What I'd write about coronavirus if tenure worked the way it is supposed to work

Yesterday's post pontificating on the state of political science and the November election was something that I knew I was going to write eventually, but let's be blunt.  It was a little more mundane than a lot of what I have been doing with In Tenure Veritas.  It was not, actually, what I started to write.  What did I start to write?  Something that I knew I couldn't post.

You aren't going to see it.  I didn't finish it, I never will, and even if I did, I can't bloody post it.  Look, y'all, if you are reading this, you know that my sense of humor is somewhere between "did he just say that?" and "I know there's a first amendment, but seriously?!"  Sometimes, even I can tell when my jokes just shouldn't be told.  Sometimes.  This... was one of those times.

But I just can't resist sharing the two titles I had in mind.

A)  If you aren't mainlining bleach, you're letting the liberals win!

B)  Drink some bleach, and own the libs!

Anyway, it went from there, Alex Jones-style.  Ironic entreaties to ingest or inject cleaning products because pointy-headed liberals are trying to stop you.  Rolling coal for the COVID era.  The thing is, irony notwithstanding, such a post would be urging people to do something suicidal.  Universities disapprove of professors saying such things.

His name was George Cicciarello-Maher.*

So, I'm writing a meta-post about what I'm not posting instead, while also describing what I'm not posting.

That's called having my cake and eating it too.

Please.  Don't ingest or inject bleach.  File under:  things I never thought I'd have to tell adults.

Now, to make this a pseudo-academic post.  Two papers.  Bursztyn et al., "Misinformation During a Pandemic."  Short version:  On Fox News, Tucker Carlson has provided less misinformation than Sean Hannity, which may contribute to higher death rates among Hannity viewers.  Next, Johnson et al., "Mass Casualty Event Scenarios and Political Shifts."  Basically, COVID-19 might kill off a bunch of Trump supporters, and consequently help Biden.  Interesting, when taken together.

Th...th....th...that's all, folks.



*If you have to explain it, it's not funny.  George Cicciarello-Maher was a tenured Drexel professor forced to resign for an obviously ironic comment online.  The phrase, "His name was 'Robert Paulson,'" is a nod to Fight Club.  See?  I had to explain it.  Therefore, it isn't funny.