Junior Doctors Strike Back: The Hashtag Awakens
[box style=”rounded” border=”full”]Jun Lao, Doctors’ Mess Editor, on the ways in which junior doctors are striking back (haha get it?) against spin, lies and more spin[/box]
Amidst the spin, lies and general stench of excrement emanating from Mr Hunt and his cronies in the right wing press during this junior doctor contract dispute, comes a sense of increasing desperation. There have been the hapless attempts for months to divide doctors with increasingly ludicrous statements, which have only succeeded in uniting and infuriating the profession more than ever. There have been the various under-handed attempts to smear the reputation of hard-working junior doctors which have spectacularly backfired. And finally on strike day, Jezza was nowhere to be seen, whilst his aides resorted to censorship of the media as they ran out of made up studies conducted by Government lapdogs to spin. But aside from the baffling incompetence of Mr Hunt and co., something else has become increasingly clear; doctors are a merciless, unforgiving and frankly hilarious bunch. Every fumble and every wrong move made by the Department of Health has been pounced upon and instantly torn apart in the brutal arena of social media. I’d almost feel sorry for them if they weren’t heartless minions of the antichrist. Countless memes, trends and hashtags have sprung up all over Facebook and Twitter over the past few months – largely as a result of the efforts of Mr Hunt and his band of demonic helpers. Let’s take a look at some of the best.
#dangermoney
“There were stories about what happened…”
“It’s true. All of it.”
In years to come, doctors will speak in hushed tones of the glorious moment Mr Hunt tried to label the wages paid for exceeding a 56 hour threshold as ‘danger money’ thus birthing the phenomenon of #dangermoney into the world. This outlandish claim was, of course, made during an interview with BBC Breakfast, where our esteemed Health Secretary also demonstrated his hilarious lack of basic mental arithmetic skills and blamed it on the fact that it was 7.15am. Aw poor Jezza. Trying to subtract one number from another early in morning? Such complex stuff. Must have been tough.
True! #dangermoney pic.twitter.com/qsChkOcO2F
— moongazinghare (@amoongazinghare) October 31, 2015
@TrishaL8 @TV_HIEC_Chair @ideas4thefuture #dangermoney pic.twitter.com/rm051OGLZN — Tom Caldwell (@Dr_LEGO_Tom) October 30, 2015
#dangermoney pic.twitter.com/xSMs0Sxhl7
— Miranda Godfrey (@blingulator) November 2, 2015
Courtesy of the Med reg ✌?️! #yesyes #huntlies #dangermoney pic.twitter.com/MNb0TotcdD — Roshana Mehdian (@RoshanaMN) October 31, 2015
??? #dangermoney #juniorcontract #ImInWorkJeremy #NotFairNotSafe pic.twitter.com/hC5aqbI3Jg
— Tom McWaters (@Tom_McWaters) October 31, 2015
Doing a number 2 when carrying the crash bleep ? #dangermoney pic.twitter.com/SggP6hmk6o — Sunny Chan (@DrWaiSun) October 31, 2015
Jerry says…Show me the #dangermoney Jezza. #juniorcontracts pic.twitter.com/lpXTsQR4uJ
— Damien Cullington (@dc_cardiology) October 31, 2015
Thinking about the amazing Work our Junior doctors do, now go check out #dangermoney no Jeremy ….just No pic.twitter.com/2P7y5v1u06 — Michael Foster (@Mikey__Foster) October 30, 2015
Just been to the bank and I can confirm, I’ve not been getting my #dangermoney pic.twitter.com/umefimvEQB
— ARobinson (@ajr229) October 30, 2015
We are the ones who mock #dangermoney #BreakingBad #NotFairNotSafe #juniorcontract pic.twitter.com/VMtNHXzBww — Rachel Newby (@LeFlamant) October 30, 2015
@docdgn #dangermoney #TopGun pic.twitter.com/1BH2JKkuAG
— Ruth Bird (@DrRuthBird) October 30, 2015
#dangermoney thanks @Amanda kallor! pic.twitter.com/4jXiGDYTdS — fiona wilson (@jrn_doc) October 30, 2015
At this point I should note that many of these fantastic memes come courtesy of Dr Justin Kua, a bloody hero who I unfortunately couldn’t track down on twitter to give him proper credit. So here are some other choice cuts from his #dangermoney series. It’s fire.
#moetmedics and #smearthedocs
In the aftermath of the first round of strikes being called off in order to allow for further negotiation via ACAS, the previously deafening din of doctors raging against the government machine had died down somewhat. Interest was declining and a sense of apathy was beginning to take hold once again. But then of course, the most infamous rag of them all rode to the rescue by attacking members of the BMA junior doctor committee and restored the sense of righteous fury and biting sense of humour which had been sorely lacking. There were descriptions of these doctors doing scandalous things such as living in houses, going on holidays or holding champagne flutes in their free time – all of which came under the now infamous headline of ‘Moet Medics’. The fact that it took four of these diligent, principled ‘journalists’ to write a 200 word article composed mostly of pictures and information gleaned from Facebook profiles is simply a true testament to the quality of journalism and meticulous research we have come to expect from Mr Murdoch’s papers. We should really be thanking these honourable gentleman for bringing us the hard-hitting and shocking news that junior doctors have normal lives outside work and some may even own property. After all, without them we would have missed out on the fury and hilarity which ensued in the form of #moetmedics. So let’s raise a glass of Dom Perignon to these modern day Pulitzers. Cheers.
