"Human lives are worth more than anything else, we must never put anything above the saving of one human life." It's a commonly expressed feeling and I absolutely agree with the principle. Who couldn't agree with it If someone you love needs treatment which will cost a trillion dollars a day, you would rightly demand that the treatment be provided and down the cost. I would. But If you spend a trillion dollars a day saving Mr. X's wife or Mrs. Wise's husband or their two-year old child Zed they'll likely be nothing left to pay for any other health services. Hospitals will have to shut operations, cease, and there will be no medicines available for millions of people will die unnecessarily and that's the dilemma. Health care sources are finite and doctors always have to make decisions about how best to allocate those limited resources that's what triage is all about. In an army surgical unit doctors assess the incoming wounded and decide who gets to be treated first.
When the Coronavirus (COVID-19) first appeared, mathematical modelers looked at the small amounts of evidence available and concluded that millions of people were going to die. In Britain the mathematical model has concluded that 8 million people would be hospitalized and 500,000 would die. Showing all the skills of life insurance salesmen they sold this theory to the politicians and convinced them that their projections were accurate. Curiously the normally skeptical politicians needed very little persuading. The mathematical modelers were wrong of course but the politicians accepted what they were told and life changed. How the devil could they have all got everything so wrong? It was obvious back in February 2020 that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) wasn't going to kill us all. In mid-March I was vilified for recording a YouTube video in which I called the whole Coronavirus (COVID-19) Crisis the hoax of the century. I thought it was pretty obvious that the mathematicians were wrong.
The wise will at this point wonder whether politicians leapt on the nonsense because they saw an opportunity or whether the politicians were looking for an opportunity and waiting for the nonsense to be served up for them. The suspicions of the wise will be strengthened by the fact that this bizarre error was repeated all over the world and duly endorsed and encouraged by eager politicians and so the hysteria and the panic became global even though the bug was officially downgraded to flu level back in March 2020. Politicians and compliant journalists ignored this inconvenient truth because they didn't want their plans damaged. The next stage in this lunacy was for politicians, advisors, and health care chiefs to decide that the threat from the virus was so great that the health services should be devoted in their entirety to the care of patients with this one disease. They decided to clear the wards' cancel operations and build new hospitals.
Patients with cancer, heart disease, and other serious illnesses were shunted aside so that doctors and nurses could be ready to deal with the flood of coronavirus (COVID-19) patients. Suddenly the coronavirus (COVID-19) was the only thing that mattered. Patients with cancer were actually pushed aside to be ignored and forgotten. Doctors and nurses obediently cleared the wards and prepared themselves. The nation came to a halt, schools were closed, factories were shut, and shops were closed too. Even dentists and opticians were told to lock their doors and help keep the virus at bay. The panic was institutionalized and as a result there would be 28 million people on waiting lists for surgery by autumn of 2020. Many of them will die waiting for treatment that would have saved their lives. This abrogation of duty by healthcare bosses appalls and enrages me. The death rate has already started to rise in most countries not because of the coronavirus but because people are being denied medical care as hospitals and gp's struggle to cope with social distancing rules.
Nevertheless despite this there are already suggestions that social distancing will be permanent. In the U.K. the government and the supine media none more supine than the treacherous BBC (British Broadcasting Company) have raised the fear to terror and when Boris Johnson's government elected to slightly soften the lockdown in England the majority of the population reacted in horror and insisted on checking the doors, locking the windows, drawing the curtains, and crawling under their beds. Governments everywhere have boosted the fear by talking of a second wave of infection and having promoted the idea of a vaccine as the only savior confessing that there may never be one available. Politicians want to control us and they're doing very well. It's difficult to see how we're all going to escape from this fake crisis. Of course If this wasn't a conspiracy to turn us all into subdued apprehensive and obedient zombies they could announce that they'd made a bit of a mistake and that the coronavirus (COVID-19) is no worse than the flu (common cold).
Whoops sorry pardon the mathematicians meant well but they got their sums upside down. They're not going to say that ever. They could say that the coronavirus (COVID-19) has become less dangerous or they could say that their brilliant lockdown and social distancing policies have worked brilliantly and have saved us all so it's now safe to come out from under the bed. But they don't want to do that because they want to keep the threat of a second wave available to scare us with If we start getting cocky and comfortable and they don't want to get rid of social distancing because it's social distancing which give the politicians a massive amount of power. It's social distancing which is ruining our lives and which will weaken us as individuals. It's social distancing which will result in millions of job losses. It's social distancing which will wreck education for millions and most important it's social distancing which is wrecking health care in which will result in huge numbers of people dying unnecessarily.
Governments will enthusiastically promote social distancing as the only way to keep us safe but unless we stand up and fight and tell the truth, social distancing will be with us for years possibly forever and as a result our lives will be ruined in every conceivable way.
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I did get some rebuttals from another user on a different forum about this who claims that I'm being manipulated by this YouTuber. He then posts:
Quote from Celever »
Ah, a videeo from the UK's favourite cult leader. I hope this was posted in jest.
Besides being one of the UK's few anti-vaxxers, he also writes frequently about how dementia is a myth, is a conspirator against the NHS claiming it intentionally kills its patients (killing more people than cancer!) and tries to lure people in with his pseudo-economics with the intention of turning them fascist, under a guise of humanitarianism. It's fun that he's now adding COVID-19 conspiracies to his arsenal of incredulous claims.
Let's dissect a little bit.
In Britain the mathematical model has concluded that 8 million people would be hospitalized and 500,000 would die. Showing all the skills of life insurance salesmen they sold this theory to the politicians and convinced them that their projections were accurate.
To date in the UK, just under 37,000 people have been confirmed to have died from COVID-19. That's nearing the 50,000 projected in the mathematical model, to the extent that we're likely to surpass the projected figure. What he claims as "8 million people would be hospitalized" was in actuality a claim that "preparations must be made for 8 million people to contract the virus". It's clear how he spun words there, and that his claims regarding deaths are blatantly incorrect.
It was obvious back in February 2020 that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) wasn't going to kill us all.
Here is where the manipulation tactics come into play. Using language such as "kill us all" is a number of different fallacies: partly it's appeal to emotion, drawing on the reader's feelings to drown out their rationality; partly it's manipulation of figures again, since we're nearing 50,000 deaths and we're clearly not all dead so it's got nothing to do with the aforementioned model; and partly it's appeal to false evidence, using the arbitrary date of February 2020 to form an implication of credence to his claim that something happened at some point to back up his claim. Nobody ever claimed that COVID-19 would kill us all, and that was therefore apparent before February 2020. This is nonsense.
The wise will at this point wonder whether politicians leapt on the nonsense because they saw an opportunity or whether the politicians were looking for an opportunity and waiting for the nonsense to be served up for them.
Note how he elevates his own position to the listener, even if a little subtly. Referring to the people on his side as "the wise" is a way of making people believe that he is wise without realizing it in the same way as they would if he had said "I am wise and therefore I wonder...". It's also another manipulation tactic to make the audience agree with what he's saying, since it's a plural inclusive conjunctive that means that if the audience also realizes how COVID-19 is a myth, then they too will be wise. It works sub-consciously, but it still works.
