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zeynep tufekci
zeynep tufekci
zeynep tufekci
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zeynep tufekciVerified account

@zeynep

Complex systems, wicked problems. Society, technology, science and more. @UNC professor. @NYTimes columnist. My newsletter is @insight: http://www.theinsight.org 

floating in a most peculiar way
theinsight.org
Joined August 2009

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    1. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 24 Mar 2020

      It's going to be like the 2016 election, isn't it? Many journalists did amazing reporting since, but there really hasn't been any systematic reckoning among traditional media and punditry about their own role in all of it. (They'll talk about the tech part, though). So with this.

      14 replies 104 retweets 541 likes
      Show this thread
    2. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 25 Mar 2020

      zeynep tufekci Retweeted Jay Rosen

      Yep. Lack of reflection among media and pundits that made all this so much worse is mindblowing. All of February, I watched people locally use those “what about the flu/travel bans don’t work/don’t overreact” articles to decide go on trips and conferences.https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/1242647591990562816 …

      zeynep tufekci added,

      Jay RosenVerified account @jayrosen_nyu
      Replying to @zeynep
      Run-up to the Iraq War. Financial crisis in 2008. Election of 2016. No broad reckoning after any of them. Notice how after each of these collapses, there's a huge story to cover. So they move on.
      6 replies 58 retweets 233 likes
      Show this thread
    3. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 25 Mar 2020

      zeynep tufekci Retweeted Amy Siskind  🏳️‍🌈

      Judging by the way everyone’s already ignoring how wrong and dangerously misleading so many liberal/traditional pundits/papers were up until early March, I say they will do fine. Every tribe is blind to themselves.https://twitter.com/amy_siskind/status/1242801225449562112 …

      zeynep tufekci added,

      Amy Siskind  🏳️‍🌈Verified account @Amy_Siskind
      There are a lot of people whose reputations will never recover from this era. “Fox's Brit Hume says it’s an “entirely reasonable viewpoint” to expect that grandparents would be willing to die to protect the economy.” https://www.mediamatters.org/brit-hume/foxs-brit-hume-says-its-entirely-reasonable-viewpoint-expect-grandparents-would-be …
      6 replies 32 retweets 232 likes
      Show this thread
    4. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 25 Mar 2020

      zeynep tufekci Retweeted  🦎 Curious Reptile  🦎

      And even that was not a great question. Look, some of the people I'm criticizing here include my friends and circles. They're human, the mistakes are human but the problem is the things are set-up. Can't fix that without admitting failure.https://twitter.com/livebeef/status/1242853462209150977 …

      zeynep tufekci added,

       🦎 Curious Reptile  🦎 @livebeef
      Replying to @zeynep
      I've not seen a single reporter or outlet admit fault. No humility. In some cases historical revisionism by claiming this was primarily Trump's fault. Which, while it was substantively his fault, it was also substantively the traditional media's fault at a pivotal time.
      4 replies 20 retweets 124 likes
      Show this thread
    5. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 26 Mar 2020

      I don't agree with everything in this piece, but it's good. I was alarmed in January and switched in February to try to warn people and get pundits to stop writing "what about the flu" and "don't panic" pieces and got lectured and/or failed. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/why-was-it-so-hard-to-raise-the-alarm-on-coronavirus.html …pic.twitter.com/Tixr5TTzHo

      5 replies 29 retweets 146 likes
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    6. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 26 Mar 2020

      Look at the catastrophe unfolding in NYC. It will soon be perhaps the worst hit place globally, and it's not a coincidence that it's the center of exactly that kind of "what about the flu/don't panic" pundit-world/media. Yes it's hard to hear but this is not just a Trump failure.pic.twitter.com/5AJWK7evn4

      54 replies 158 retweets 468 likes
      Show this thread
    7. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 26 Mar 2020

      zeynep tufekci Retweeted Sean Smith

      US gov't failures are terrible and obvious and well-covered. But we also had NYC mayor and officials tell people to chill and enjoy their gatherings up until recently. People could've acted to save themselves like Hong Kong—and that's where media matters.https://twitter.com/protanope/status/1243218618755645442 …

      zeynep tufekci added,

      Sean Smith @protanope
      Replying to @protanope @zeynep
      Pundits writing differently about the issue back a month does not matter; we should have had a coherent & good GOVT response that was not paying any attention to the nattering of pundits.
      8 replies 53 retweets 258 likes
      Show this thread
    8. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 26 Mar 2020

      I watched locally in February as people shared the "worry about the flu/don't panic" articles to keep doing very risky things: travel, conferences. My area is highly-educated. They trusted credible media. They avoided social media misinformation. And they thus endangered all.

      4 replies 28 retweets 240 likes
      Show this thread
    9. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 26 Mar 2020

      Look, I gave a few examples, and I'm sorry to pick on people but honestly, I had to give examples because otherwise people immediately forget their own tribe's failings but those were not rare or terrible compared to average. They're just average. But where's the reflection?

