Does anyone remember that the New York Times had a long feature Sunday magazine article on this newly Nobel-ized pair and their 'heroic' path to the long-sought technique of a swap-out and rejigging to get the Trojan horse to roll through the gates and stay there? The article appeared, as I recall, near the start of the distribution of the first batches in the U.S. It may in due course be recognized as one of the most creepy, treacly, manipulative, weeping-with-white-coat-discovery-ecstasy pieces of propaganda ever printed. The online reader comment stream on that article was a revival meeting, tearful with rhapsodic arias of gratitude for these two researchers and their resulting 'miracle' inoculates. (The article's grateful readers also served up generous heapings of contempt for skeptics and the non-compliant.) Both the article and the reader comments convinced me then that we were lost, that something was afoot that was not medical, miraculous, nor medal-worthy. It redoubled my suspicion that a delusional and repellent delirium of some kind was being cooked up. This newly announced Nobel clinches it. The names of Kariko and Weissman may become infamous in the history of clinical research and meddling medical interventions, if anyone is left to write about it. That NYT article had a heroic-narrative drive and ended with cathartic tears of joyful relief, an excess of 'eureka!' It was more than 'vibrant, punchy' feature-story journalism. There was a strange reek to the 'eureka.' I now wonder again who really instigated that piece of writing, who vetted it, made sure it appeared in a prominent and (once) respected newspaper.
It does happen, maybe quite often, that laboratory quests grow so fevered, so narrowly enamored of the goal, that whether that goal is viably worth reaching becomes a matter of indifference. With the next roll-out, no doubt we are to endure a fresh assault of testimonies to selfless research martyrdom (Nobel-crowned, hence 'worth' the Herculean struggle). Something to read while listening to the hourly sirens from emergency vehicles.
I do remember this duo getting a weird amount of praise, as if hundreds of people haven’t contributed to this field. It makes me think they might be (unknowingly?) taking on the burden if and when the world wakes up to horrors of mRNA tech. I certainly think they give awards to people they want to continue saying the talking points. A fancy award and attention might encourage that.
Does anyone remember that the New York Times had a long feature Sunday magazine article on this newly Nobel-ized pair and their 'heroic' path to the long-sought technique of a swap-out and rejigging to get the Trojan horse to roll through the gates and stay there? The article appeared, as I recall, near the start of the distribution of the first batches in the U.S. It may in due course be recognized as one of the most creepy, treacly, manipulative, weeping-with-white-coat-discovery-ecstasy pieces of propaganda ever printed. The online reader comment stream on that article was a revival meeting, tearful with rhapsodic arias of gratitude for these two researchers and their resulting 'miracle' inoculates. (The article's grateful readers also served up generous heapings of contempt for skeptics and the non-compliant.) Both the article and the reader comments convinced me then that we were lost, that something was afoot that was not medical, miraculous, nor medal-worthy. It redoubled my suspicion that a delusional and repellent delirium of some kind was being cooked up. This newly announced Nobel clinches it. The names of Kariko and Weissman may become infamous in the history of clinical research and meddling medical interventions, if anyone is left to write about it. That NYT article had a heroic-narrative drive and ended with cathartic tears of joyful relief, an excess of 'eureka!' It was more than 'vibrant, punchy' feature-story journalism. There was a strange reek to the 'eureka.' I now wonder again who really instigated that piece of writing, who vetted it, made sure it appeared in a prominent and (once) respected newspaper.
It does happen, maybe quite often, that laboratory quests grow so fevered, so narrowly enamored of the goal, that whether that goal is viably worth reaching becomes a matter of indifference. With the next roll-out, no doubt we are to endure a fresh assault of testimonies to selfless research martyrdom (Nobel-crowned, hence 'worth' the Herculean struggle). Something to read while listening to the hourly sirens from emergency vehicles.
I do remember this duo getting a weird amount of praise, as if hundreds of people haven’t contributed to this field. It makes me think they might be (unknowingly?) taking on the burden if and when the world wakes up to horrors of mRNA tech. I certainly think they give awards to people they want to continue saying the talking points. A fancy award and attention might encourage that.