Frontal lobe injury, whether from strokes, dementia, tumors, or trauma, is clinically known to reduce empathy, impulse control, risk perception, and moral reasoning. SARS-CoV-2 has been shown in multiple studies to damage this part of the brain. What happens at scale?

Disclaimer: This is NOT about saying brain damage = bad person. This is NOT about blaming those with disabilities. This is NOT biological determinism. It’s about asking how repeated infection by a brain invading virus might affect collective behaviour, at population level.

We know from history: - Lead exposure increased aggression and crime -Parasites like toxoplasmosis change risk perception - Brain injury can alter ideology, emotional control, and even voting behaviour Why wouldn’t covid, a virus that damages the brain, be doing the same?

We know the virus causes anosmia (loss of smell) partly by damaging the olfactory nerve, a direct pathway into the brain. Studies show changes in grey matter, even in “mild” infections. And this virus doesn’t just hit once, people are getting infected over & over, incessantly.

Yes, this sounds chilling. That’s why it gets laughed off & I face ridicule. But if covid causes damage in areas that regulate empathy, inhibition & moral logic, we should expect: -More cruelty -Less resistance to authoritarianism -Rising impulsivity and antisocial behaviour

This is not saying “brain damage makes you evil.” It’s saying that certain kinds of neural injury, especially to the frontal lobe, make people less able to regulate behavior that protects others and themselves. That is NOT ableism. That is neurology.

There’s a difference between lifelong neurodivergence and acquired neurological injury from a virus. One is an identity. The other is harm. Saying “SARS-CoV-2 brain damage may be reshaping society” is not ableist. It’s morally urgent.

Many with such damage won’t even be able to see this, a crucial point. Anosognosia, lack of insight/awareness into one’s own brain changes, is common after frontal lobe injury. So of course denial would be rampant. Of course people would say “I’m fine, nothing wrong with me”

But this is anything but fine. Empathy is collapsing. Violence is rising. Logic is fracturing. And covid is still spreading; unchecked, unstudied, unacknowledged. This thread isn’t fear-mongering. It’s a warning. We need to start taking brain damage seriously.

Population wide outcomes I’d expect to be seeing: - Reduced empathy - Increased aggression - Support for authoritarianism - Declining critical thinking - Less moral inhibition - Rising disinhibition & antisocial behavior -Inability to recognise own impairment/decline

This is NOT alarmism. It’s consistent with decades of lesion and dementia research, now playing out under mass infection conditions. END 🧠

I’m bored to fucking tears of replying to the anti vax trolls plaguing my replies. I’ve replied to enough of them now for my replies to cover all bases. Read them and weep.

Frontal lobe dysfunction shatters critical thinking. That’s how you go from understanding public health to believing vaccines are more dangerous than the virus, every expert is lying, & your YouTube search counts as research. Thank you for providing very convincing case studies

Credit for the olfactory cortex image goes to @DaniBeckman Thank you for your work and for flagging the omission, a terrible oversight on my part. My apologies.

@JamesThrot You are my fucking hero James!

@CaffeinatedTdlr Appreciate you. I wish we didn’t need to be heroic just to say the obvious out loud in 2025, but here we are.

@JamesThrot Those neuron images are @DaniBeckman’s hard work. Not only did you fail to credit her, but you also cut the QR code in half on the images. That was disrespectful.

@NeurologistMom @DaniBeckman I’ve addressed this with Dani herself and apologised profusely. It was a major oversight on my part that was unforgivable, truth be told. I have thousands upon thousands of images that have been screenshot and edited, and some of the screenshots are other people’s I’ve saved

@JamesThrot Spot on. I'm not a doctor but this just seemed like common sense?

@FunkySkunkPunk Sometimes common sense aligns perfectly with what the data and science show. Unfortunately, common sense appears to be lacking in many.

@JamesThrot Spike protein from covid bad. Spike protein from lipid nano particle good. Totally Makes sense.

@gavinnixon7 ‘Spike protein = spike protein’ is immunologically illiterate. Infection means uncontrolled spike in brain, blood, organs, with viral replication. Vaccine spike is modified, dose-limited, cleared faster. Not always harmless, but not equivalent.

@JamesThrot It would have been great if I had received the credit for the last images.

@DaniBeckman Apologies for the oversight, and thank you for creating and sharing them. I’ve updated the credit and really appreciate your work. I truly am sorry.

@JamesThrot I've seen some analyses of the rise of fascism following the 1918 flu pandemic. Do you know if that was also neuroinvasive, or if it could have been the societal impacts, or a mixture?

@ClareQ12 There’s historical evidence the 1918 flu virus affected the nervous system, with cases of encephalitis lethargica and other neurological issues reported. Direct proof of strong neuroinvasion is limited, but neurological aftermath was widely noted.

@JamesThrot Thank you for this clear-eyed explanation! You're a Twitter hero. 🥰🥹😘 Whenever I try to explain, everyone laughs at me. Now I know why, and that I'm usually wasting my time explaining - but I to continue, I have hope that someone will hear me! Thanks for leading the way. 🫂

@MamaCassOFee It’s shameful how many dismiss and laugh at people trying to share important truths. I face it myself, yet I’m a medical professional. This ignorance only deepens the problem. Don’t let the mockery silence you. The real problem is those who refuse to listen.

@JamesThrot Does damage to the frontal lobe, particularly the prefrontal cortex, can increase the likelihood of relationship infidelity due to impairments in judgment, impulse control, and empathy?

@BomohCompSc Yes. Damage to the prefrontal cortex can impair judgment, impulse control, and empathy, as previously stated. All key factors that help maintain fidelity. Hence frontal lobe injury can increase the risk of behaviours like infidelity, though individual outcomes vary.

@JamesThrot I can’t stop thinking about this thread since I read it. I was wondering, if we can’t recognise brain damage due to Covid in ourselves, can we at least recognise it in others? Would that give some hope that we will start to take this disease more seriously?

@socrates2sox That’s the catch. If the same dysfunction is widespread, affecting empathy, insight & judgment, then we’re surrounded by people less able to notice it, let alone care. Almost creating collective blindness, where the damage hides itself inside the very faculties needed to see it