The suspicions of the wise will be strengthened by the fact that this bizarre error was repeated all over the world and duly endorsed and encouraged by eager politicians and so the hysteria and the panic became global
The panic has not been global. It has occurred in the majority of first world countries, where the virus has most affected, but in underdeveloped countries their COVID-19 measures were primarily restricted to closing borders to prevent the virus entering their territory, to little effect on the residents of those countries, as well as a short pseudo-lockdown to a much lesser extent to what we've seen in Europe. The other route, taken in countries like Vietnam, was a complete lockdown complete with the Government sending food to every family so they could survive comfortably without needing to leave the house. That eradicated the virus entirely without a single death, and lockdown in that country ended over a month ago. This is not a global hysteria or panic: better Governments than we have seen in Europe and America solved the COVID-19 problem promptly. This pandemic was mishandled by our Governments, but it was not opportunism by those politicians. It was ineptitude.
even though the bug was officially downgraded to flu level back in March 2020
From the WHO: "Globally, about 3.4% of reported COVID-19 cases have died. By comparison, seasonal flu generally kills far fewer than 1% of those infected." This is for a number of possible reasons and it does not necessarily mean that COVID-19 is in and of itself deadlier, but that humans haven't built up a resistance to the virus as we have for the flu simply because it's new. This means that a strong immune system is often an insufficient defense against the virus because when no one's immune system has encountered the virus before, everyone's at essentially a flat 0. That further means it kills people who wouldn't die from the flu, meaning it is clearly not downgraded to flu level.
Besides that, the same manipulation tactics are used: "officially" is appeal to authority which is particularly egregious considering no official did what he claimed, and March 2020 is another false evidence using an arbitrary date to imply that something happened to justify his claim, when it didn't.
Politicians and compliant journalists ignored this inconvenient truth because they didn't want their plans damaged.
This is a subtle ad hominem. Instead of justifying his claim that COVID-19 is no worse than flu, he skips that part and attacks the people who disagree with him for "ignor[ing] this inconvenient truth".
The next stage in this lunacy was for politicians, advisors, and health care chiefs to decide that the threat from the virus was so great that the health services should be devoted in their entirety to the care of patients with this one disease. They decided to clear the wards' cancel operations and build new hospitals.
"Lunacy" is used here for the fallacy of appeal to absurdity, drawing on the listener's feeling of common sense to discredit something that isn't actually absurd. This is also factually incorrect. Hospitals are still performing essential operations, as I would know because my Mother has been visiting hospital frequently thanks to a stomach stricture that necessitates a series of surgeries. Only one floor of my local hospital is devoted to COVID-19, accounting for the entire county of Gloucestershire. The other ~15 wards are operating normally.
And building new hospitals is never a bad thing. I'm not sure why he's framing an increase in healthcare capacity as a bad thing. Oh that's right: he thinks "doctors and nurses kill more people than cancer" (the title of a previous book of his).
The nation came to a halt, schools were closed, factories were shut, and shops were closed too. Even dentists and opticians were told to lock their doors and help keep the virus at bay.
Firstly, shops were never closed except for unimportant ones like garden centers. Using the general term "shops" to mean a small proportion of shops is a form of the "No True Scotsman" fallacy, redefining shops away from the general definition that the populace assumes. Factories were shut for a while but have since reopened, and schools continued teaching online so while the physical premises were closed the function of schools did not halt, which is intentional amphiboly. Using "even" to denote dentists and opticians is appeal to absurdity once again, trying to frame the closing of dentists and opticians as somehow more important than schools and factories which isn't strictly true (are glasses more important than education? really?) which is again trying to grant his point more credence than it has.
In the U.K. the government and the supine media none more supine than the treacherous BBC (British Broadcasting Company)
This is appeal to false authority. He simply accuses the BBC of being invalid for the purpose of discrediting what they have said, without justifying the point. It's the same as ad hominem except institutional.
Not to say that there aren't issues with the BBC, but "supine" and "treacherous" are inappropriate descriptors for it.
when Boris Johnson's government elected to slightly soften the lockdown in England the majority of the population reacted in horror and insisted on checking the doors, locking the windows, drawing the curtains, and crawling under their beds.
A false conclusion. Recoiling at a premature easing of lockdown =/= desire for a permanent lockdown. He omits "premature" from the premise because it invalidates his point.
Governments everywhere have boosted the fear by talking of a second wave of infection and having promoted the idea of a vaccine as the only savior confessing that there may never be one available
A slew of Asian countries have already eradicated COVID-19 entirely without a vaccine. No one thinks that a vaccine is the only measure that could solve the crisis because other measures have already solved it on a national level elsewhere. This is just nonsense.
Politicians want to control us and they're doing very well.
Ad hominem.
It's difficult to see how we're all going to escape from this fake crisis.
Appeal to absurdity.
Of course If this wasn't a conspiracy to turn us all into subdued apprehensive and obedient zombies they could announce that they'd made a bit of a mistake and that the coronavirus (COVID-19) is no worse than the flu (common cold).
This is just unsubstantiated assertion. It's not even argumentation. He doesn't justify his claim that "this [is] a conspiracy to turn us all into subdued apprehensive and obedient zombies" he just says it. Appeal to emotion, perhaps? No one wants to be a subdued apprehensive and obedient zombie. Or appeal to a lack of evidence? We can't disprove that that's truly the Government's plan, so hey it's probably true. But it's invalid nonetheless.
Governments will enthusiastically promote social distancing as the only way to keep us safe but unless we stand up and fight and tell the truth, social distancing will be with us for years possibly forever and as a result our lives will be ruined in every conceivable way.
Appealing to a sense of revolution, preying on dissatisfaction to form a following around him and his faulty opinions. COVID-19 isn't fake. Social distancing has succeeded in other countries and life has returned to relative normalcy (why wouldn't the politicians of those countries want in on this control that European leaders are apparently putting into use?). He's nothing more than a man who craves power and is willing to manipulate people into wrongfully granting it him.
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Interesting thoughts. Over here in the 'States we have a problem with politicians trying to use the virus as a way to control the voters - or so they claim.
The Democrats are pushing for personal responsibility, but know that the average American is an idiot, so steps need to be taken to keep them safe.
The Republicans are still under the impression that the virus isn't a real threat and any measures made by the other party are nothing more than a threat to take away personal freedoms.
Meanwhile, those of us that know how to think for ourselves and have no problem with social distancing and masking are caught in the middle...
(of course, the wife and I are both introverts that never leave the house, so it hasn't affected us much...)
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Co-Founder of the Casual Players Alliance and recent refugee of the MTG Arena Forums
I think we're already past the point now where most of the conspiracy theories surrounding the vaccine have been 100% debunked not by "the experts" or Dr. Fauci himself but by people who actually put in the time, effort, resources, and research to figure this out by directly communicating with their doctors, pediatricians, and health experts who use actual common sense and rationale instead of keeping people in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety. When you keep people in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety for a long period of time you're actually creating a mass psychosis on our society that eventually will lead to totalitarianism in order to control the human population much easier which was similar to what we saw back in the 1940's with what Nazi Germany did to the Jews which is still a very sensitive subject to this day and rightfully so.
What I find crazy is that there are still a majority of people who've gotten the first two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and still got hospitalized running on ICU with COVID-19 where the risk of death is much greater. So unless you dramatically change your eating habits with fruits and vegetables instead of eating foods that aren't wholesome to help improve your body's natural immune response then you're probably going to end up at the hospital with COVID. The "experts" are already talking about a third dose of Pfizer or Moderna to help combat against the new Omicron variant yet pre-existing variants of the virus like Delta are now somehow evading the spike protein that is supposed to fend off the virus from entering into our immune systems. I don't like social distancing and masking as much as anyone who values their freedom, liberty, and sovereignty as rationale human beings.
