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I'm not going to comment on the covid handling situation. That goes beyond partisan politics and I believe that people's rights were violated on both sides by b

I'm not going to comment on the covid handling situation. That goes beyond partisan politics and I believe that people's rights were violated on both sides by both groups of people. The reason that people have been exposed to dangerous thinking is because the authorities that are supposed to protect us didn't do a good job with their messaging. The constant back and forth schizophrenic nature of many broadcasts and the condescension they carried pushed people into that. It's a good reason why trying to lock down people was not a great idea in the first place. The bigger deal that they made out of things the more they polarized people.

mschuster91 2y ago
> The constant back and forth schizophrenic nature of many broadcasts and the condescension they carried pushed people into that. Well... that's because "science" or "being nerds" has been demonized by society for a very long time. The coolest guys in school were never the "nerds" (or those who looked like a "nerd"), and that attitude is strewn across culture and media ('member the Simpsons episode with the brain pencil?), so it feeds back into schools again. When wide parts of society as a result have zero idea about how science works - constantly learning and reevaluating based on new data - of course the messaging will look "back and forth". When one looks even at the most controversial opinions they were, with the knowledge available back then, correct. The one and only exception was "selfmade cloth masks are effective", and that ruined a lot of trust. Of course the politicians knew it wasn't true, but on the other hand they weren't completely wrong either as even a cloth mask is much better than no mask, and they had to deal with scalpers and even looters while hospitals didn't have PPE left.
- ThatGuyRaion 2y ago
  If you can't understand why people don't trust science, normal people, then I would suggest putting yourself in their shoes and walking for a mile. I've worked both in tech and now blue collar. These people aren't stupid. Sometimes ignorant and insular, but they're not stupid. They have very good reasons to not trust elites. Especially when they condescend them. Yes a construction worker has no idea about aspects of science, but he also is never trusted when it comes to construction itself unfortunately because everyone assumes he's just there to put the framing together according to the plans. They should have worked on their messaging. As soon as you start condescending people you lose them.

mschuster91 2y ago

> The constant back and forth schizophrenic nature of many broadcasts and the condescension they carried pushed people into that. Well... that's because "science" or "being nerds" has been demonized by society for a very long time. The coolest guys in school were never the "nerds" (or those who looked like a "nerd"), and that attitude is strewn across culture and media ('member the Simpsons episode with the brain pencil?), so it feeds back into schools again. When wide parts of society as a result have zero idea about how science works - constantly learning and reevaluating based on new data - of course the messaging will look "back and forth". When one looks even at the most controversial opinions they were, with the knowledge available back then, correct. The one and only exception was "selfmade cloth masks are effective", and that ruined a lot of trust. Of course the politicians knew it wasn't true, but on the other hand they weren't completely wrong either as even a cloth mask is much better than no mask, and they had to deal with scalpers and even looters while hospitals didn't have PPE left.

ThatGuyRaion 2y ago
If you can't understand why people don't trust science, normal people, then I would suggest putting yourself in their shoes and walking for a mile. I've worked both in tech and now blue collar. These people aren't stupid. Sometimes ignorant and insular, but they're not stupid. They have very good reasons to not trust elites. Especially when they condescend them. Yes a construction worker has no idea about aspects of science, but he also is never trusted when it comes to construction itself unfortunately because everyone assumes he's just there to put the framing together according to the plans. They should have worked on their messaging. As soon as you start condescending people you lose them.