{"id":1629148,"date":"2022-09-01T08:03:07","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T12:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1629148"},"modified":"2022-09-01T08:03:14","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T12:03:14","slug":"leana-wen-created-a-mob-of-covid-karens-and-now-theyre-coming-for-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/leana-wen-created-a-mob-of-covid-karens-and-now-theyre-coming-for-her\/","title":{"rendered":"Leana Wen Created A Mob Of Covid Karens And Now They\u2019re Coming For Her"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fleana-wen-created-a-mob-of-covid-karens-and-now-theyre-coming-for-her%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1629148&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The cancel crowd <a href=\"http:\/\/bostonglobe.com\/2022\/08\/18\/opinion\/an-absurd-disturbing-cancel-campaign-public-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has come<\/a> for Dr. Leana Wen. More than 500 people, including many prominent names in medicine and science, have signed a letter demanding that the CNN and Washington Post contributor and professor of health policy at George Washington University be banned from speaking at the November annual meeting of the American Public Health Association. Wen\u2019s alleged crimes, her detractors claim, include being \u201cunscientific\u201d for urging a return to pre-pandemic normal for vaccinated persons; being \u201cunethical\u201d for promoting relaxed restrictions on COVID-19-related restrictions; being \u201cfatphobic\u201d for arguing that eating doughnuts daily is not healthy.<\/p>\n<p>Last week the Wall Street Journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/the-cancellation-of-leana-wen-covid-cnn-american-public-health-association-11661291645\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bemoaned<\/a> the cancellation of Wen and her removal from the upcoming APHA event in Boston, the largest public health conference in the world. \u201cThe erstwhile supporter of government Covid mandates is enduring the wrath of public-health activists for saying we need to learn to live with Covid,\u201d the paper\u2019s editorial board declared.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yet while rational people of sound mind can agree about the ridiculousness of the charges leveled against Dr. Wen, there\u2019s another lesson to be learned from this: she and other scientific \u201cexperts\u201d who encouraged a culture of mass hysteria at the beginning of the pandemic have only themselves to blame when hysterical people use their own ridiculous rhetoric against them.<\/p>\n<h2>Wen\u2019s Wackiness<\/h2>\n<p>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2022\/08\/23\/my-kids-wont-wear-masks-school\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">editorial<\/a> published in The Washington Post this past August, Wen acknowledged that the \u201ccontainment of covid-19\u201d is \u201cnot reachable.\u201d Though once deeply cautious, her family now visits with \u201cother families indoors, without masks or testing, and have resumed traveling and attending events.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Her children, who do indoor activities with other kids, will not be masking up this school year. She even admits that \u201cmasking has harmed our son\u2019s language development\u201d and that limiting her kids\u2019 extracurriculars and social interactions negatively affected their childhood.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s quite an about-face for the medical professional who, in June of 2021, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2021\/07\/06\/vaccine-requirements-proof-white-house-party\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called<\/a> for vaccine requirements. \u201cBut at some point \u2026 I think it will be important to say \u2018Hey, you can opt-out, but if you want to opt-out, you have to sign these forms, you have to get twice-weekly testing,\u2019\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/07\/12\/ex-planned-parenthood-ceo-is-not-pro-choice-when-it-comes-to-vaccine-mandates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">she wrote<\/a> at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also quite the about-face for a medical professional who, in 2020, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/10\/29\/us\/politics\/trump-biden-mask-mandate.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called<\/a> for national mask mandates and, as recently as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2022\/02\/leana-wens-180-degree-reversal-on-masks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">February 2022<\/a>, believed we needed to tighten mask requirements.<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, Wen also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2020\/11\/24\/close-schools-coronavirus-winter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called on schools<\/a> across the nation to close and stay closed through the entire winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wen contributed to the mass hysteria of counterproductive masking and social distancing mandates, prolonged school closures that hurt millions of American schoolchildren, and unethical vaccine requirements that violated American citizens\u2019 liberties.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For a time, she \u201cfavored maximizing restrictions and an authoritarian, punitive approach to anyone unvaccinated,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2022\/08\/18\/opinion\/an-absurd-disturbing-cancel-campaign-public-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">notes<\/a> a Boston Globe op-ed. Her commentary regarding the coronavirus has been cited by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/press-briefings\/2022\/07\/25\/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-and-covid-19-response-coordinator-dr-ashish-jha-4\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">White House<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/05\/briefing\/omicron-risk-milder-pandemic.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New York Times<\/a>, and prominent international <a href=\"https:\/\/carnegieendowment.org\/2021\/10\/21\/carnegie-connects-conversation-with-dr.