Coronavirus News (118)
Bill Gates, at Odds With Trump on Virus, Becomes a Right-Wing Target
The Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist has been attacked with falsehoods that he created the coronavirus and wants to profit from it. ........... have instead seized on the video as evidence that one of the world’s richest men planned to use a pandemic to wrest control of the global health system. ......... the star of an explosion of conspiracy theories about the coronavirus outbreak. ......... Mr. Gates has emerged as a vocal counterweight to President Trump on the coronavirus. ........ On YouTube, the 10 most popular videos spreading lies about Mr. Gates posted in March and April were viewed almost five million times. ......... Mr. Gates, who is worth more than $100 billion, has effectively assumed the role occupied by George Soros, the billionaire financier and Democratic donor who has been a villain for the right. That makes Mr. Gates the latest individual — along with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading U.S. infectious disease expert — to be ensnared in the flow of right-wing punditry that has denigrated those who appear at odds with Mr. Trump on the virus. ............ “He’s able to function as kind of an abstract boogeyman.” .......... “There’s no question the United States missed the opportunity to get ahead of the novel coronavirus” ........... was “distressing that there are people spreading misinformation when we should all be looking for ways to collaborate and save lives.” ......... the narratives “have the potential to kick off coordinated and sophisticated online campaigns that turn people against taking a virus vaccine.” ......... As of 2018, the Gates Foundation had a $46.8 billion endowment, making it one of the world’s largest private charitable organizations. ........ The foundation has worked to distribute vaccines in developing countries, advocated family planning through greater use of contraceptives and funded the development of genetically modified crops. Those efforts have prompted unfounded accusations that Mr. Gates was hurting the world’s poor with unnecessary drugs and harmful crops while trying to suppress the global population. .......... “Both times he wanted to know if there was a difference between H.I.V. and HPV, so I was able to explain that those are rarely confused with each other” .............. Covid-19 was behaving like a once-a-century pathogen. ........ his foundation would fund factories for the seven most promising potential vaccines. ......... The idea spread. From February to April, conspiracy theories involving Mr. Gates and the virus were mentioned 1.2 million times on social media and television broadcasts, according to Zignal Labs. That was 33 percent more often, it said, than the next-largest conspiracy theory: that 5G radio waves cause people to succumb to Covid-19. ......... By April, false Gates conspiracy theories peaked at 18,000 mentions a day
COVID-19 Update: 62,000 Health Workers Infected; New Vax Plans; PPE Hucksters
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