      1 reply 10 retweets 143 likes
      Show this thread
    10. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 26 Mar 2020

      Amount of effort people spent attacking one (yes sensationalist and stupid tweet but it was more right than those "what about the flu" pieces) compared with utter lack of reflection on, how on earth did we do that in February from traditional media/journalists is disconcerting.

      2 replies 12 retweets 116 likes
      Show this thread
      zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 26 Mar 2020

      I apologize for harsh words but too much at stake. We went through the Iraq war, the 2008 financial crisis, the 2016 election and now this. My friends in media excel at investigating Trump/MAGA failures and new media/tech issues but have to break their own blue wall of silence.

      10:07 AM - 26 Mar 2020
      • 23 Retweets
      • 225 Likes
      • g 🇺🇸🇫🇷 FVM Matt "Dynamic Zero/Wrong pig, wrong bat" Hardwick Mutant 🐍 snake from snakefarm Amie Gillingham Don't touch that dial now Jediphone Aless Onye Nwa
      6 replies 23 retweets 225 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 26 Mar 2020

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Jesse McKinley

          A terrible tragedy, in one of the greatest cities in the world.😢 We already have failing governmental institutions. We have some of the best journalists in the world but US traditional media also has big structural failings we must reckon with.https://twitter.com/jessemckinley/status/1243204226211180544 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Jesse McKinleyVerified account @jessemckinley
          BREAKING: 385 deaths in NY. Up 100 from yesterday.
          4 replies 31 retweets 165 likes
          Show this thread
        3. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 26 Mar 2020

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted

          What about the flu, simplistic CFR/R0 discussions, don't panic, don't overreact, travel bans don't work, this effects the elderly like flu... Heard that so much in February. Now children are being denied surgery. 😢😢This was predictable *and* predicted. https://twitter.com/ColumbiaSurgery/status/1243204604382400513 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          This Tweet is unavailable.
          7 replies 58 retweets 179 likes
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        4. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 27 Mar 2020

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted

          Of course. This is true. Linking to another good piece to understand this failure. The warnings were seen as alarmism, and all alarmism was equated with disinformation. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/03/why-was-it-so-hard-to-raise-the-alarm-on-coronavirus.html … https://twitter.com/scribandotcom/status/1243567094949498881 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          This Tweet is unavailable.
          5 replies 15 retweets 76 likes
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        5. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 27 Mar 2020

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Tom Winter

          Yeah but what about the flu? This is why its was never, ever appropriate to compare it with the flu. If you overwhelm the system more people will die of.. the flu. And strep throat. And everything else. And we knew this was coming early Feb by latest. 😢https://twitter.com/tom_winter/status/1243613770854928389 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Tom WinterVerified account @Tom_Winter
          NBC News: “The medical call volume for EMS in New York City over the past three days is the largest in our history”, says Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Frank Dwyer. FDNY is URGING New Yorkers not to call unless they are having a heart issue or trouble breathing.
          Show this thread
          2 replies 13 retweets 72 likes
          Show this thread
        6. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 27 Mar 2020

          From February 1st, me trying to ask people to stop flu comparisons. 😢 (Screenshot, I’m not encouraging pileups here). I’m not blaming individuals, this was a widespread sentiment.pic.twitter.com/3clGIJnVyM

          2 replies 18 retweets 95 likes
          Show this thread
        7. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 27 Mar 2020

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Kelsey Piper

          Please don’t pile on but do read this honest thread from a Vox journalist who warned her family but didn’t feel comfortable sounding the alarm publicly. The public message was to falsely reassure. This kind of reflection is important—and hard. Thank you!https://twitter.com/kelseytuoc/status/1243301678301888512 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Kelsey PiperVerified account @KelseyTuoc
          One thing I've struggled with personally - I told my family in early February that we should expect the virus to hit here and should buy what we'd need and plan to soon stop leaving our home. I wasn't that direct in a public article for three more weeks. Why not?
          Show this thread
          4 replies 43 retweets 148 likes
          Show this thread
        8. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 1 Apr 2020

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Jay Rosen

          Many weeks after my my mask-oped, finally seeing accurate pieces on masks. Why did it take so long? Why not before? My piece on media errors/complacency is part of the picture. Still too much herding and circling the wagons—and resistance to reflection.https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/1242639141873111041 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Jay RosenVerified account @jayrosen_nyu
          To be informed what is required? Information, right? I mean, what else would it be? Well, one of the strange things about this situation is that to be informed what you need is imagination— even more than information. Best explainer I have seen about this: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/03/what-really-doomed-americas-coronavirus-response/608596/ …
          4 replies 29 retweets 91 likes
          Show this thread
        9. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 1 Apr 2020

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted David Isaacson

          I wrote this in late February—there still wasn't any helpful pieces on why we needed to flatten the curve! Late February! Why not? (Can't find traditional media pieces before mine who explained the term—the phrase isn't mine, of course, it's well-known).https://twitter.com/writesaacson/status/1245336551292375040 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          David Isaacson @writesaacson
          Okay, one more: it took a while for "flattening the curve" to enter the vernacular. @zeynep, in this @sciam blog on Feb 27, was one of the first to advise Americans to prepare to "stay home for two or three weeks, going out as little as possible." https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/preparing-for-coronavirus-to-strike-the-u-s/ … /8
          Show this thread
          4 replies 11 retweets 55 likes
          Show this thread
        10. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 1 Apr 2020

          Yesterday, I commented on something tech, and someone was like, what do you have to do with tech? Lol! I've been pandemic writing for months. He had no idea I do tech. I didn't want to write "flatten the curve" or "we need masks" pieces. But people who should and could weren't.

