OPINION:
Bill Gates, Harvard dropout, Microsoft founder, just slammed Scott Atlas, degreed biologist, degreed medical doctor, the former chief of neuroradiology at Stanford University Medical Center — that’s Medical Center with a capital “M” — as a, get this, “pseudo-expert” on the coronavirus.
Hmm. One of these things is not like the other.
On this side, stands the business dude Gates, the guy with zero, zilch, nada, medical degree, the guy who dropped out of college to found a software company. Yes, he’s since been awarded some honorary degrees in both medical and legal worlds — but, ahem, they’re honorary. Meaning, he didn’t do the actual work. Meaning, he doesn’t have the actual learning.
Now for the other side.
On this side stands Atlas, err, Dr. Atlas, with a past and present that includes his senior fellow status with the Hoover Institution at Stanford in California, with his undergrad degree in biology, with his medical degree in, well, medicine from the University of Chicago School of Medicine, with his board certification as a diagnostic radiology background and his chief of neuroradiology — the study of abnormalities of the nervous system and spine — and his professor title at the Stanford University Medical Center and now, most lately, his affiliation with the White House coronavirus task force. Meaning, he did the actual doctorly work to get the actual doctorly degree. Meaning, he has the actual doctorly, medical knowledge.
So which one seems more qualified to understand the coronavirus?
According to Gates — not Atlas.
“We now have a pseudo-expert advising the president,” Gates said, during an interview with Yahoo Finance.
Of whom was he speaking?
“After the interview, taped on Oct. 15,” Yahoo Finance wrote via AOL, “Gates confirmed that he had made the comments in reference to Atlas, who has opposed lockdowns and co-authored an op-ed in The Hill called, ’The COVID-19 shutdowns will cost Americans millions of years of lives.’”
Gates, post-Yahoo interview, then went on to describe Atlas as “off-the-rails,” Yahoo Finance via AOL reported.
But who holds the medical degree?
Atlas. That’s right, Atlas, not Gates. What Gates does hold is a reported 160 point IQ — and an obvious fistful of hubris. What Gates does hold is a decided self-interest in seeing a coronavirus vaccine spread far and wide, not just in America, but across the world. Decade of Vaccines campaign, anyone? That’s a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation special, front and center.
When it comes to the coronavirus, and helping the White House decide suitable COVID-19 policy, it’s Atlas who deserves the respect and listening ear. Business dude Gates? He should simply grab a notebook and take some memos. He could learn a thing or two from the real medical experts.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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