Remember back when "the experts" said that it was supposed to only take two weeks to flatten the curve? Well look where we are now...
Private Mod Note
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America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The Republicans are still under the impression that the virus isn't a real threat and any measures made by the other party are nothing more than a threat to take away personal freedoms.
Except not even most Republicans believe this.
The politicians who rail on about personal liberties are vaccinated. Fox News goes off on how wrong the Biden administration's vaccine and Covid-testing policies are when the ones that Fox News operates on are even more stringent. Donald Trump himself, who ran around talking about how all of this talk of Covid was going to go away after the election, (A) got covid, (B) received a variety of drugs to treat covid, and (C) got a covid vaccine.
Hell, we're now seeing an influx of natural cure bloggers and social media people getting the vaccine, and then advising followers take vinegar or silver or whatever dumb thing to remove the nonexistent harmful effects of the vaccine.
It's overwhelmingly just pandering to the crowd who believes this nonsense, as well as fomenting general ignorance to advance their own gain.
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Card Slinger J: Have you actually read the article you cited?
When the Coronavirus (COVID-19) first appeared, mathematical modelers looked at the small amounts of evidence available and concluded that millions of people were going to die.
MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE DIED.
I mean, come on, dude, it's been 1 1/2 years since the OP. We know how this all plays out, we know damn well that the coronavirus has killed millions. How are you still defending your position?
I think we're already past the point now where most of the conspiracy theories surrounding the vaccine have been 100% debunked not by "the experts" or Dr. Fauci himself but by people who actually put in the time, effort, resources, and research to figure this out by directly communicating with their doctors, pediatricians, and health experts who use actual common sense and rationale
A. You are promoting conspiracy theories right now as we are talking.
B. Why did you put "experts" in quotes and then proceed to list actual experts? You even said "health experts" in the list of people you were contrasting with "experts." That makes no sense.
instead of keeping people in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety.
That's not what's happening. The only people who are trying to keep people in a state of irrational fear are the people who are trying to spread unfounded, baseless misinformation over the pandemic.
I will point out, once again, that the article you've based this thread around claimed that the coronavirus was a hoax and wasn't going to kill millions of people, when we know that's exactly what the hell it did.
When you keep people in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety for a long period of time you're actually creating a mass psychosis on our society that eventually will lead to totalitarianism in order to control the human population much easier which was similar to what we saw back in the 1940's with what Nazi Germany did to the Jews which is still a very sensitive subject to this day and rightfully so.
Specifics. WHO is spreading a perpetual state of fear and anxiety, and HOW, exactly?
Keep in mind that the obviously wrong article that you started this thread around concluded with, "Governments will enthusiastically promote social distancing as the only way to keep us safe but unless we stand up and fight and tell the truth, social distancing will be with us for years possibly forever and as a result our lives will be ruined in every conceivable way."
What I find crazy is that there are still a majority of people who've gotten the first two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and still got hospitalized running on ICU with COVID-19 where the risk of death is much greater.
This is completely false. The majority of people who have been hospiralized with Covid-19 are unvaccinated. Vaccines are proven to prevent hospitalization of Covid-19.
Unless... Are you saying that you find it crazy that people who severe cases with Covid-19 are sent to the ICU? Because of course they're sent to the Intensive Care Unit, dude. The Intensive Care Unit is where you send people who have a medical emergency and therefore need intensive care. That's why it's called the Intensive Care Unit. Where else would you send them?
So unless you dramatically change your eating habits with fruits and vegetables instead of eating foods that aren't wholesome to help improve your body's natural immune response then you're probably going to end up at the hospital with COVID.
Fruits and vegetables have nothing to do with preventing Covid.
Furthermore, the entire idea of a strong immune response preventing Covid hospitalization is nonsense. A lot of the deaths of Covid are because of complications resulting from inflammation, which is the result of the body's immune system reacting too strongly to Covid.
The "experts"
Again, why are you quoting "experts" when you've already said that the people who are informed are the ones who talked to health experts?
are already talking about a third dose of Pfizer or Moderna to help combat against the new Omicron variant yet pre-existing variants of the virus like Delta are now somehow evading the spike protein that is supposed to fend off the virus from entering into our immune systems.
They were talking about a third dose before Omicron. Further, the vaccine is still proven to be effective against Delta.
I don't like social distancing and masking as much as anyone who values their freedom, liberty, and sovereignty as rationale human beings.
Nobody likes socially distancing or masking. We do it because it is the responsible thing to do during a major health crisis. There's a global pandemic going on and the path to combating said pandemic is to socially distance, wear masks, and above all get vaccinated.
Remember back when "the experts" said that it was supposed to only take two weeks to flatten the curve? Well look where we are now...
Because so much of the country did not actually do so. Largely because of rhetoric like what you are parroting.
Contrast the US with New Zealand, a country that actually did pursue aggressive lockdown measures. Indeed, compare our covid numbers with South Korea, who got it at the same time we did, or, hell, China, who was ground zero for the virus. These preventative measures work when they're actually followed.
Sadly, we have people who refuse to do what is responsible and who continue to refuse to get a vaccine - A VACCINE DEVELOPED DURING THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY AND WHOM TRUMP HIMSELF HAS OPENLY ADMITTED TO HAVING TAKEN - who refuse to mask up, who refuse to socially distance, and who propagate misinformation when a highly-contagious disease continues to kill over a thousand people each day in America.
Chiming in from New Zealand here, where we did a proper lockdown - we stayed at Level 4 (the strictest) lockdown from 25 March to 27 April 2020, when we shifted to Level 3. On 11 May we moved down to Level 2 (some restrictions but a lot of normality) and then to Level 1 (scanning QR codes when entering businesses but very nearly normal) on 8 June. Between then and the arrival of Delta, we had a few short periods of regionally-based lockdowns. The rapid spread of Delta required several weeks of strict lockdown measures, and we're still at a rolling seven-day average of 103 community cases.
But the measures we took meant that we had long periods of relative normality and a comparatively small number of cases; see the graph for a comparison of daily cases per million people.
Card Slinger J: Have you actually read the article you cited?
When the Coronavirus (COVID-19) first appeared, mathematical modelers looked at the small amounts of evidence available and concluded that millions of people were going to die.
MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE DIED.
I mean, come on, dude, it's been 1 1/2 years since the OP. We know how this all plays out, we know damn well that the coronavirus has killed millions. How are you still defending your position?
I'm not defending my position on this when I was being manipulated by the YouTuber whose info I cited. What matters now is that we have more data on how to get this pandemic under control as opposed to 1 1/2 years ago when there was no need to completely paralyze the foundations of our society in the name of safety. Travel bans I can get behind but the global economy and public education in a state of prolonged gridlock? How are we supposed to keep up with millions of people quitting their jobs over vaccine / mask mandates? Automation over Manual Labor isn't the answer. What are we doing to the mental health of our children and their children as they get older? What kind of example are we setting for them?
No I'm not trying to undermine how many people have died from this virus especially since most of the healthcare workers and researchers who should be providing as much info about the virus to the public as possible are ALL unemployed either because either they chose not to abide by the government mandates or that they couldn't keep up with hospitals exceeding their max capacity of COVID-19 patients on a daily basis. Thankfully it's not as bad now that over 70% of all American citizens are fully vaccinated with only 30% that didn't get vaccinated but what that disparity has done has made it more difficult to get accurate data and research on how COVID-19 triggers specific underlying conditions such as Myocarditis.