-leana-wen-on-state-of-pandemic-event-7723\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">think tanks<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wen\u2019s opinion \u2014 and her initial authoritarian response to covid \u2014 was highly valued and respected by many prominent decision-makers. But now, she sings a different, less hysterical tune.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI accept the risk that my kids will probably contract covid-19 this school year, just as they could contract the flu, respiratory syncytial virus, and other contagious diseases,\u201d she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2022\/08\/23\/my-kids-wont-wear-masks-school\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote in the Post<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRather, my approach to this school year reflects the evolution of the pandemic and the acknowledgment that avoiding covid-19 cannot be the singular metric of people\u2019s overall health and well-being.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wen admits there are \u201ctrade-offs\u201d and that \u201cthere are no easy, one-size-fits-all answers.\u201d In other words, Wen now agrees with what people were saying when covid first began to spread across the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Hysteria Against Wen Is Her Own Creation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The letter calling for Wen to be banned from the APHA is signed by \u201cepidemiologists, physicians, researchers, administrators, Ph.D. candidates, and postdoctoral researchers in public health, at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Johns Hopkins, UC Berkeley, and Emory, among other institutions,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2022\/08\/18\/opinion\/an-absurd-disturbing-cancel-campaign-public-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Boston Globe reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/news\/2022\/08\/23\/public-health-backlash-dr-leana-wen-talk-backlash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">petition<\/a>, Wen\u2019s statements are \u201cantagonistic to and diminish the hard work of APHA members and colleagues who have had to deal with the fallout of her messaging, some of whom have experienced compounded harm from being disabled and\/or immunocompromised.\u201d Wen\u2019s critics claim she has promoted \u201cunscientific, unsafe, ableist, fatphobic, and unethical practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Anytime people start throwing around accusations of faux evils like ableism and fatphobia or demand speakers be explicitly \u201canti-racist,\u201d you know you have entered the woke zone of victimhood and hysteria.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unfortunate whenever anyone is subject to such ideological, irrational attacks. Yet Wen (and the many once hyper-restrictionist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-022-00620-7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">health experts<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/archive\/2022\/05\/covid-opinions-school-closures\/629736\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">politicians<\/a> who drastically changed their approach to covid) should not be surprised when they are on the receiving end of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For it is a hysteria that Wen, who stoked fear among millions of Americans, and has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2021\/08\/31\/leana-wen-memoir-improbable-journey-public-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">talked a fair share<\/a> about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2021\/06\/01\/we-need-investigate-lab-leak-theory-without-inflaming-anti-asian-hate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">anti-racism<\/a> and other fictitious evils, has herself played a serious role in fostering.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>Many Others to Blame<\/h2>\n<p>Of course, Wen is not the only representative of the nation\u2019s elite who, after many months of pushing aggressive policies to \u201cstop the spread\u201d \u2014 a message that furthered their careers while ruining millions of others \u2014 is now singing a different tune.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For years, Wen, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2019\/07\/16\/742390932\/planned-parenthood-removes-leana-wen-as-president-after-less-than-a-year\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">former<\/a> president of Planned Parenthood, sought to further her professional brand by pushing extreme medical procedures under the guise of protecting more\u00a0Americans. Many knew then, and many more know now, that those measures were not only unnecessary but deeply counterproductive.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Wen and her similarly situated peers bred a beast that has now come for them. How many more will be devoured by ideological zealots who, two-and-a-half years later, are still social-distancing and wearing masks while they walk outside?<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Casey Chalk is a senior contributor at The Federalist and an editor and columnist at The New Oxford Review. He has a bachelor\u2019s in history and master\u2019s in teaching from the University of Virginia and a master\u2019s in theology from Christendom College. He is the author of The Persecuted: True Stories of Courageous Christians Living Their Faith in Muslim Lands.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The cancel crowd has come for Dr. Leana Wen. More than 500 people, including many prominent names in medicine and science, have signed a letter demanding that the CNN and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":658,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1629148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1629148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1629148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1629148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1629148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}