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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   31957 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 5, 2022

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A prominent American Soccer journalist, Grant Wahl, passed away during this afternoon's World Cup game.

He's been critical of the Qatari government, for their treatment of the migrant workers who helped build the stadiums on his website, and for

protesting with a rainbow shirt.

Grant commented he had been dealing with symptoms diagnosed as Bronchitis and a translated report from the game suggests he collapsed while at the stadium and hit his head. I will step in here without sources and state third hand I've heard a pretty nasty flu/bronchitis illness has passed around the WC area in Qatar, which is being hosted in a much smaller, more connected base than is typical for this type of event. You can probably find news reports of a few teams dealing with the flu.

His brother has already suggested foul play, and if that isn't enough conspiracy for you, his wife is on the COVID Task Force for Joe Biden. This is likely to cross Biden's desk and receive attention quickly. Could develop into a major international incident.

It might, but there's no reason for it, unless someone wants to criticise high-pressure work expectations. Reading a news report on this, he himself said:

On Monday, Mr Wahl wrote on his website: "My body finally broke down on me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and lots of work can do that to you. What had been a cold over the last 10 days turned into something more severe on the night of the USA-Netherlands game, and I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort.

I didn't have Covid (I test regularly here), but I went into the medical clinic at the main media center today, and they said I probably have bronchitis. They gave me a course of antibiotics and some heavy-duty cough syrup, and I'm already feeling a bit better just a few hours later. But still: No bueno.''

So he was under a lot of stress from work, got sick, and collapsed. Until we get a cause of death, there's no reason to see anything more sinister in this.

I didn't have Covid (I test regularly here), but I went into the medical clinic at the main media center today, and they said I probably have bronchitis. They gave me a course of antibiotics and some heavy-duty cough syrup, and I'm already feeling a bit better just a few hours later. But still: No bueno.''

There's something about this that is... well, not humorous, that's a bit too dark considering he just died. But certainly odd. Wahl was repeatedly tested for something relatively benign that he didn't have, while actually being ravaged by something that was a "probably" which wasn't further investigated.

Then again, I keep hearing something along the lines of "I'm ill, but don't worry, I tested myself for covid and don't have that, so it might be -something worse- instead" and whenever I do I can hear the thin rope of restraint in my brain grow ever-more taut as it begins to fray. We (collective, not me personally) seem to be stuck in some pointless doomloop of covid testing where tests are done for little apparent reason, as if the test itself is the treatment.

A few weeks ago I got sick and stayed home for a few days. So many of my friends asked me if my covid test was positive - just assuming I'd been testing. They were appalled when I said I hadn't bothered, and that in fact I have never tested myself for covid. If the diagnostic result does not change/inform treatment, then what use is it? If I were sick enough to need hospitalization, they'd test me for various things at that point and treat accordingly. If I'm not sick enough to be hospitalized, what good does knowing exactly what bug I have do? We know Paxlovid has only ever been tested in unvaccinated individuals and appears to have no value in vaccinated people (and perhaps a downside of helping covid evolve to escape it when over-used in those who do not need it). So I did what we all did pre-covid, I stayed home and rested until I felt better. Maybe I had covid. Maybe I didn't. I don't really care.

I think you're right that people have begun to view the test as some kind of treatment, or at least somehow a responsibility as if the knowledge of which bug is making them slightly ill is of grave importance to society.

Sounds like a Pulmonary Embolism to me. Not a doctor

I was thinking the same thing, some kind of clot that got loose and caused a fatal stroke. We'll have to wait for the autopsy, though.

I remember that guy from his super-viral gay flag shirt tweet. It does seem suspicious but it's not unheard of for people to die mysteriously and seemingly suddenly from flu-like symptoms. Another example is David Graeber.

Prior to going independent, he was one of the first and best journalists covering US Soccer. He was fired from Sports Illustrated during COVID after criticizing cuts during the pandemic (SI had already been carved out a few years earlier IIRC, and this was likely more of an excuse to accelerate cuts than anything else).

I believe his last notably good piece of journalism was a telling of his excursion to Transnistria to cover an underdog team in the Champions League - think one of those motley crew underdogs in the NCAA Basketball Tournament - although there were some odd spots in there that made you wonder about his presence there as an independent journalist with no corporate backing.

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