It started with an aquarium.

There was coverage a while back on a chemical related to hydroxychloroquine, one that was used for treating aquarium water, that a couple used on themselves to treat for COVID-19. If I remember correctly, there was a back-and-forth over what political side they supported, which ended in the discovery that the couple held political views different than was originally reported. The illogical sensationalizing of that and similar stories was such that, to my recollection, I had to look to news sources outside these borders to find out why HCQ was a possible treatment.

That doesn't seem to have changed in the months since. I'd like to think that other countries have some reason besides politics to treat their citizens with HCQ (if it's in a package with COVID-related tests and PPE, I wonder at the language that reads like it separates the medicine from the rest of the equipment), although I'm willing to entertain the notion that it may be used here as a reaction to Belt and Road efforts.

Although initially, it may not have been a question of right or left, but of usefulness, in an environment where every thing is politicized (I ask, activists, who's the apostate here?), even respectable medical professionals and carefully conducted studies are tainted by the station on which they're broadcast and the political views they hold. It doesn't take decades of study and experience to get to the concept that painting an opposing view as an enemy often enough results in increased suspicion, if not outright refusal, of outstretched hands and mentions of grace.

Oh well. Back to reruns of evil space empires and undead cops who look like Asian grandpas.

Also -

In relation to the treatment.

In relation to tainted views.