A. You are promoting conspiracy theories right now as we are talking.
B. Why did you put "experts" in quotes and then proceed to list actual experts? You even said "health experts" in the list of people you were contrasting with "experts." That makes no sense.
What I was referring to in regards to "the experts" are medical professionals within Mainstream Media like Dr. Fauci, Dr. Oz, etc. who are bought and paid for by Big Pharma to keep people in fear and anxiety instead of telling them the truth about how to handle COVID-19 in a way that's kind, compassionate, and caring like If you were to go see your doctor in-person without it being under a zoom call. What this is teaching us is for us to do our own research instead of relying on those who don't know the answers and are just there to keep the fearmongering going which is exactly what Big Pharma is doing to extract as much money as possible by prolonging the pandemic as long as possible.
The only people who are trying to keep people in a state of irrational fear are the people who are trying to spread unfounded, baseless misinformation over the pandemic.
I will point out, once again, that the article you've based this thread around claimed that the coronavirus was a hoax and wasn't going to kill millions of people, when we know that's exactly what the hell it did.
I've already said that I was being manipulated by a YouTuber at the time in which I cited the info from not realizing the full context of who the individual was in regards to the bad reputation he had but lesson learned. Nobody is perfect we all make mistakes from time to time even myself. Move on.
Specifics. WHO is spreading a perpetual state of fear and anxiety, and HOW, exactly?
Keep in mind that the obviously wrong article that you started this thread around concluded with, "Governments will enthusiastically promote social distancing as the only way to keep us safe but unless we stand up and fight and tell the truth, social distancing will be with us for years possibly forever and as a result our lives will be ruined in every conceivable way."
What I find crazy is that there are still a majority of people who've gotten the first two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and still got hospitalized running on ICU with COVID-19 where the risk of death is much greater.
This is completely false. The majority of people who have been hospiralized with Covid-19 are unvaccinated. Vaccines are proven to prevent hospitalization of Covid-19.
Unless... Are you saying that you find it crazy that people who severe cases with Covid-19 are sent to the ICU? Because of course they're sent to the Intensive Care Unit, dude. The Intensive Care Unit is where you send people who have a medical emergency and therefore need intensive care. That's why it's called the Intensive Care Unit. Where else would you send them?
My friends' husband who recently died from COVID-19 was fully vaccinated with the first two doses of Moderna but didn't receive a booster for Omicron, however what I think happened was that he had an underlying condition that was triggered from when he got the virus that made it hard for the vaccine to control. Like I said earlier, there's not enough data and research studies on how COVID-19 triggers underlying and pre-existing conditions that manages to take someone's life with the most common case among COVID-19 patients being Myocarditis which is an inflammation of the heart muscle that can also affect your respiratory system.
My friend and her daughter also managed to get COVID-19 while fully vaccinated with the first two doses of Pfizer except the cases were only mild where my friend and her daughter were recently released from quarantine with no signs of being able to infect other people. She told me that she temporarily lost her sense of taste and smell which is a common symptom among COVID-19 patients and thankfully she got her senses back. I have another friend at work whose husband got Myocarditis from getting vaccinated so hopefully he's doing better now. First time I got vaccinated I had muscle aches and body fatigue but that was really it.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I'm not defending my position on this when I was being manipulated by the YouTuber whose info I cited.
No, here's your problem: you didn't "cite info." There was absolutely no information in that entire post. It was baseless opinion, statements that were obviously counter-factual at the time. There was no information, no data, nothing.
And here you are doing the same thing. You may have moved on from that person, but you've clearly gone from one anti-science social media person to another, because the statements you are making are still anti-science, still counter-factual, and still devoid of data.
What matters now is that we have more data on how to get this pandemic under control
Yes. Vaccines, masking, and social distancing. They work. The data proves it. When they're actually implemented, they work.
as opposed to 1 1/2 years ago when there was no need to completely paralyze the foundations of our society in the name of safety.
There clearly was. Social distancing saved lives.
Travel bans I can get behind but the global economy and public education in a state of prolonged gridlock?
It's not in a state of prolonged gridlock. We closed nonessential businesses because it was a necessary measure to get the virus under control. We did remote distance learning because it was a necessary measure to keep children safe. Both schools and businesses have since reopened.
Again, how are you still maintaining this stance after 1 1/2 years? We've seen what happens when the virus numbers drop: things reopen. We close them as a matter of public safety. We reopen them when the virus numbers drop below a certain point. The answer is no, we're not in perpetual lockdown, as demonstrated by us not being in lockdown anymore.
How are we supposed to keep up with millions of people quitting their jobs over vaccine / mask mandates?
What are you talking about? Virtually no one is quitting their job over the vaccine mandates. The number is estimated at 1% of all workers in the US. 1%.
What are we doing to the mental health of our children and their children as they get older? What kind of example are we setting for them?
Who do you think is traumatizing the children more: the people who are adhering to public safety advice to benefit society in the face of a widespread global pandemic, or the people who refuse to listen to science and reason and pursue courses of action that would directly lead to the pandemic continuing and, in turn, causing greater threat and harm to said children?
Because doing a year of remote learning is not going to be anywhere near as debilitating as being immuno-compromised, to say nothing of dying from covid.
No I'm not trying to undermine how many people have died from this virus
Really does feel like you are, dude, especially since those measures that you're railing against saved countless lives, and because you're spreading the very misinformation that no doubt cost many people their lives.
especially since most of the healthcare workers and researchers who should be providing as much info about the virus to the public as possible are ALL unemployed either because either they chose not to abide by the government mandates
Once again, not actually happening, it's close to like 1% if that.
or that they couldn't keep up with hospitals exceeding their max capacity of COVID-19 patients on a daily basis.
Which was preventable, and would have been prevented had people distanced, adhered to mask policy, and gotten vaccinated.
Thankfully it's not as bad now that over 70% of all American citizens are fully vaccinated with only 30% that didn't get vaccinated
Wait, "thankfully?" Why are you spreading anti-vaccination nonsense like eating fruits and vegetables to combat covid if you're pro-vaccine?
Second, we are definitely not at 70% vaccination. Where are you getting your data? We're at about 60%. The goal is over 80%. And one of the biggest problems towards getting there has been rampant misinformation about healthcare measures such as the vaccine against Covid. Which you are participating in. If you want more people to get vaccinated, you should aspire to do your part by seeking to listen to the very experts you are deriding and actually propagating things grounded in fact, rather than misinformation.
What I was referring to in regards to "the experts" are medical professionals within Mainstream Media like Dr. Fauci, Dr. Oz, etc.
Ok, Dr. Oz is a media personality, sure. Dr. Fauci, on the other hand, is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President. There is absolutely no comparison between the two.
who are bought and paid for by Big Pharma to keep people in fear and anxiety instead of telling them the truth about how to handle COVID-19 in a way that's kind, compassionate, and caring
And here we are with the conspiracy theories.
Again, specifics. What, SPECIFICALLY, about what Fauci has said do you take objection to?
Is it that he advised people to socially distance, wear masks, and get vaccinated - the measures that have been proven to work to combat covid?
What do you actually have about Fauci that's actually objectionable?
