The Exigent Duality
Rhetoric Man - 07:55 CST, 6/05/21 (Sniper)
Like the world's worst "Mega Man" boss, holy buckets is this Fausti guy a liar: in 2018 he presented a slide which was titled "NIH Lifts Funding Pause on Gain-of-Function Research". The slide's bullets explained that along with this resumption, a committee would be created to decide which projects to fund.

Obviously, this was terrible: why was the United States government once again investing in research regarding how to modify animal viruses so that they could infect humans? Isn't that as flagrantly evil as all of the back-room research going on during World War II?

But here is how Fausti explained the very slide, as it was being shown to his audience, bold emphasis is mine:

"So let me explain this a little, because there is pushing back and forth from the press, like 'NIH is now going to do dangerous research-- but no: in fact, it's the very opposite. So, a framework has been now established to guide funding decisions on proposed research that might be anticipated to create transfer or use enhanced pandemic pathogens."


How stupid did he think his audience was? "Who do you believe, me or your own eyes?" This would be like me putting up a slide which says I'm going to gun pedestrians down with my car, then explaining to the room "No, no, all this means is that I'm going to sit in my car behind the steering wheel and decide where to point the car."

The one thing I've learned about this Fausti dude over the past couple of years is how sleazy he is at employing rhetorical tools: I'd even go so far as to say he's a master at it, and this is a good example.

To play devil's advocate, I am trying to track down that full clip-- perhaps in the following sentences he explained himself more fully. I'll post again if I'm able to find it-- but let's just say that I doubt it, based on his tone in the above quote.