When Marjorie Taylor Greene came under fire for propagating lies about Jewish space lasers and other fantastical conspiracy theories, she did not apologize. Rather she turned the opproprium into a grievance about being “allowed” to believe the lies. Blaming the media, Greene complained: “I was allowed to believe things that weren’t true… .”[1]
In a stunning show of bad faith, Greene attempted to redirect fault to the media. Beneath the failed attempt was a stratagem that appears to have prevalent appeal in this day of electronic and social media. There are some people who believe that telling a lie may be a moral failing, but believing a lie simply means you have been victimized. And being a victim is the ticket for admission into our grievance society.
Greene’s transparent attempt to foist blame on those who would allow her to believe hateful and crazy sidesteps her personal responsibility for her beliefs, and ignores that she chose to propagate the pernicious claims. Greene’s metaphor of passivity is essentially false in failing to come to grips with how we form beliefs, curate them, test, and verify them, even before we take to the social media “airways” to publish or re-publish them.
For the last few years, there has been scholarly and popular criticism of social media for its ability to propagate falsehoods, lies, conspiracy theories, and dis-, mis-, and mal-information.[2] Clearly, social media can do these things, but is it really surprising that social media can be an information cesspool? Descriptively, we can acknowledge that people are influenced by false claims made on social media platforms. Prescriptively, we can, and should, hold people to higher standards.
Earlier this week, the United States Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy proclaimed health misinformation on social media to be “urgent threat.”[3] Dr. Murthy stated that tech and social media companies needed to fight information rot more aggressively, and the Surgeon General’s office issued an advisory about “building a healthy information environment.”[4] Later last week, President Biden criticized social media companies for their failure to control misinformation, and announced a plan for government to participate in fact checking claims made on social media.[5] Biden’s initiative may be creating the state action needed for the yutzballs on the right and the left to make out state action in their claims of unconstitutional censorship.
I hate to play the “what about” game that was made so popular during the Trump Administration, but I have moments of weakness. What about governmental platforms for speech? After centuries of allowing any willing, able, and marginally qualified person, with a reasonable pretense to expertise, to give opinions in court, the federal judicial system cracked down on unsound, poorly supported expert witness opinion testimony. Most state courts dragged their judicial feet, but at least uttered in dicta that they were concerned.
Legislative platforms for speech have no gatekeeper. Any quack can show up, and she does. Take Sherri Jane Tenpenny. Please.
Sherri Tenpenny is an osteopathic physician who is a well-known, virulent disease vector of disinformation. In its March 2021 report, The Disinformation Dozen, the Center for Countering Digital Hate identified Tenpenny as a top anti-vaccination shyster. As a social media vector, she is ranked in the top dozen “influencers.”[6]
Tenpenny is an anti-vaccination osteopathic physician, who shakes down fearful parents at vaccination bootcamps, and hangs out with internet hoodlums such as Alex Jones, and the plumped-up pillow purveyor, Mike Lindell. She is the author of the 2008 book, Saying No to Vaccines: A Resource Guide for all Ages, where you can find hyperbolic claims, such as “[t]he skyrocketing autism epidemic, controversy surrounding mercury and thimerosal, and the rampant childhood epidemics — asthma, allergies, eczema, attention deficit disorders (ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) and cancer — have been linked to vaccines.”
In federal court, Tenpenny has been blocked from disseminating her malarkey at the gate. In one case, Tenpenny served as an expert witness in support of a claim that a man’s receipt of a hepatitis B vaccination caused him to develop Guillain-Barré syndrome. The Special Master incorrectly wrote that the law required him to presume the admissibility of Tenpenny’s proffered testimony. The law actually requires the proponent to show the admissibility of his expert witness’s opinion testimony. But even with the non-existent presumption, Tenpenny’s opinion was ultimately found to be worth less than a plugged nickel, when the Special Master found her methodology “so divergent from the scientific method as to be nonsensical and confusing.”[7]
In other branches of government, a Tenpenny can go a lot further. Last month, the Ohio legislature invited Tennpenny to testify in support of House Bill 248, Enact Vaccine Choice and Anti-Discrimination Act (June 8, 2021). Introduced into the Ohio House of Representatives by Republican member Jennifer Gross, Bill 248 would “prohibit mandatory vaccinations and vaccination status disclosures.” Indeed, the proposed legislation would prohibit requiring, or creating incentives for, any vaccines, not just vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2. Tenpenny’s testimony did not fail to disappoint.