          2 replies 5 retweets 123 likes
          Show this thread
        11. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 1 Apr 2020

          Forget reflection, I got weird pushback. @NateSilver538 was so mad about me writing about the complacent/lagging media message that he caricatured my position beyond recognition and told me to "sit this one out". Yet, I'll say it again: there should be a reckoning & hasn't been.

          12 replies 19 retweets 203 likes
          Show this thread
        12. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 1 Apr 2020

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted

          Yes. For example, we are finally seeing more coverage of asymptomatic transmission, in context of finally admitting the argument for masks. We had many many peer-reviewed papers on asymptomatic and non-feverish, atypical clinical presentation since Jan 29. https://twitter.com/hhavrilesky/status/1245362927630090242 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          This Tweet is unavailable.
          5 replies 31 retweets 117 likes
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        13. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 1 Apr 2020

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted Cliff Featherstone

          More countries are switching to masks. Yeay! That's the good. If media had earlier dug into the science of masks and the experience of Asian countries that had been successful in containing this epidemic, we could have been here weeks ago. That's the bad.https://twitter.com/seaef/status/1245444646664355843 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          Cliff Featherstone @seaef
          South African health minister (now) unambiguous. #Masks4All #COVID19 cc @zeynep https://twitter.com/DrZweliMkhize/status/1245014440992538625 …
          4 replies 31 retweets 90 likes
          Show this thread
        14. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 1 Apr 2020

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted COVID Perspective

          This is great! California! By the way, would love for CA issue guidelines for correct use and sanitization. It's good to say masks *in addition to* other measures. But I have yet to see a single convincing study of "incorrect" use being worse than no mask.https://twitter.com/covidperspectiv/status/1245438129974083584 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          COVID Perspective @covidperspectiv
          California will issue new guidance today around the use of face masks / coverings in public, making it we believe the first state to do so. The state is stressing the correct use of masks and... it will not be a replacement for physical distancing; "additive" to other guidance.
          3 replies 31 retweets 92 likes
          Show this thread
        15. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 1 Apr 2020

          My prediction is that, until vaccines, we will go through waves where we necessarily relax social isolation but masks will help a lot during those intermittent periods. How much is an empirical question but Japan—screwing up everything else but masks—suggests it is a great deal.

          9 replies 70 retweets 250 likes
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        16. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 2 Apr 2020

          Center for Evidence Based Medicine at Oxford concludes that surgical masks are *as effective* as respirators for preventing infection in viral outbreaks. Fits Hong Kong's hospital practice. Asia was ahead on the science of this. Our experts were lagging. https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/what-is-the-efficacy-of-standard-face-masks-compared-to-respirator-masks-in-preventing-covid-type-respiratory-illnesses-in-primary-care-staff/ …pic.twitter.com/DodJIwQWza

          3 replies 76 retweets 160 likes
          Show this thread
        17. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 2 Apr 2020

          Your daily irresponsible media failure: clickbait headline from @washingtonpost claiming "masks were useless" in the 1918 flu epidemic based on no research or evidence but one historian saying so in a throwaway manner in a book. Shame on you, @elizamcgraw. Lives are at stake.pic.twitter.com/v4bi8QORUW

          7 replies 29 retweets 126 likes
          Show this thread
        18. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 2 Apr 2020

          So, @elizamcgraw who normally writes about horses finds a casual sentence in a book that was more about how the 1918 epidemic spread and builds a piece around it titled masks "were useless" and it gets published on APRIL 2, 2020 in the middle of a pandemic in the @washingtonpost?

          4 replies 12 retweets 82 likes
          Show this thread
        19. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 3 Apr 2020

          Science and fact-based advocacy has won this argument about masks. Even the United States is likely to join. There is no evidence of harms (it was all speculation), and if something actually comes up, we can address it then because the benefits are clear. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/opinion/trump-coronavirus-masks.html …pic.twitter.com/ZdqbLfpikr

          7 replies 30 retweets 54 likes
          Show this thread
        20. zeynep tufekci‏Verified account @zeynep 3 Apr 2020

          zeynep tufekci Retweeted

          Some of this increase may well be due to hospitals being overloaded. As I tried to explain in the piece on top of this thread, and throughout late Jan and February on social media and in articles, *this* is why “but the flu” comparisons were so misplaced. https://twitter.com/b_judah/status/1245852365464449025 …

          zeynep tufekci added,

          This Tweet is unavailable.
          5 replies 25 retweets 52 likes
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        21. End of conversation

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