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naraburns  nihil supernum  3yr ago (text post)   35006 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 2, 2023

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How is any investigation into Fauci not performative? I understand that a lot of people didn't like his recommendations, including myself at times, but the guys was an advisor. He had no real power when it came to the pandemic, just outsize influence. And this influence is completely Trump's responsibility. There was no natural reason for Fauci to be the face of COVID—the head of the CDC would have made more intuitive sense then an infectious disease expert from NIH—but Trump and his advisors felt that a respected expert would be more credible than a political appointee. And when the respected expert who was appointed for his credibility started saying things that Trump found politically inconvenient, now he needs to be behind bars. Trump tried to minimize Fauci's role but by that point he was already America's accepted expert and would still make a ton of TV appearances. Any congressional hearing is just going to be a bunch of scientifically illiterate politicians arguing with one of the nation's leading experts. They may get a few soundbites that will be replayed on Fox News that they can use for fundraising, but other than that the whole thing will be quickly forgotten.

He had no real power when it came to the pandemic, just outsize influence

I'm not sure the difference is there. If whatever the guy says is getting done, then it's power. If the guy says knowingly false things, or gives advice that is not to the best interest of the advised, that's fraud. Just like if you hire a lawyer, he doesn't have the power to force you to follow his advice, but if he lies to you and defrauds you, he is still liable. There's certain relationships where there's an assumption of trust and duty of honest service and government advisor is certainly one of such relationships.

How is any investigation into Fauci not performative?

To a measure, any investigation would be performative because DoJ under Biden (well, actually under any Republican too) would never prosecute a Democrat, and especially not Fauci, and the House has no power of independent prosecution, as far as I know. That said, just airing out all the dirty laundry has its own value, as would having Fauci on witness stand and having him publicly declare he didn't know about anything bad and forgot everything he was doing (which he inevitably will, as does everybody in such a situation). It's not justice, but at least it'd be a tiny step in a direction of justice. Sometimes, however sad it is, it's the most we can hope for.

Comparing Fauci to a lawyer that has a fiduciary duty to his client suggests to me that you don't actually understand the responsibilities and law surrounding what the poster you're reply to alluded to. These two roles are nothing alike.

I am not claiming they are legally the same thing. I am claiming there are many situations (all of them legally different, yes) where you have no power to force somebody to follow your advice, and yet have the responsibility to give that advice honestly and with the interests of advised in mind. And if you do not do that, you will be considered doing something wrong and likely be open to sanctions. How exactly the sanctions would look like in each particular case, and what laws govern each particular case, is immaterial - what is material is the responsibility.

Nothing alike legally, perhaps, but laws are just fever dreams BS'd up by some guy in a powdered wig. Whereas: morally? Why is it not analogous?

How about funding and covering up GoF research in China?

Your ignoring that Biden was president for most of the time and Fauci got worse after Trump was no longer president. At that point anything he did was rubber stamped.

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