‘An enemy of the people’: doctors as scapegoats

Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the US president, has been the focus of systematic attempts to vilify him with the label of ‘public enemy number one’ because of information and guidance he has issued.1 In England, two men have been convicted for a physical assault on the government’s chief medical officer, Sir Chris Whitty, for the same reason.2 Epidemiologists and other experts have been victims of abuse on social media, often with a misogynistic or racist slant. The baths are a draw for tourists and a major source of income for the town’s economy. Because of this, the authorities conspire in a political cover-up, led by the doctor’s older brother Peter, who is the mayor. What ‘An Enemy of the People’ demonstrates is how, during a social and economic crisis, people may find it easier to project blame and hatred onto professionals like doctors than to face the truths they are trying to tell.