Update 11/21: There's more to this story in a subsequent post, Paul Utke didn't much like Detroit Lakes Tribune editorial, needs help understanding journalism. As an Indiana lawyer--and future Hoosier governor--once said in the early 1960s, never argue with anyone who buys ink by the barrel. [end update]
Early this month, Bluestem Prairie posted Detroit Lakes Tribune rips Rep. Steve Green and Sen. Paul Utke over vaccine misinformation.
The editorial board noted in part:
. . . Our elected leaders should be respected.
They carry the weight of their area voters and represent them to the county, state and country. They are intended to be a true reflection of a slice of America.
They are not supposed to fuel and confirm information they know not to be true, but that's exactly what happened at a recent town hall meeting with Sen. Paul Utke, R-Park Rapids, and Rep. Steve Green, R-Fosston, in Frazee on Oct. 26.
"In the information that I’ve been reading, and I’m pretty sure it’s correct, is that half of the (COVID-19) vaccines are placebo," said Green, without any sourcing. "They are giving you a saline solution and it’s nothing. And, the other half are the real vaccine, which is the RNA. And, no one knows which one they are getting, but then they’ll do the test to see how many people get COVID after they get the vaccine and then they’ll know if they got, if they didn’t really get a vaccine, they got something else. So, they are using our kids, and us, as the lab experiment to do these things."
Of course it can't be proven that Green was knowingly spreading false information during the event, but he knew enough to give himself a protective carve-out, "in the information that I’ve been reading, and I’m pretty sure it’s correct," but that leads to another question: Why would he tell a room full of people something he didn't know for a fact was true?
Because he knew that's what the crowd wanted to hear, and that puts them on the same "team." It also makes vaccine-uncertain attendees more likely to side against public health recommendations because an "official" told them the "truth." . . .
The paper's editorial board gets thanked in Bad Medicine Lake resident John LaFond's letter, Thanks for calling out misinformation from Rep. Green:
Thank you, Detroit Lakes Tribune, for your recent editorial calling out State Rep. Steve Green for spreading misinformation about the COVID vaccine. Unfortunately, this is just another in a series of Mr. Green’s spreading conspiracy theories, misinformation, and half-truths.
This habit goes all the way back to 2014 when Mr. Green touted his unproven theory that terrorists were being infected with Ebola and being sent across our southern border to infect and kill U.S. servicemen and their families. In all cases he hides behind statements such as “I heard” or “I’ve been reading” but never gives the source.
We greatly appreciate you and the media for holding Mr. Green accountable for his misleading statements and setting the record straight. To your point, he has not earned our respect.
Green's 2014 challenger David Sobieski noted late year in a letter, Spreading lies as bad as spreading virus:
In 2014, I ran against Rep. Steve Green for Minnesota House 2B. At a radio debate in Fosston that fall, I sat next to him and listened to him say that Ebola-infected terrorists were crossing our southern borders to kill U.S. servicemen and their families. It was one of the craziest things I think I have ever heard, but it was a story that had been making the rounds in right-wing media for a few weeks and it seemed to get people excited and concerned. . . .
Will the DFL find a challenger in the next election who can replace Mr. Misinformation?
Related posts:
- DFL candidate Suby: Green should find facts
- No, Antifa and Muslim Groups Aren’t Policing Minneapolis Under ‘Muslim Rule.' (Snopes)
- Too cute: if only Steve Green could have come up with a real defense against feral swine
- The unbearable lightness of Steve Green's sourcing for problem wildlife removal
Photo: Minnesota state Sen. Paul Utke, left, R-Park Rapids, and Rep. Steve Green, R-Fosston, talk with constituents during a public town hall at the Frazee Event Center in downtown Frazee on Oct. 26, 2021. (Michael Achterling / Detroit Lakes Tribune)
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