Tenpenny claimed that vaccines “magnetize” people, such that keys and spoons will stick to their bodies:
“I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures all over the Internet of people who have had these shots and now they’re magnetized. They can put a key on their forehead. It sticks. They can put spoons and forks all over them and they can stick, because now we think that there’s a metal piece to that.”
Tenpenny did not, however, discuss the obvious issue of polarity, and whether people would line up “north” to “south,” when together in a crowd. She vaguely suggested that “[t]here’s been people who have long suspected that there’s been some sort of an interface, yet-to-be-defined interface, between what’s being injected in these shots and all of the 5G towers.”[8]
The fallout from the Tenpenny testimony has been amusing. After the hearing, another Republican, Representative Scott Lipps, blamed Gross for having invited Tenpenny. During the hearing, however, none of the legislators strongly pushed back. Republican legislators thanked her for testifying, and praised her work as “enlightening.” The bill sponsor, Jennifer Gross, who trained as a nurse, told Tennpenny that it was “an honor to have you here.” According to some media reports (sorry), Gross previously compared businesses’ requiring vaccination to the Holocaust. Importantly, none of the legislators asked her for the studies upon which she relied.
Why would anyone think that Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube would act with more epistemic virtue than the Ohio Legislature? The Tenpenny phenomenon raises other interesting and important questions. Tenpenny has been licensed in Ohio as a “D.O.” (Doctor of Osteopathy), no. 34.003789, since 1984. Her online record shows no “board actions” taken or pending. Apparently, the state of Ohio, the American Osteopathic Association, and other professional and regulatory bodies do not see a problem with Tenpenny’s performance in the Ohio House of Representatives.
The American Medical Association (AMA) recognizes that medical evidence in legal and administrative proceedings is critical, and that physicians have a duty to assist.[9] Testifying for a legislative committee would certainly qualify for a legal proceeding. Testifying is the practice of medicine, and physicians who testify must do so “honestly,” with “continuous self-examination to ensure that their testimony represents the facts of the case,” and “only in areas in which they have appropriate training and recent, substantive experience and knowledge.”[10] The AMA Ethical Guidelines further provide that a testifying physician has a responsibility to ensure that his or her testimony “reflects current scientific thought and standards of care that have gained acceptance among peers in the relevant field.”[11]
Perhaps most important, the AMA Ethical Guidelines specify that medical societies and medical licensing boards are responsible for maintaining high standards for medical testimony, and must assess “claims of false or misleading testimony.” When the testimony is false or misleading, these bodies should discipline the offender “as appropriate.”[12]
Where are the adults in the room?
[1] Josh K. Elliott, “GOP’s Marjorie Taylor Greene regrets being ‘allowed’ to believe hoaxes,” Global News Canada (Feb. 4, 2021).
[2] See, e.g., Catherine D. Tan, “Defending ‘snake oil’: The preservation of contentious knowledge and practices,” 51 Social Studies of Science 538 (2021).
[3] Sheryl Gay Stolberg & Davey Alba, “Surgeon General Assails Tech Companies Over Misinformation on Covid-19,” N.Y. Times (July 15, 2021).
[4] Vivek H. Murthy, Health Misinformation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on
Building a Healthy Information Environment (2021).
[5] The Associated Press, “Biden Slams Social Media Companies for Pandemic Misinformation,” N.Y. Times (July 16, 2021).
[6] Jonathan Jarry, “A Dozen Misguided Influencers Spread Most of the Anti-Vaccination Content on Social Media: The Disinformation Dozen generates two thirds of anti-vaccination content on Facebook and Twitter,” McGill Univ. Office for Science & Soc’y (Mar. 31, 2021).
[7] Shaw v. Sec’y Health & Human Servs., No. 01-707V, 2009 U.S. Claims LEXIS 534, *84 n.40 (Fed. Cl. Spec. Mstr. Aug. 31, 2009).
[8] Andrea Salcedo, “A doctor falsely told lawmakers vaccines magnetize people: ‘They can put a key on their forehead. It sticks.’,” Wash. Post (June 9, 2021); Andy Downing, “What an exceedingly dumb time to be alive,” Columbus Alive (June 10, 2021); Jake Zuckerman, “She says vaccines make you magnetized. This West Chester lawmaker invited her testimony, chair says,” Ohio Capital Journal (July 14, 2021).
[9] A.M.A. Code of Medical Ethics Opinion 9.7.1.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