What this is teaching us is for us to do our own research instead of relying on those who don't know the answers and are just there to keep the fearmongering
Which is really astounding coming from someone who admits himself he propagated conspiracy theories, and also is STILL DOING SO.
going which is exactly what Big Pharma is doing to extract as much money as possible by prolonging the pandemic as long as possible.
... How, exactly? By making a vaccine to the pandemic? The one you admit is a good thing?
I've already said that I was being manipulated by a YouTuber at the time in which I cited the info from not realizing the full context of who the individual was in regards to the bad reputation he had but lesson learned. Nobody is perfect we all make mistakes from time to time even myself. Move on.
Except you're still propagating anti-science nonsense. You've just switched from one source of misinformation to another.
I guess that's one way to put it bluntly.
Are you agreeing with me that the sources of misinformation are the ones who are really the ones spreading anxiety and fear, or are you agreeing with the post that has been explicitly proven to be nonsense, I'm confused.
My friends' husband who recently died from COVID-19
I'm sorry to hear that.
was fully vaccinated with the first two doses of Moderna but didn't receive a booster for Omicron,
Well, it's not a booster for Omicron. It's a booster. There's still research ongoing as to whether the vaccine/booster are effective against Omicron.
however what I think happened was that he had an underlying condition that was triggered from when he got the virus that made it hard for the vaccine to control. Like I said earlier, there's not enough data and research studies on how COVID-19 triggers underlying and pre-existing conditions that manages to take someone's life with the most common case among COVID-19 patients being Myocarditis which is an inflammation of the heart muscle that can also affect your respiratory system.
My friend and her daughter also managed to get COVID-19 while fully vaccinated with the first two doses of Pfizer except the cases were only mild where my friend and her daughter were recently released from quarantine with no signs of being able to infect other people. She told me that she temporarily lost her sense of taste and smell which is a common symptom among COVID-19 patients and thankfully she got her senses back. I have another friend at work whose husband got Myocarditis from getting vaccinated so hopefully he's doing better now. First time I got vaccinated I had muscle aches and body fatigue but that was really it.
May I ask you something?
What is your actual argument, here, exactly?
Like, I'm genuinely trying to figure this out. What is even your stance at this point?
You accuse doctors and politicians who are advocating things like masks and vaccines as being wrong and bad and fearmongering, which shows you are clearly listening to anti-science, anti-vaccination people on the internet, and yet, you say that vaccines are good and not only do you concede that covid is not a hoax, but you personally know people who have gotten it.
Who do you think is traumatizing the children more: the people who are adhering to public safety advice to benefit society in the face of a widespread global pandemic, or the people who refuse to listen to science and reason and pursue courses of action that would directly lead to the pandemic continuing and, in turn, causing greater threat and harm to said children?
Because doing a year of remote learning is not going to be anywhere near as debilitating as being immuno-compromised, to say nothing of dying from covid.
There's something among psychology nowadays known as COVID Anxiety Syndrome (CAS) where more children than ever have anxiety, depression, with suicide rates going up because of this global pandemic. What are we doing to the mental health of our children? There's now children drawing self-portraits of themselves with their face masks on because they've associated themselves with how they look 24/7 with face masks on. Sad part is that these children don't really know what it's really like to see their actual faces. Because of this we as a society are creating HUGE mental disorders down the line which is already happening right now and it's up to parents to protect the mental health of their children.
Children have become too afraid to play with each other or be brave enough to speak without worrying about infecting other people without a face mask on. As an end result these children are losing their social skills as they're not communicating and they're not learning how to communicate in-person because of the fear around us and we got to remind ourselves that fear is the greatest thief of our joy, happiness, and serenity. We have to learn to choose love over everything even though that might sound a little bit cliche but it's the truth. We're learning the harsh lesson of taking our freedoms for granted because this is all we have. A lot of people mock the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution but there's a reason why it's number one.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Who do you think is traumatizing the children more: the people who are adhering to public safety advice to benefit society in the face of a widespread global pandemic, or the people who refuse to listen to science and reason and pursue courses of action that would directly lead to the pandemic continuing and, in turn, causing greater threat and harm to said children?
Because doing a year of remote learning is not going to be anywhere near as debilitating as being immuno-compromised, to say nothing of dying from covid.
There's something among psychology nowadays known as COVID Anxiety Syndrome (CAS) where more children than ever have anxiety, depression, with suicide rates going up because of this global pandemic. What are we doing to the mental health of our children? There's now children drawing self-portraits of themselves with their face masks on because they've associated themselves with how they look 24/7 with face masks on. Sad part is that these children don't really know what it's really like to see their actual faces. Because of this we as a society are creating HUGE mental disorders down the line which is already happening right now and it's up to parents to protect the mental health of their children.
Children have become too afraid to play with each other or be brave enough to speak without worrying about infecting other people without a face mask on. As an end result these children are losing their social skills as they're not communicating and they're not learning how to communicate in-person because of the fear around us and we got to remind ourselves that fear is the greatest thief of our joy, happiness, and serenity. We have to learn to choose love over everything even though that might sound a little bit cliche but it's the truth. We're learning the harsh lesson of taking our freedoms for granted because this is all we have. A lot of people mock the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution but there's a reason why it's number one.
Dying from covid is a bigger issue than suffering mental health difficulties. And if you want to address mental health how about increasing the minimum wage, providing universal healthcare (including, you know, support for mental health services), extending child tax credits. That sort of thing. That will help mental health. Should decrease crime as well. And, you know, lift millions out of poverty too, if you go for that sort of thing.
There's something among psychology nowadays known as COVID Anxiety Syndrome (CAS) where more children than ever have anxiety, depression, with suicide rates going up because of this global pandemic. What are we doing to the mental health of our children? There's now children drawing self-portraits of themselves with their face masks on because they've associated themselves with how they look 24/7 with face masks on. Sad part is that these children don't really know what it's really like to see their actual faces. Because of this we as a society are creating HUGE mental disorders down the line which is already happening right now and it's up to parents to protect the mental health of their children.
Children have become too afraid to play with each other or be brave enough to speak without worrying about infecting other people without a face mask on. As an end result these children are losing their social skills as they're not communicating and they're not learning how to communicate in-person because of the fear around us and we got to remind ourselves that fear is the greatest thief of our joy, happiness, and serenity. We have to learn to choose love over everything even though that might sound a little bit cliche but it's the truth. We're learning the harsh lesson of taking our freedoms for granted because this is all we have. A lot of people mock the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution but there's a reason why it's number one.
Would you rather the children die?
Because that is what we're wearing the masks for. Because otherwise children will die. Because, and again, I have no idea how you continue to not understand this: WE HAVE A PLAGUE GOING ON.
We're not making children wear masks for *****s and giggles, we're doing it because there's a plague going on. One which has killed over 5 million people in less than 2 years.
So I ask again, would you rather the children die?
Because if you were to say to me, "Yes, I would rather millions more die from a virus than to have to go through the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask," then at least you would be demonstrating self-awareness and honesty.
But you do not, DO NOT ever, ever, EVER get to post anti-science, anti-vaxxer, anti-medicine nonsense on the internet and then close it by saying you're choosing love.
You are perpetuating a problem that millions have died from, that people have given their lives to combat, that people are risking their lives now to stop, that people are laboring tirelessly to treat, that people are working around the clock to try to educate people that we can get this problem under control. How dare you say that you're choosing love by actively trying to undermine their efforts and their sacrifices? How dare you say you are choosing love by openly advocating for the death of innocent children? You might as well have just pissed on five million graves.
