I thought there would be a few friends who would pick it up and like it, physicians who I had engaged with about racism, and it was directed at them, but I had no idea that it had general appeal. I still don’t totally understand it. I think it was timing.
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ACEP Now: Vol 37 – No 05 – May 2018JF: I think people actually do want to hear doctors’ frontline experiences with that authenticity. A lot of the responses you got were enjoyable, but you also received negative feedback from people who aren’t ready to hear these kinds of things. Could you describe what that’s been like?
EC: To some extent, the trolls will always come out. But there are a lot of people who said that they thought that I made it all up. There were over 2,000 comments on Twitter. There were Facebook posts that blew up even more than the Twitter posts. I really can’t go deep down into the Facebook posts because either they double down on racism or they say I made it up so I could get my “five minutes.” There’s a lot of that. Even with a bunch of other physicians chiming in and saying that it is completely believable and normal in our workplace, other people are like, “It’s too much or too extreme, and I can’t believe that happens.”
JF: You recently said, maybe tongue-in-cheek, that your whole life changed because of a tweet. In what way?
EC: For two weeks, I just got slaughtered with media requests. I had the CNN appearance, which was one of the most stressful experiences of my life because I’m not a public person, and I was trying to finish a research grant. I was ready for things to get back to normal. But I got on the map as a physician who could speak to a number of issues, and my Twitter following is now a ton of journalists. Almost every week, someone in the media reaches out about a new tweet. I’m contributing for SELF and for NBC’s new editorial site. Overall, it’s a positive thing and an opportunity to advocate for our field and portray physicians in a positive light.
JF: Now that you’re known as both an academic and a public figure, what do you think about the balance of FOAM, mainstream media, and peer-reviewed research publication? Which is more important, and how should the academic world respond to this?
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3 Responses to “Using Twitter Fame to Advocate for Emergency Medicine”
June 9, 2018
Mark BuettnerThank you for the article Dr. Faust. Congratulations on your new found fame Dr. Choo. Wow, SELF, “Huffpo” and CNN after Just one Tweet? Just think of it, an appearance on CNN after just one Tweet? As they say, “Only in America” I guess. I do have a question about the racism you experienced. Was it exclusively the caucasian nationalists that were racist toward you? Did you experience any racism from nationalists of other races? I served in the U.S. Army with honorable men and women from various different races that were patriotic nationalists. In fact, I paired my shelter half (each soldier carries a half in the field) with the most patriotic nationalist I have ever met, Gilbert C. Gilbert was hispanic and hailed from Chicago. Oh boy was he proud of the Stars and Stripes. We became very good friends. Gilbert and I spent six weeks sleeping inside that tiny tent during a bitter cold winter, in a dusty and desolate desert. We remained bunk mates once our unit moved into the barracks. We did this because we were two young nationalists serving our country. We were protecting the very freedom that you exercised when you tweeted that people like me are racists. I am White and because of my sense of “Nationalism” I served OUR country. Dr. Choo you have made a mistake. Perhaps you meant “White Supremacists” not “White Nationalists”. I do not believe you truly hold the opinion that people like me are all racists. However, I will not say the same for CNN when they regularly mix the two identities. In closing I do have this to say: Dr. Choo, Dr. Faust and ACEP NOW editorial board, take a moment and reflect on why and how this article, in the form that it is in, made it to print in “The Official Voice of Emergency Medicine”.
June 9, 2018
TazYou are not the only one who served this great country. I’m Black, an emergency physician and an Army veteran who served in Bosnia as Chief of the ED. Dr. Choo spoke of her experience in her ED. I don’t think she needs to qualify it to anyone. It was her experience and her perception. Let her be.
Did your friend, Gilbert, describe himself as a nationalist or is that your description of him? True nationalists are indeed patriots. White nationalists are not. You have the unfortunate distinction of being White and a nationalist/patriot. I get the difference, but many will not. That is thanks to the White Nationalists who have bastardized the meaning of the name. And they are racists. I don’t think that is an issue you should take up with Dr. Choo. Take it up with the White Nationalists.
The “Official Voice of Emergency Medicine” is each of us who are emergency physicians. Each voice is the the official voice.
April 6, 2021
Bradley R. Caloia D.O.It truly is shameful that the current poisonous political atmosphere has infiltrated even our ranks. Everyday it seems divisive ideas, tribalism and critical race theory creep further into our institutions. It helps nothing and serves only to prevent us from even listening to each other. A cancer. Dr. Choo is on record making comments about “truly exhausting white people” and multiple tweets stereotyping and labelling people. She claims to be the victim of the very racism she is visibly spreading. It is a growing frustration to see not only respected individuals on Twitter, but our colleges and our publications spreading these destructive ideas. Our charter, our very duty is to approach our patients without regard to color, religion, status. We take all comers. We are those who truly make a difference day in and day out for our patients regardless of how they identify. When we are giving air time to grifters like Ibram X. Kendi and giving voice to frankly racist policies, I can say with absolute certainty that this publication is drifting away from the official voice of the majority of EM and becoming a tool of a radical few.