A left-leaning technology magazine made waves on Sunday when a tweet from their account conceded that a "right-wing stunt" was actually a valid complaint about the World Health Organization.
"A right-wing stunt to pin the blame for Covid-19 on the World Health Organization actually contains a useful notion," the message from WIRED read. "There is at least some reason to suspect that WHO knowingly and consequentially misled us."
A right-wing stunt to pin the blame for Covid-19 on the World Health Organization actually contains a useful notion. There is at least some reason to suspect that WHO knowingly and consequentially misled us.
— WIRED (@WIRED) April 12, 2020
https://t.co/PwqwW4NG33
The tweet linked to an article written by a journalist equally as surprised that his self described affinity for "global governance" from organizations like the WHO was called into question. Citing a call from Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) to investigate the WHO to determine if the United States should freeze their significant, taxpayer-funded contribution, the WIRED "Ideas Contributor" describes his unexpected alignment with conservatives.
This is a familiar right-wing move: subject international institutions to scrutiny that, if all goes according to plan, can be used to justify cutting their funding. Then, as the script typically unfolds, global governance fans like me spring to the defense of these institutions.
In this case, though, I’m partly in sync with the right-wing move. I don’t agree with Scott that we should do the investigation ASAP (since at the moment both we and the World Health Organization are kind of, um, busy). And I’m not in favor of cutting WHO funding. I’m also not nearly as sure as Scott that WHO is guilty as charged. But the organization could have performed better in the early stages of the contagion, and there’s at least some reason to suspect that people at WHO knowingly and consequentially misled us.
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The article points out the now notorious WHO tweet from January that claimed there was no evidence from China that suggested human-to-human transmission of COVID-19, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China????. pic.twitter.com/Fnl5P877VG
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) January 14, 2020
One could stand to reason, based on the evidence presented by WIRED, that the "right-wing stunt" was actually an assessment of evidence and consequences that led to a lack of faith in the WHO. As the global Wuhan coronavirus pandemic rages on across the world, people of all political stripes have shifted significant blame to the Chinese Communist Party for concealing the nature of the disease. Blame has then naturally trickled down to the WHO who seemed to have, for whatever reason, a vested interest in protecting the CCP.
While the media has consistently criticized President Trump for his response to the outbreak of the Wuhan Coronavirus in the U.S., particularly in the early days, it is difficult for even his most unflappable foes to ignore the errors and misguidance of the WHO.
A very confused person wrote this article.
— ALX ???? (@alx) April 12, 2020
So it’s a “Right-Wing Plan” but there’s also reason to believe it’s correct
That’s some mental gymnastics right there. So the right was trying to lie about WHO but the information accidentally was correct?
— Full Contact Drills (@FullContact29) April 12, 2020
A right-wing stunt to prove water is wet actually contains a useful notion. There is at least some reason to suspect it is. https://t.co/rXl3pwL7iC
— Michael Brendan Dougherty (@michaelbd) April 12, 2020
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