You accuse doctors and politicians who are advocating things like masks and vaccines as being wrong and bad and fearmongering, which shows you are clearly listening to anti-science, anti-vaccination people on the internet, and yet, you say that vaccines are good and not only do you concede that covid is not a hoax, but you personally know people who have gotten it.
So I don't understand your position at all.
My argument here is that just because there's a plague going on right now doesn't mean that we have to live in fear and be enslaved by it 24/7. People deserve to enjoy life regardless of what's going on in the world right now. I'm not saying that we should ignore the big elephant in the room being COVID-19 when it's our number one priority to deal with getting it under control to a point where it's no longer life threatening toward humanity. That's not anti-science and anti-vaccination logic, THAT'S common sense and rational thinking. At no point should we EVER compromise our own freedom, liberty, and sovereignty as human beings.
Dying from covid is a bigger issue than suffering mental health difficulties. And if you want to address mental health how about increasing the minimum wage, providing universal healthcare (including, you know, support for mental health services), extending child tax credits. That sort of thing. That will help mental health. Should decrease crime as well. And, you know, lift millions out of poverty too, if you go for that sort of thing.
There's something among psychology nowadays known as COVID Anxiety Syndrome (CAS) where more children than ever have anxiety, depression, with suicide rates going up because of this global pandemic. What are we doing to the mental health of our children? There's now children drawing self-portraits of themselves with their face masks on because they've associated themselves with how they look 24/7 with face masks on. Sad part is that these children don't really know what it's really like to see their actual faces. Because of this we as a society are creating HUGE mental disorders down the line which is already happening right now and it's up to parents to protect the mental health of their children.
Children have become too afraid to play with each other or be brave enough to speak without worrying about infecting other people without a face mask on. As an end result these children are losing their social skills as they're not communicating and they're not learning how to communicate in-person because of the fear around us and we got to remind ourselves that fear is the greatest thief of our joy, happiness, and serenity. We have to learn to choose love over everything even though that might sound a little bit cliche but it's the truth. We're learning the harsh lesson of taking our freedoms for granted because this is all we have. A lot of people mock the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution but there's a reason why it's number one.
Would you rather the children die?
Because that is what we're wearing the masks for. Because otherwise children will die. Because, and again, I have no idea how you continue to not understand this: WE HAVE A PLAGUE GOING ON.
We're not making children wear masks for *****s and giggles, we're doing it because there's a plague going on. One which has killed over 5 million people in less than 2 years.
So I ask again, would you rather the children die?
Because if you were to say to me, "Yes, I would rather millions more die from a virus than to have to go through the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask," then at least you would be demonstrating self-awareness and honesty.
But you do not, DO NOT ever, ever, EVER get to post anti-science, anti-vaxxer, anti-medicine nonsense on the internet and then close it by saying you're choosing love.
You are perpetuating a problem that millions have died from, that people have given their lives to combat, that people are risking their lives now to stop, that people are laboring tirelessly to treat, that people are working around the clock to try to educate people that we can get this problem under control. How dare you say that you're choosing love by actively trying to undermine their efforts and their sacrifices? How dare you say you are choosing love by openly advocating for the death of innocent children? You might as well have just pissed on five million graves.
NO, I don't want our children to die nor was I undermining peoples efforts and sacrifices to get this pandemic under control. Are you saying it's wrong to value a child's humanity as much as their lives? When I was choosing love over fear earlier I was speaking within the context of educating people on getting this problem under control through empathy and compassion toward others who need our help rather than being negative about it by yelling and shaming each other. What good does that really do? We need to be more mindful and respectful toward one another.
I apologize If I came off as someone who seemed to be downplaying the severity of COVID-19 and the amount of damage it's done to our society. I didn't think I was but did we really forget that we're all in this together as human beings? How about next time don't be putting words in my mouth saying that I'm someone that I know I'm not. I'm not a criminal. I'm innocent. I love and respect humanity. I'd much prefer If we all work together as one instead of going at each other's throats especially on Twitter and Facebook where there's so much negativity and toxicity.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Dying from covid is a bigger issue than suffering mental health difficulties. And if you want to address mental health how about increasing the minimum wage, providing universal healthcare (including, you know, support for mental health services), extending child tax credits. That sort of thing. That will help mental health. Should decrease crime as well. And, you know, lift millions out of poverty too, if you go for that sort of thing.
True. I agree 100%.
1) Are you sure? Like, are you really sure? You're signing up for supporting for increasing the minimum wage, providing universal healthcare and extending child tax credits?
2) If you actually agree 100%, then you support mask requirements. Because my point here was preventing mass covid deaths is more important than potential mental health difficulties from wearing masks and other preventative measures, and that if you are really worried about mental health there are things you could do that would help mental health generally *instead of* stopping or limiting covid preventative measures.
I only actually agree with you in that dying from COVID-19 is a much bigger issue than suffering mental health difficulties. Everything else you mentioned is all up for debate which is no longer tolerable on these forums. Got a little ahead of myself there when I was blindly agreeing with other issues you mentioned that I didn't have an opinion on aside from the main one I agree with you on. Sorry about that.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Card Slinger J: I’m going to try to explain this so you get it.
We have a pandemic. A LITERAL PLAGUE is going on. It’s killed millions of people and continues to rage on.
So sensible people have seen this and realized that we can’t just live out our lives the way we used to when there’s a highly infectious, deadly disease running rampant, because that would be irresponsible and kill a ton of people. What we need to do is take necessary precautions to combat the spread of Covid-19. Thus, we have public health and safety measures.
Now, let’s be very clear: no one particularly likes these safety measures. But the prudent among us understand that these measures are necessary to get the virus under control, and if we do that, we can then safely go back to our regular lives. These people recognize that public safety measures are the solution to the problem. Adhering to them is the path to getting to a point in which we no longer have to.
We have seen it demonstrated across multiple countries that adherence to safety protocols such as social distancing, testing, masking, and vaccination help to get the virus under control and facilitate a return to relative normalcy. The coronavirus is a problem, but it’s a problem with a known solution.
The issue has been the significant percentage of people who refuse to adhere to safety protocols, either out of ignorance of the facts surrounding the threat of the coronavirus and the efficacy of public safety measures, or out of not caring whether or not people die as long as a person is not inconvenienced by them. These people have actively undermined attempts to control the virus in many countries - including the United States, in which hundreds of thousands of otherwise preventable deaths have occurred.
And this is what makes the Covid-19 situation such a uniquely infuriating one: there is absolutely no reason for the problem to have ever gotten this bad, and wouldn’t have had people acted sensibly by adhering to public safety precautions. Yet many consistently did not, which has subverted the responsible majority at every turn.
-
We originally attempted a lockdown to try to get the virus under control. This would have worked, as evidenced by countries who did so successfully, but while it did get the numbers down, it failed to do enough because not enough people locked down.
We eventually opened the country back up, and then prescribed a regimen of social distancing and rigorous testing for the virus. This would have worked, as evidenced by countries who did so successfully, but while it did get the numbers down, it failed to do enough because not enough people got tested nor adhered to social distancing protocols, nor quarantined when they got it.
Amazingly, we ended up getting a vaccine for Covid that was over 90% effective against the major strain in record time, and the US accumulated enough of the vaccine to be able to vaccinate every American. The plan was to get enough people vaccinated to get the numbers for Covid down. This would have worked, as evidenced by countries who did so successfully, but while it did get the numbers down, it failed to do enough because not enough people got vaccinated.
