4 ms·

You can try to "both sides" this, but it's explicitly one side opposing vaccines. One side pushing snake oil cures. One side saying the pandemic is a non-issue

You can try to "both sides" this, but it's explicitly one side opposing vaccines. One side pushing snake oil cures. One side saying the pandemic is a non-issue which only kills 1-3% of people as hundreds of thousands of their neighbors die painful deaths. Enlightened centrism is as bad as partisan ignorance here.

drnonsense42 5y ago
[flagged]
gorwell 5y ago
One side is blindly downplaying, the other is blindly catastrophizing as you have done here: "kills 1-3% of people as hundreds of thousands of their neighbors die painful deaths". It's clear what tribe you are in, just as it's clear what tribe they are in.
- bananabreakfast 5y ago
  Dude. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from this. What are you talking about? Do you think these people just didn't exist?
  - throw10920 5y ago
    "Hundreds of thousands" according to an organization (the CDC) that has strong incentives to inflate the numbers, sourced from a disparate collection of doctors and hospitals that also have incentives to inflate the numbers, using squishy metrics for whether the death was caused by COVID or not. Nobody sane thinks that a lot of people haven't died from COVID - but it should be common sense that you should be careful when an organization or individual has an incentive to alter data. As to GP's main point, separately from whether the official numbers are correct, there are ways that you can take the same data and "spin" it - the "blindly catastrophizing" mentioned. For instance, using "six hundred thousand" - the official number of all-time deaths - instead of the number of yearly deaths. You can also tactfully omit contextual information - for instance, COVID was the third leading cause of death in the US for 2020[1], making up only about 11% of the total, and close to half of the next leading cause, cancer (345k vs. 598k). [1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2778234 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2778234
    - curt15 5y ago
      Regardless of the numbers, how do you explain the unprecedented strain on healthcare systems? When was the last time hospitals requested refrigerated trucks for storing bodies?[1] When was the last time that states had to ration care under crisis standards?[2] [1]https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-arizona-coronavirus-deaths-refrigerated-trucks-morgues/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-arizona-coronavirus-death... [2]https://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/news/idaho-expands-crisis-standards-care-statewide-due-surge-covid-19-patients-requiring-0 https://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/news/idaho-expands-crisis...
hackflip 5y ago
The media is pushing the image of anti-vaxxers being suburban white conservative "Karens". But if you look at the actual numbers, that is one of the most highly vaccinated demographics.
- tstrimple 5y ago
  The media is showing that conservatives are openly hostile to vaccines. It's not the black folk or Mexicans who are causing Idaho to have the lowest state vaccination rates. State vaccination rates correlate almost perfectly with states which voted for Biden versus those who voted for Trump. It's not black folk "doing their own research" and posting about it online. It's not minorities who are calling people who get vaccines sheep. It's not liberals passing bans on local businesses protecting their own employees by requiring customers wear masks. https://www.businessinsider.com/white-conservative-most-vaccine-hesitant-in-us-axios-poll-2021-7 https://www.businessinsider.com/white-conservative-most-vacc...

drnonsense42 5y ago

[flagged]

gorwell 5y ago

One side is blindly downplaying, the other is blindly catastrophizing as you have done here: "kills 1-3% of people as hundreds of thousands of their neighbors die painful deaths". It's clear what tribe you are in, just as it's clear what tribe they are in.

bananabreakfast 5y ago
Dude. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from this. What are you talking about? Do you think these people just didn't exist?
- throw10920 5y ago
  "Hundreds of thousands" according to an organization (the CDC) that has strong incentives to inflate the numbers, sourced from a disparate collection of doctors and hospitals that also have incentives to inflate the numbers, using squishy metrics for whether the death was caused by COVID or not. Nobody sane thinks that a lot of people haven't died from COVID - but it should be common sense that you should be careful when an organization or individual has an incentive to alter data. As to GP's main point, separately from whether the official numbers are correct, there are ways that you can take the same data and "spin" it - the "blindly catastrophizing" mentioned. For instance, using "six hundred thousand" - the official number of all-time deaths - instead of the number of yearly deaths. You can also tactfully omit contextual information - for instance, COVID was the third leading cause of death in the US for 2020[1], making up only about 11% of the total, and close to half of the next leading cause, cancer (345k vs. 598k). [1] https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2778234 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2778234
  - curt15 5y ago
    Regardless of the numbers, how do you explain the unprecedented strain on healthcare systems? When was the last time hospitals requested refrigerated trucks for storing bodies?[1] When was the last time that states had to ration care under crisis standards?[2] [1]https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-arizona-coronavirus-deaths-refrigerated-trucks-morgues/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-arizona-coronavirus-death... [2]https://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/news/idaho-expands-crisis-standards-care-statewide-due-surge-covid-19-patients-requiring-0 https://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/news/idaho-expands-crisis...

hackflip 5y ago

The media is pushing the image of anti-vaxxers being suburban white conservative "Karens". But if you look at the actual numbers, that is one of the most highly vaccinated demographics.

tstrimple 5y ago
The media is showing that conservatives are openly hostile to vaccines. It's not the black folk or Mexicans who are causing Idaho to have the lowest state vaccination rates. State vaccination rates correlate almost perfectly with states which voted for Biden versus those who voted for Trump. It's not black folk "doing their own research" and posting about it online. It's not minorities who are calling people who get vaccines sheep. It's not liberals passing bans on local businesses protecting their own employees by requiring customers wear masks. https://www.businessinsider.com/white-conservative-most-vaccine-hesitant-in-us-axios-poll-2021-7 https://www.businessinsider.com/white-conservative-most-vacc...