Socialist magazine gets obliterated by the 'Hiroshima of community notes' after trying to criticize capitalism



Socialist magazine Jacobin was lambasted by what was dubbed the "Hiroshima" of community notes on X by critics on social media.

The official account for Jacobin was criticizing wages paid to Walmart employees when someone did the math and figured out that the magazine likely pays its writers far less on average.

"Infamous for its starvation wages, Walmart just posted staggering first-quarter profits. The surge is a result of its strategic shift toward catering to affluent shoppers while its full-time workers continue to rely on Medicaid and food stamps," read the post by the socialist outlet.

'This is the Hiroshima of community notes.'

The article chastised Walmart for posting a first quarter profit of $5.1 billion even as it was named as one of top employers whose workers rely on public assistance to get by.

The community note on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, quickly went viral.

"Walmart non-corporate Associates’ average hourly wage is $17.50/hour with full-time benefits. Jacobin pays writers $0.07/word, so a Jacobin writer would have to write 250 words an hour continuously to make the same wage as a Walmart Associate, but without benefits," the note read.

According to a Copyblogger report, paying seven cents per word lands a Jacobin writer squarely in the middle of average freelance rates for a beginning writer, and far less than that of the average intermediate and experienced writer.

Others on X bashed Jacobin over the poor wages it paid.

"Ouch @jacobin this is where you pay someone .07 cents a word to write a piece to defend yourself ! Right after your mom makes you hot pockets in the basement I guess at these wages," read one popular response.

"Socialism in a nutshell. Complain bitterly about one system. Propose a system that's an order of magnitude worse," read another reply.

"The beauty of this community note is that it isn't saying Walmart is good. The point is that, if you take as true that Walmart pays its workers poorly, Jacobin pays their writers even worse," said another detractor.

"This is the Hiroshima of community notes," said social media autodidact David Burge.

Even Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas mocked Jacobin over the note.

"The most spectacular community note in history," he posted.

The note garnered more than 4.4 million views on X.

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NIH Director Francis Collins told Anthony Fauci there needs to be a 'quick and devastating' takedown of anti-lockdown declaration by 'fringe' Harvard, Stanford, Oxford epidemiologists: Emails



Newly exposed emails show outgoing National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins commanding Dr. Anthony Fauci to carry out a "quick and devastating" takedown of a statement by public health experts calling for "focused protection" of the most vulnerable populations. Emails show that Fauci would indeed attack the declaration.

What is the Great Barrington Declaration?

Infectious disease epidemiologists and public health scientists authored the Great Barrington Declaration, a document that argues against COVID-19 lockdowns that was released on Oct. 4, 2020.

"Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health," the declaration stated. "Keeping these measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable damage, with the underprivileged disproportionately harmed."

"As immunity builds in the population, the risk of infection to all – including the vulnerable – falls," the epidemiologists wrote. "We know that all populations will eventually reach herd immunity – i.e. the point at which the rate of new infections is stable – and that this can be assisted by (but is not dependent upon) a vaccine. Our goal should therefore be to minimize mortality and social harm until we reach herd immunity."

More than 15,000 medical and public health scientists have allegedly signed the Great Barrington Declaration and over 45,000 medical practitioners have endorsed the document. The health advice in the Great Barrington Declaration was the complete opposite of what top U.S. public officials espoused.

A 'quick and devastating' takedown is ordered

Four days after the Great Barrington Declaration was released, Collins instructed Fauci and Clifford Lane — the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Deputy Director for Clinical Research and Special Projects — to engage in a "takedown" of the anti-lockdown declaration, according to emails.

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis obtained and released emails between the public health officials.

"This proposal from three fringe epidemiologists who met with the Secretary seems to be getting a lot of attention — and even a co-signature from Nobel Prize winner Mike Leavitt at Stanford," Collins wrote in an email sent on Oct. 8, 2020.

"There needs to be a quick and devastating takedown of its premises,” Collins wrote in reference to the Great Barrington Declaration.

In new FOIA email dump, NIH Director Collins emailed Fauci to urge a \u201cquick and devastating\u201d propaganda takedown of the Great Barrington Declaration, in which @MartinKulldorff @DrJBhattacharya and @SunetraGupta urged an end to COVID lockdowns and mandates.\nhttps://coronavirus.house.gov/sites/democrats.coronavirus.house.gov/files/2020.10.13%20FOIA-00001024.pdf\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/jxIMPetjue
— Michael P Senger (@Michael P Senger) 1639780840

How did Dr. Anthony Fauci respond?

Fauci responded to Collins' direction by promoting a Wired U.K. article with the headline: "There is no 'scientific divide' over herd immunity."