Once again, public health measures would have not only combated the coronavirus’ spread, thus saving hundreds of thousands of lives, but would have also reduced the numbers to the point that we would have been able to relax said public health measures, thereby allowing us to live more freely.
Yet, at every turn, America seen vociferous opposition to health measures that would have protected lives and allowed us a return to relative normalcy. And a major contributing factor to this has been the sheer volume of speakers on the internet spreading misinformation and maligning both scientists and healthcare workers, and the safety measures they have recommended. We’re in the mess we’re in because of these people.
So that’s why it’s so maddening to see you post something like this:
No, you’re not. You’re actively spreading misinformation about Covid-19, and you’re also calling for an end to masking for children - a safety measure that has saved countless lives, and the removal of which would kill countless numbers of children and leave still more immunocompromised for the rest of their lives - for ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD REASON AT ALL.
You’re part of the problem!
That’s why it’s so maddening to see you post something like this:
I'd much prefer If we all work together as one
Great, SO GET ON BOARD THEN! Go do your part! You're the one who isn't doing what he's supposed to be doing! It’s people like you who are the holdouts that are subverting the work that the responsible people are doing.
The good news is you don’t have to be an obstacle. You can change.
Are you tired of this pandemic? Do you want to get back to regular life and not have to wear masks? Cool. SO DO WE. The difference is we understand that it’s not safe to do so right this moment and it will take some work to get there.
You want to help? First of all, get vaccinated. Second, socially distance, and wear a mask when unable to remain 6 feet apart from someone in a public setting. Third, keep an eye on your health, and get tested if you feel symptoms of Covid-19. If the test is positive, adhere to proper quarantining protocols until you are no longer infectious.
And fourth, encourage this behavior in others. Encourage people to get vaccinated, to wear masks, and to get tested. Rather than copy/pasting articles from anti-science radicals, or making posts about promoting measures that would cause countless children to die, instead do the opposite:
Share articles from experts in the field of virology and from reputable medical professionals.
Actively promote public health measures and share data about their demonstrated efficacy.
Try to promote plans that don’t involve countless children dying horrible deaths for no good reason.
These small actions can produce a lot of positive change, and can encourage others to take proactive steps to do so as well.
I got my first dose of the Moderna vaccine in late August 2021 and my second dose of Moderna in late September 2021 with muscle fatigue that went away shortly after. Me and my Stepdad are planning on getting our booster shot for COVID-19 sometime in early March 2022 while my Mother and my Uncle tried to get their booster though unfortunately the pharmaceutical they went to ran out of the vaccine due to the Omicron variant so they had to reschedule their appointment for it. My friend who I was telling you about earlier, her son just got his first dose of the vaccine while my friend got her booster with some stiff muscle aches just like with the first dose. Interestingly enough my Sister got me a book for Christmas titled, "How To Make a Vaccine: An Essential Guide for COVID-19 & Beyond" by Dr. John Rhodes, an immunologist with firsthand experience developing vaccines. I've read some parts of the book already and it's pretty fascinating.
The grocery store I work at was also selling COVID-19 testing kits for $20 where there was a disclaimer on the back of the box saying that there's a 50% chance of the kit actually working since we're still finding out new information and data about COVID-19 the more it surfaces. I didn't bother to purchase the testing kit since there's no real guarantee that it actually works so there's that. I have been wearing my face mask in public again but recently stopped wearing it at my LGS so that I can communicate with other people a bit easier. We usually get about 20 or so people showing up on Saturdays even though I'm not able to frequent the other LGS I used to go to on Friday nights on account of very small overhead and less space to play Paper Magic. Even though the Omicron variant was found to be less severe than the Delta variant people should still go out and get vaccinated to greatly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death.
EDIT: Both my Stepdad and my Mom got their booster shot for COVID-19 while I'm waiting to get mine in early March this year. Much like everyone else we're still waiting for Pfizer and Moderna to release their vaccine specifically designed to fight against the Omicron variant. Scientists are currently working on a way to engineer the COVID-19 vaccine so that they won't have to continually update it for each new variant that arises. My friend who recently lost her husband to COVID-19 also lost members of her church to it as it seems as though the virus is causing as many hospitalizations and deaths as those who are unvaccinated and are at much higher risk of infection than fully vaccinated people. I've been hearing rumors that the reason why Omicron doesn't appear to be as lethal as Delta and past variants of COVID-19 is due to a large amount of the human population now having better immunity against the virus but then why are people still dying from it?
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
EDIT: Both my Stepdad and my Mom got their booster shot for COVID-19 while I'm waiting to get mine in early March this year. Much like everyone else we're still waiting for Pfizer and Moderna to release their vaccine specifically designed to fight against the Omicron variant.
No, just get the booster, dude. The booster is effective against Omicron.
Scientists are currently working on a way to engineer the COVID-19 vaccine so that they won't have to continually update it for each new variant that arises. My friend who recently lost her husband to COVID-19 also lost members of her church to it as it seems as though the virus is causing as many hospitalizations and deaths as those who are unvaccinated and are at much higher risk of infection than fully vaccinated people. I've been hearing rumors that the reason why Omicron doesn't appear to be as lethal as Delta and past variants of COVID-19 is due to a large amount of the human population now having better immunity against the virus but then why are people still dying from it?
People are still dying from it because people are still being infected by it.
You are less likely to die from an infection from the Omicron variant than the Delta variant. I believe the factor is 9 deaths per 1,000 cases vs. 13 deaths per 1,000 cases from the Delta variant. However, as you can see, the fact remains that Omicron variant is still a deadly disease.
What is also extremely important to note is that Omicron is also significantly more infectious than the Delta variant, so the Omicron has infected far more people than the Delta variant did. And while a recent study from the UK said that people fully vaccinated are about 93% less likely to die from Covid, you must realize that the Omicron variant continues to infect thousands per day. The New York Times reported that yesterday there were over 25,000 new cases of Covid reported. That's just yesterday. And this is down from January, in which there were hundreds of thousands, if not over a million, new cases daily. So you have to consider the volume of people infected. If you have a million people infected per day, and 9 out of 1,000 of those people are likely to die, then you will have 9,000 deaths.
And the fact of the matter is that a lot of the deaths and hospitalizations are from people who are NOT vaccinated. Only about 65.8% of the country is fully vaccinated. This is, of course, the national average and it varies between states, with it being skewed along party lines - strongly conservative states have significantly less than 65.8% of the population vaccinated, strongly blue states are more likely to have more. This is because conservatives strongly politicized efforts to combat the coronavirus, making things like vaccines and wearing a mask political issues. We can see this reflected in your stance. You have proven very susceptible to right-wing propaganda, and this is reflected in your posts in this thread.
This is why it is so vitally important to do proper research and to listen to scientists and other medical professionals and experts, not conspiracy theorists and pundits.
Here's another example: many states are now pulling back their mask restrictions due to the dropping coronavirus numbers. So, clearly the answer is no, contrary to right-wing fearmongering, mask mandates will not be permanent and are not the fruit of an evil totalitarian regime trying to force you to wear a mask to get rid of your freedoms for nefarious ends. Moreover, not only was that clearly never true, but how could that possibly have even made sense? I'm reminded of the South Park meme:
Step 1: Make everyone wear a mask and stand 6 feet apart
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit
The idea was pure nonsense, and yet many, including yourself, were roped into this nonsense. But the relevant question is WHY?
