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Despite what tv news media likes to portray, climate change does poll favorably. From this poll https://www.newsmax.com/us/us/2020/05/19/id/968005/ https://www

by pm90 6y ago

Despite what tv news media likes to portray, climate change does poll favorably. From this poll https://www.newsmax.com/us/us/2020/05/19/id/968005/ https://www.newsmax.com/us/us/2020/05/19/id/968005/: 73% of Americans polled say climate change is happening. 54% of Americans asked say they are extremely or very certain climate change is happening. 62% of Americans say they agree with the scientific view that global warming is mostly caused by human activity. 6% of Americans surveyed say there were extremely or very sure global warming wasn’t happening. What you see today is the encouragement of the worst instincts of people's nature by someone with real power and influence. When the President of the US says that masks are fake or a hoax, then a certain segment of the population will believe it. Which is why, if the current POTUS is re-elected and continues to throw the Country and the Federal Government into chaos, I have little hope that it will be addressed.

saagarjha 6y ago
Those numbers are way below what they really should be.
- pm90 6y ago
  And Trumps polling numbers are higher than they should be. We aren’t living in a utopia, but we do have a plurality of the populace who believes in facts and we shouldn’t forget that. It can be the foundation of a durable political coalition.
chongli 6y ago
When the President of the US says that masks are fake or a hoax It wasn’t just the president who said that, it was also the medical establishment a few months ago. They told people not to wear masks because they were afraid of shortages that would affect hospital supplies. They lied to the public rather than being honest about it. That sort of behaviour is extremely damaging to the public trust in experts.
- irq11 6y ago
  It wasn’t just the medical establishment a few months ago - it’s the medical establishment today. The rhetoric around masks has vastly exceeded the evidence, and asserting that people were “lying” at first is to ignore the fact that the evidence hasn’t really changed since the beginning of the year: https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/masking-lack-of-evidence-with-politics/ https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/masking-lack-of-evidence-with-... https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/commentary-masks-all-covid-19-not-based-sound-data https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/commenta... https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/07/commentary-my-views-cloth-face-coverings-public-preventing-covid-19 https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/07/commenta... https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/podcasts-webinars/special-ep-masks https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/podcasts-webinars/specia...
- pm90 6y ago
  Our understanding of this new virus is evolving, and guidelines change with that. The medical establishment currently recommends wearing masks so your response is to not wear masks out of spite? Out of protest? Wtf are you protesting?
  - kazinator 6y ago
    The claim back in March, 2020 was that there is no evidence that masks are effective, at all, against the spread of infectious diseases. (You may choose to wear one, if it makes you feel better. Make sure it's an ad hoc home-made one, to save the real ones for medical practitioners; but remember, that those are not known to work, either). The backpedaling with respect to masks is not due to changes in our understanding of the virus, whatsoever.
    - pm90 6y ago
      > 2020 was that there is no evidence that masks are effective, at all, against the spread of infectious diseases. No. The claim was that masks were effective only when used by trained hospital personnel, which is still true. It was not clear if they would be effective when used by non trained hospital staff, and it was also not clear if non n95 masks (like cloth masks) would be effective at all. Once it was determined that they were effective, the advisory was changed to reflect that. There was no backpedaling, only an increase in understanding which resulted in an update to guidance.

by pm90 6y ago

saagarjha 6y ago

Those numbers are way below what they really should be.

pm90 6y ago
And Trumps polling numbers are higher than they should be. We aren’t living in a utopia, but we do have a plurality of the populace who believes in facts and we shouldn’t forget that. It can be the foundation of a durable political coalition.

chongli 6y ago

When the President of the US says that masks are fake or a hoax It wasn’t just the president who said that, it was also the medical establishment a few months ago. They told people not to wear masks because they were afraid of shortages that would affect hospital supplies. They lied to the public rather than being honest about it. That sort of behaviour is extremely damaging to the public trust in experts.

irq11 6y ago
It wasn’t just the medical establishment a few months ago - it’s the medical establishment today. The rhetoric around masks has vastly exceeded the evidence, and asserting that people were “lying” at first is to ignore the fact that the evidence hasn’t really changed since the beginning of the year: https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/masking-lack-of-evidence-with-politics/ https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/masking-lack-of-evidence-with-... https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/commentary-masks-all-covid-19-not-based-sound-data https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/commenta... https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/07/commentary-my-views-cloth-face-coverings-public-preventing-covid-19 https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/07/commenta... https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/podcasts-webinars/special-ep-masks https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/podcasts-webinars/specia...
pm90 6y ago
Our understanding of this new virus is evolving, and guidelines change with that. The medical establishment currently recommends wearing masks so your response is to not wear masks out of spite? Out of protest? Wtf are you protesting?
- kazinator 6y ago
  The claim back in March, 2020 was that there is no evidence that masks are effective, at all, against the spread of infectious diseases. (You may choose to wear one, if it makes you feel better. Make sure it's an ad hoc home-made one, to save the real ones for medical practitioners; but remember, that those are not known to work, either). The backpedaling with respect to masks is not due to changes in our understanding of the virus, whatsoever.
  - pm90 6y ago
    > 2020 was that there is no evidence that masks are effective, at all, against the spread of infectious diseases. No. The claim was that masks were effective only when used by trained hospital personnel, which is still true. It was not clear if they would be effective when used by non trained hospital staff, and it was also not clear if non n95 masks (like cloth masks) would be effective at all. Once it was determined that they were effective, the advisory was changed to reflect that. There was no backpedaling, only an increase in understanding which resulted in an update to guidance.