Phil Magness — senior research faculty and interim research and education director at the American Institute for Economic Research – noted that the Wired U.K. article from October 2020 stated that the Great Barrington Declaration is irrelevant because lockdowns are in the "past."

The Fauci-endorsed Wired article is noteworthy for having one of the single worst hot-takes of the entire pandemic. It declared in October 2020 that the GBD should be ignored, because lockdowns were a thing of the past and would not be returning! \n\nhttps://www.wired.co.uk/article/great-barrington-declaration-herd-immunity-scientific-divide\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/U3LtPK97zc
— Phil Magness (@Phil Magness) 1639844416

Fauci then shared an article from progressive The Nation titled: "Focused Protection, Herd Immunity, and Other Deadly Delusions."

"But Kulldorff, Bhattacharya, and Gupta’s plan, enshrined as the Great Barrington Declaration unveiled at the American Institute for Economic Research this week, is not the way forward," the article read. "If we’re going to build toward a new politics of care, it will be by relying on progressive principles of justice and equality—not some notion of the survival of the young and the fittest."

Far from a scientific study refuting the GBD, Gonsalves's article is a political op-ed attacking @Jacobin magazine for breaking "solidarity" with other far-left media outlets on lockdowns. Why? Because Jacobin ran an interview with @MartinKulldorff on how lockdowns hurt the poor.pic.twitter.com/0j85WlKiwY
— Phil Magness (@Phil Magness) 1639844418

Gregg Gonsalves — the author of The Nation article — reportedly emailed Collins to "thank" him for speaking out against the Great Barrington Declaration and for "doing it 'undiplomatically.'" Gonsalves also agreed in calling the GBD epidemiologists "fringe."

In the meantime, Gonsalves also gets in contact with Collins to volunteer his services (along with future @CDCDirector Rochelle Walensky) to attack the GBD in the media.\n\nCollins approves, and forwards it to Fauci and a bunch of NIH underlings.pic.twitter.com/UJ2t7C18AA
— Phil Magness (@Phil Magness) 1639844421

Fauci attacked the Great Barrington Declaration during an ABC News appearance on Oct. 15, 2020.

"That declaration has a couple things in it that I think are fooling people, because it says things that are like apple pie and motherhood," Fauci told ABC News. "A, we don't want to shut down the country. I say that all the time. B, we do certainly want to protect the vulnerable."

Fauci sent an email to White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah Birx on Oct. 16, 2020.

"Over the past week I have come out very strongly publicly against the "Great Barrington Declaration,'" Fauci wrote, adding that he will "connect" with her "later today or over the weekend."

On the morning of the Covid task force meeting, Fauci sends Deborah Birx this email alerting her about the need to oppose the GBD at the meeting. The unredacted part suggests they are preparing to attack @ScottWAtlas, who was perceived as the task force's champion of the GBD.pic.twitter.com/iqYbiTiZxo
— Phil Magness (@Phil Magness) 1639844423

Who are the 'fringe' epidemiologists?

Collins described the authors of the Great Barrington Declaration as "fringe."

The three "fringe" epidemiologists are Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Harvard University, Sunetra Gupta, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Oxford University, and Jay Bhattacharya, MD, Ph.D., a professor and public health policy expert at Stanford University.

Bhattacharya reacted to Collins' email by writing on Twitter, "So now I know what it feels like to be the subject of a propaganda attack by my own government. Discussion and engagement would have been a better path."

Kulldorff responded by saying, "A year ago, @NIHDirector Francis Collins asked Fauci to do a 'devastating published take down' of the Great Barrington Declaration. A public debate would have been better. Invitation still open."

Gupta has yet to issue a statement, but she retweeted the above statements made by colleagues.

Dr. Francis Collins attempts to defend his 'takedown'

The House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis said Collins "expressed deep concerns about the herd immunity strategy being advocated by these 'fringe epidemiologists.'"

Collins was asked about the "takedown" during a Fox News interview on Friday, to which he replied, "Well, OK, if it’s that specific. There were people [like] Scott Atlas that said don’t worry about this business of putting on masks or asking people to isolate themselves or stay distanced. Let it rip. Let this virus run through the country until everybody has had it, and we’ll have herd immunity.'"

Atlas — who was an advisor on former President Donald Trump's White House Coronavirus Task Force — does not show up as one of the prominent signatories on the Great Barrington Declaration website.

Why The Left Hates The Generous Givers Who Keep America’s Lights On

The 'local gentry' who fund local sports and scholarships have their flaws, but the rest of us have many reasons to prefer them to the ruling national elite.