Defeat Despair
The Department of Health and Human Services just put out a $250 million contract to an ad agency to “defeat despair and inspire hope” about the Coronavirus.
The vast majority of the money will be spent between now and January. Oh my.
Needless to say, the Department of Health and Human Services is in chaos.
Last Friday, Hahn removed the FDA’s top communications official, a political appointee, after only two weeks on the job and HHS ended a contract with a communications consultant close to Hahn. As part of the reasoning for severing the contract, chief of staff Brian Harrison pointed to HHS’ history of canceling outside contracts for personal communications consulting.
The revolving door of pubic service under Trump.
And the money. All the money and all we got to show for it is some rich friends of Trump, kids in cages, and a boon to the funeral industry.
So we’re not going to try to cure or prevent Covid. We’re just going to find a way to be happier about it.
1So we, the taxpayers, are paying $250 million for straight-up propaganda, during a time when those millions could be used to actually help people. Outrageous.
2I just finished reading an article in the SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLY about a yellow fever epidemic in San Antonio in 1903. A yellow fever outbreak had occurred along the Mexican border, so George Tabor, the state health officer, ordered a quarantine of San Antonio and other cities and towns between it and the border. What happened after he issued the order would sound very familiar to us today.
One of the San Antonio newspapers, the DAILY LIGHT, claimed there was no basis for a quarantine and demanded that Tabor rescind the order immediately. The city’s own board of health went along with the paper, as San Antonio had been promoting itself for some time as one of the healthiest places to live in America, and a quarantine would be bad for business.
The other paper, the DAILY EXPRESS, agreed with the order and asked the citizenry to participate in a “Be Cheerful” campaign. The paper formed the “Let’s Be Cheerful” club and handed out “Be Cheerful” badges so people could commemorate their membership. They figured the quarantine wouldn’t last long (it lasted a month), so people might as well make the best of it. The two papers editorialized against each other throughout the quarantine period, and Tabor met vociferous opposition when he met in San Antonio with the city board of health.
That people could take sides like this against each other in 1903 shows that, while history may not repeat itself, it definitely rhymes. A contract of $250 million shows that it’s also a lot more expensive this time around.
3this is a “conservative” idea????
4I think this is the nation’s reaction to their campaign:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAAKPJEq1Ew
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