It is widely known that junior Drs only wash in a bath with a jeroboam of champagne #MoetMedics #SmearTheDocs pic.twitter.com/7BObmAGYo9
— Tom Lewis (@thomasllewis) January 10, 2016
Junior doctors tried playing croquet at wedding (they dared to attend on weekend off) #smearthedocs #moetmedics pic.twitter.com/8NnVKNoEpH — Dr Amal Hassan (@oh_amalhassan) January 10, 2016
Flash car, fancy food, handcrafted clothes. Lavish holiday habits of a junior doc revealed #moetmedics #smearthedocs pic.twitter.com/HIkHT9hryR
— Strontium dog (@dog_strontium) January 10, 2016
It’s pure gold don’t you know… #moetmedics #smearthedocs pic.twitter.com/bMSzW1DWdd — Jamie Sillett (@jmesillett) January 10, 2016
@ProtocoIDriven GP basks on beach in front of private yacht with designer dog. Also had ice cream #smearthedoctors pic.twitter.com/LShUxkJOJe
— Hannah Brotherstone (@hbrotherstone) January 10, 2016
@TheSun #smearthedocs ‘doctor relaxes in the Caribbean in a pose like princess Margaret’ pic.twitter.com/NGIS8J7jLW — Tom (@DrTomWalker) January 10, 2016
I’m planning on get the water cooler at work changed. Water is so last year! #moetmedics #smearthedocs pic.twitter.com/YdGVTH7KBm
— deepbluc (@deepbluc) January 10, 2016
For decades some doctors have been getting free travel around the entire universe. THIS HAS TO STOP! #smearthedocs pic.twitter.com/iE9pDKNs72 — Strawberry_Jam (@Mefusen_Jam) January 10, 2016
Doctors cat lounges in diamond collar on sofa #moetmedics #smearthedocs pic.twitter.com/VhQaJAjI31
— Vanessa Brown (@vanessabrown81) January 10, 2016
And of course, our very own meme machine Dr Kua was on hand to offer his own take on #moetmedics.
The rest
But let’s not forget the fantastic contributions of many junior doctors and the other incredible hashtags, trends and movements they started. There was of course #wearyourNHS and #NHSselfie.
THANK YOU VIVENNE AND BEN WESTWOOD!! ❤️ Supporting Junior Doctors. @climate_rev @FollowWestwood #wearyournhs pic.twitter.com/EsESubopMO — Wear Your NHS (@wearyournhs) November 27, 2015
The incredible thrill of the #NHS4XmasNo1 becoming a reality with a helping hand from good old Biebs himself.
We did it! Thank you to EVERYONE who bought the track,raised money for charity and showed how much our NHS is loved! pic.twitter.com/RLog3H8TCa
— NHS 4 Xmas No 1! (@NHS4XmasNo1) December 25, 2015
The fantastic support lended to our nurses in their fight against the bursary cuts as part of #bursaryorbust.
Student nurses and others will march against #NHSbursary cuts this afternoon https://t.co/R6BM3GlUsV #BursaryOrBust pic.twitter.com/WxKQOAKItP — Guardian Students (@gdnstudents) January 9, 2016
The #yesyes campaign and unprecedented 98% of junior doctors who voted for industrial action as they said #istandwithjohann.
Always knew it would be a yes but the level of support is insane! #yesyes #juniordoctors pic.twitter.com/tTzZ5Ho12Q
— Jessica Aspinall (@JessAsp) November 19, 2015
The incredible #JuniorDoctorProtest against the contracts in various cities across the UK in October.
What’s good, @Jeremy_Hunt? #NHS #NotSafeNotFair #JuniorContract #JuniorDoctorProtest pic.twitter.com/GIiiN1Zr26 — M. Aamir Shamsi (@aamir2727) October 17, 2015
And of course, quite possibly the hashtag which started it all: #ImInworkJeremy.
Christmas Day in the ED! #NHSworkingXmas #ImInWorkJeremy pic.twitter.com/P1yxGSuC4f
— Sophie Mitchinson (@smitchinson1) December 25, 2015
So there we have it, a whirlwind tour of the incredible presence and immense solidarity junior doctors have been displaying on social media over the past few months. As the BMA enter another round of talks with the Government via ACAS we can only hope that they will finally recognise the invaluable and selfless work our junior doctors do and agree to a contract which is safe for our patients and fair for our junior doctors. It’s #TimeToListen.