Spinning Doctors

Without going over the various bad takes, misinformation, and propaganda engaged in by certain people who theoretically should know better, it might be a good time for people to reflect that just because you see someone on television calling themselves a doctor doesn't mean they are necessarily a good doctor, a specialist in all things medical, or even know what the hell they are talking about.

Fox News has been trotting out celebrity doctors who have some notoriety to push messages about possible remedies for COVID-19 (chloroquine) and minimizing the seriousness of the virus and the potential harms related to returning to business. They know these people are trusted names and faces to people who feel like they simply wouldn't have been around so long giving advice if they weren't on the up-and-up. For goodness sakes! We've know them for years, right?

But they mostly serve as self-help reality show hosts. They mine real-life stories about addiction, dysfunction, mental illness, etc., for content, and then engage in a kind of hope-peddling. Maybe you, the radio-listener, the television-viewer, will learn something from what you are witnessing. Read these books, take these pills, follow this common-sense sounding advice, and you know....

You'll probably be fine.

The content feels informative and valuable. But it's more like infotainment.

Which is a  problem when these guys are brought out on Fox News. People need real information they can use, not to be entertained, soothed, or fed junk. After all, haven't we clued in by now that maybe, just maybe, there's something sketchy about trusting people just because you see them on tv shows?

And maybe there's something questionable about networks other than FOX using them as experts as well? It's worth considering.