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But we can write a similar narrative about the abjectly poor handling of Covid by Trump (using it as a divisive wedge issue as if he was still campaigning, rath

But we can write a similar narrative about the abjectly poor handling of Covid by Trump (using it as a divisive wedge issue as if he was still campaigning, rather than actually leading), causing the ham-fisted overreactions of traditional government structures trying to restore order. So how does that ping-ponging of blame stop? In reality, government will always be simplistically paternalistic and people have the responsibility to wade through the bullshit and actually analyze for themselves - not to just find one damnable overstepping and then assume an alternative must be perfect. It's like all of these "conservatives" (how they think of themselves, they obviously are no longer actually conservatives) finally had their "trust the system" broken, but then rather being generally skeptical and trying to think for themselves, their general desire to trust authority figures made them latch on to contrarian "authorities". And it turns out those professional contrarians don't actually like our country very much at all.

kcplate 1y ago
I have plenty of criticism for Trump on Covid, but my comment was originally talking about actions that influenced publix antivax attitudes. On this topic whataboutism might apply to Trump platforming RFKjr, but that is still a reaction to my underlying premise.
- mindslight 1y ago
  The point is they are related. In a normal well-run freedom-respecting society, the leaders would make speeches and statements telling everyone they should get vaccinated, and most everyone would go along with it. There would be small contingents that rejected it for whatever crazy or not crazy reasons, but for the most part humans are social animals and the social default would be to just go do it. But rather than leading during Covid, Trump used it as if it was another campaign issue. He sowed the division and stoked the crazy that validated people's hesitations, and made those not getting the vaccine a much larger contingent than they otherwise would have been. So the bureaucracy, the corporate government, and the incoming administration upped their authoritarianism to try to get people back on board, engaging in the overreactions you're calling out.

kcplate 1y ago

I have plenty of criticism for Trump on Covid, but my comment was originally talking about actions that influenced publix antivax attitudes. On this topic whataboutism might apply to Trump platforming RFKjr, but that is still a reaction to my underlying premise.

mindslight 1y ago
The point is they are related. In a normal well-run freedom-respecting society, the leaders would make speeches and statements telling everyone they should get vaccinated, and most everyone would go along with it. There would be small contingents that rejected it for whatever crazy or not crazy reasons, but for the most part humans are social animals and the social default would be to just go do it. But rather than leading during Covid, Trump used it as if it was another campaign issue. He sowed the division and stoked the crazy that validated people's hesitations, and made those not getting the vaccine a much larger contingent than they otherwise would have been. So the bureaucracy, the corporate government, and the incoming administration upped their authoritarianism to try to get people back on board, engaging in the overreactions you're calling out.