4 ms·

Been there, saw those things myself. This should be shown to those fine minds turned from "it doesn't exist" to "it's just a flu", then "it's curable with <inse

Been there, saw those things myself. This should be shown to those fine minds turned from "it doesn't exist" to "it's just a flu", then "it's curable with <insert any sorcery-style remedy>" then finally becoming full time anti-vaxers. See the pattern? The goal there is being against common sense, no matter if it kills you. Then insert politics to make positions even more firm. Just had an argument with a friend over the phone the other day: he lost an unvaccinated relative of Covid months ago, still refuses to get vaccinated although they soon will force him in order to keep his job, which makes him angry. His last words before I politely ended my probably last call to him were "you support vaccinations because you're a communist!". Nuff said. The issue has become so divisive that should one day we discover it was orchestrated by someone, I'd be undecided between hanging that royal bastard to the highest pole with live TV coverage, or giving him a prize for managing to literally cut our society in two with minimum effort.

throwaway55421 5y ago
This is interesting. I find myself somewhere on this spectrum. I'd appreciate if you could read my comment and pick me apart on this because I hate the division too. I never thought that coronavirus didn't exist, but I've always thought that it's "just a flu" (not literally, but figuratively, in the sense that Spanish Flu was just the flu, and now we're no longer immunologically naive). In terms of the anti-vax stuff - well, I'm fully vaccinated, but I'd probably be considered "anti-vax" by a significant number of people because that I do not believe that it reduces transmission sufficiently to eliminate the virus if 100% took it - e.g. I think herd immunity is impossible, so to me it's 100% a personal risk. Based on this, it makes me viciously angry when people back restrictions, lockdowns, mask mandates, vaccine mandates, etcetera. I see these people as being scientifically illiterate because they're willing to apply force in order to attempt to solve an unsolvable problem. And as time passes I start to just stop paying attention and discount them as, well, being human. I just can't, for years at a time, listen to people spout arguments based on (what I consider to be) false premises and continually try to explain why they're wrong. Either I get angry and lash out, or just meme it. Neither are particularly conducive to bridging a divide. What is the solution to get out of this mess? How do I make peace with someone who seems to be maniacally obsessed with something I consider to be a non-issue? I don't expect here that either of us will convince each other, but yeah, WTF do we do? I fundamentally can't see the solution, like you say it's literally cut society in two, as if we now have completely different utility functions.
- amanaplanacanal 5y ago
  My take is: do whatever it takes to keep the health care systems from being overwhelmed, and no more. Allow people to make their own personal health choices outside of that. But even that is a hard sell to some people.

throwaway55421 5y ago

This is interesting. I find myself somewhere on this spectrum. I'd appreciate if you could read my comment and pick me apart on this because I hate the division too. I never thought that coronavirus didn't exist, but I've always thought that it's "just a flu" (not literally, but figuratively, in the sense that Spanish Flu was just the flu, and now we're no longer immunologically naive). In terms of the anti-vax stuff - well, I'm fully vaccinated, but I'd probably be considered "anti-vax" by a significant number of people because that I do not believe that it reduces transmission sufficiently to eliminate the virus if 100% took it - e.g. I think herd immunity is impossible, so to me it's 100% a personal risk. Based on this, it makes me viciously angry when people back restrictions, lockdowns, mask mandates, vaccine mandates, etcetera. I see these people as being scientifically illiterate because they're willing to apply force in order to attempt to solve an unsolvable problem. And as time passes I start to just stop paying attention and discount them as, well, being human. I just can't, for years at a time, listen to people spout arguments based on (what I consider to be) false premises and continually try to explain why they're wrong. Either I get angry and lash out, or just meme it. Neither are particularly conducive to bridging a divide. What is the solution to get out of this mess? How do I make peace with someone who seems to be maniacally obsessed with something I consider to be a non-issue? I don't expect here that either of us will convince each other, but yeah, WTF do we do? I fundamentally can't see the solution, like you say it's literally cut society in two, as if we now have completely different utility functions.

amanaplanacanal 5y ago
My take is: do whatever it takes to keep the health care systems from being overwhelmed, and no more. Allow people to make their own personal health choices outside of that. But even that is a hard sell to some people.