuters

(the Austin Statesman) – Every day it seems we read headlines that connect science denialism to cruel indifference and death. Just recently, when talking about the initial COVID-19 response, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi asserted that ”[Trump’s] denial at the beginning was deadly.” In Arizona, some residents called their Republican governor’s refusal to issue a stay-at-home order “a sick experiment.” And in Brazil, President Jair Bolsonaro showed some of the most ignorant denialism with the bizarre claim that Brazilians don’t catch anything, saying: “You see a guy jumping into sewage, diving in, right? Nothing happens to him.” And this while cases in Brazil were in the thousands and deaths were approaching 100.

Science denialism has reared its head before, most notably in response to the climate crisis and in the anti-vaccine movement. But in those cases, mainstream headlines rarely link denialism to death and “sick” cruelty. And when they do, the headlines readily invite charges of alarmism, fearmongering and doomsday extremism. Today, it’s harder for these accusations to stick.

The deniers have certainly tried. They’ve called those staying home and those exhorting us to do so fearmongers. They’ve said the economy is more important than our grandmas and grandpas, and business matters more than functioning hospitals and less burdened caregivers. They’ve told Christian believers that they have nothing to fear from the virus and to congregate. They’ve told America we’ll be open for business in no time. They’ve kept pursuing the joys and conveniences of privileged American life, denying the virus is in their midst. This is what science denialism looks like.

A healthcare worker in Denver Colorado, made a stand against an anti-lockdown protester, 19 April 2020. The nurse stood in the way of traffic during “Operation Lockdown” which saw hundreds of people defy social distancing rules to call for an end to the lockdown. Video: The Telegraph

Of course, none of this quite sounds like a death wish. It sounds like many things Americans prioritize daily: money, worship, fun, business as usual. But these self-interested, indifferent responses show that rejecting scientific consensus about life-threatening, world-shattering changes — whether they be to the climate or to our bodies — amounts to a death wish imposed on others. With the exception of Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick offering to martyr himself to the economy, few deniers see themselves as the victims of their indifference. The victims are instead “others,” however defined.

As COVID-19 spreads, denialism is a wish foisted on those without job security or savings whose employers stay “open for business” and who feel they should go to work no matter what. It falls on immunocompromised people who cannot go out, or on nurses pulling double shifts without protective equipment, or neighbors without health insurance who go to the same grocery store as those still attending church services. […]

Denying the severity of COVID-19 is tantamount to denying the worth of the thousands who have died and the thousands more who will. We need to stand up to science denialism to protect lives and show that they matter. [more]

Are we finally seeing science denialism for the death wish it is?