Because you failed to do proper research and listen to scientists and other experts who were providing you good information, instead allowed yourself to be poisoned by people who were feeding you lies and propaganda. When the only people you listen to are liars, you will find yourself believing in lies naturally.
So I hope that with this experience, Card Slinger J, you will make active steps in the future to stop listening to whoever you've been listening to and start listening to facts. Let this be the time you abandon the American right-wing, who has clearly been feeding you misinformation, and instead seek reputable sources for data.
EDIT: Both my Stepdad and my Mom got their booster shot for COVID-19 while I'm waiting to get mine in early March this year. Much like everyone else we're still waiting for Pfizer and Moderna to release their vaccine specifically designed to fight against the Omicron variant.
No, just get the booster, dude. The booster is effective against Omicron.
Currently in the process of making another appointment at Walgreens to get my third COVID shot however based on what my parents told me they're having vaccine shortages at the current moment. All I can do is wait until they get more of the Moderna vaccine in stock even though it's been close to 6 months since I got my second COVID shot.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
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"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The Democrats are pushing for personal responsibility, but know that the average American is an idiot, so steps need to be taken to keep them safe.
The Republicans are still under the impression that the virus isn't a real threat and any measures made by the other party are nothing more than a threat to take away personal freedoms.
Meanwhile, those of us that know how to think for ourselves and have no problem with social distancing and masking are caught in the middle...
(of course, the wife and I are both introverts that never leave the house, so it hasn't affected us much...)
What I find crazy is that there are still a majority of people who've gotten the first two doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and still got hospitalized running on ICU with COVID-19 where the risk of death is much greater. So unless you dramatically change your eating habits with fruits and vegetables instead of eating foods that aren't wholesome to help improve your body's natural immune response then you're probably going to end up at the hospital with COVID. The "experts" are already talking about a third dose of Pfizer or Moderna to help combat against the new Omicron variant yet pre-existing variants of the virus like Delta are now somehow evading the spike protein that is supposed to fend off the virus from entering into our immune systems. I don't like social distancing and masking as much as anyone who values their freedom, liberty, and sovereignty as rationale human beings.
Remember back when "the experts" said that it was supposed to only take two weeks to flatten the curve? Well look where we are now...
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The politicians who rail on about personal liberties are vaccinated. Fox News goes off on how wrong the Biden administration's vaccine and Covid-testing policies are when the ones that Fox News operates on are even more stringent. Donald Trump himself, who ran around talking about how all of this talk of Covid was going to go away after the election, (A) got covid, (B) received a variety of drugs to treat covid, and (C) got a covid vaccine.
Hell, we're now seeing an influx of natural cure bloggers and social media people getting the vaccine, and then advising followers take vinegar or silver or whatever dumb thing to remove the nonexistent harmful effects of the vaccine.
It's overwhelmingly just pandering to the crowd who believes this nonsense, as well as fomenting general ignorance to advance their own gain.
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Card Slinger J: Have you actually read the article you cited?
MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE DIED.
I mean, come on, dude, it's been 1 1/2 years since the OP. We know how this all plays out, we know damn well that the coronavirus has killed millions. How are you still defending your position?
A. You are promoting conspiracy theories right now as we are talking.
B. Why did you put "experts" in quotes and then proceed to list actual experts? You even said "health experts" in the list of people you were contrasting with "experts." That makes no sense.
That's not what's happening. The only people who are trying to keep people in a state of irrational fear are the people who are trying to spread unfounded, baseless misinformation over the pandemic.
I will point out, once again, that the article you've based this thread around claimed that the coronavirus was a hoax and wasn't going to kill millions of people, when we know that's exactly what the hell it did.
Specifics. WHO is spreading a perpetual state of fear and anxiety, and HOW, exactly?
Keep in mind that the obviously wrong article that you started this thread around concluded with, "Governments will enthusiastically promote social distancing as the only way to keep us safe but unless we stand up and fight and tell the truth, social distancing will be with us for years possibly forever and as a result our lives will be ruined in every conceivable way."
This is completely false. The majority of people who have been hospiralized with Covid-19 are unvaccinated. Vaccines are proven to prevent hospitalization of Covid-19.
Unless... Are you saying that you find it crazy that people who severe cases with Covid-19 are sent to the ICU? Because of course they're sent to the Intensive Care Unit, dude. The Intensive Care Unit is where you send people who have a medical emergency and therefore need intensive care. That's why it's called the Intensive Care Unit. Where else would you send them?
Fruits and vegetables have nothing to do with preventing Covid.
Furthermore, the entire idea of a strong immune response preventing Covid hospitalization is nonsense. A lot of the deaths of Covid are because of complications resulting from inflammation, which is the result of the body's immune system reacting too strongly to Covid.
Again, why are you quoting "experts" when you've already said that the people who are informed are the ones who talked to health experts?
They were talking about a third dose before Omicron. Further, the vaccine is still proven to be effective against Delta.
Nobody likes socially distancing or masking. We do it because it is the responsible thing to do during a major health crisis. There's a global pandemic going on and the path to combating said pandemic is to socially distance, wear masks, and above all get vaccinated.
Because so much of the country did not actually do so. Largely because of rhetoric like what you are parroting.
Contrast the US with New Zealand, a country that actually did pursue aggressive lockdown measures. Indeed, compare our covid numbers with South Korea, who got it at the same time we did, or, hell, China, who was ground zero for the virus. These preventative measures work when they're actually followed.
Sadly, we have people who refuse to do what is responsible and who continue to refuse to get a vaccine - A VACCINE DEVELOPED DURING THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY AND WHOM TRUMP HIMSELF HAS OPENLY ADMITTED TO HAVING TAKEN - who refuse to mask up, who refuse to socially distance, and who propagate misinformation when a highly-contagious disease continues to kill over a thousand people each day in America.
But the measures we took meant that we had long periods of relative normality and a comparatively small number of cases; see the graph for a comparison of daily cases per million people.
No I'm not trying to undermine how many people have died from this virus especially since most of the healthcare workers and researchers who should be providing as much info about the virus to the public as possible are ALL unemployed either because either they chose not to abide by the government mandates or that they couldn't keep up with hospitals exceeding their max capacity of COVID-19 patients on a daily basis. Thankfully it's not as bad now that over 70% of all American citizens are fully vaccinated with only 30% that didn't get vaccinated but what that disparity has done has made it more difficult to get accurate data and research on how COVID-19 triggers specific underlying conditions such as Myocarditis. What I was referring to in regards to "the experts" are medical professionals within Mainstream Media like Dr. Fauci, Dr. Oz, etc. who are bought and paid for by Big Pharma to keep people in fear and anxiety instead of telling them the truth about how to handle COVID-19 in a way that's kind, compassionate, and caring like If you were to go see your doctor in-person without it being under a zoom call. What this is teaching us is for us to do our own research instead of relying on those who don't know the answers and are just there to keep the fearmongering going which is exactly what Big Pharma is doing to extract as much money as possible by prolonging the pandemic as long as possible.
I've already said that I was being manipulated by a YouTuber at the time in which I cited the info from not realizing the full context of who the individual was in regards to the bad reputation he had but lesson learned. Nobody is perfect we all make mistakes from time to time even myself. Move on. I guess that's one way to put it bluntly. My friends' husband who recently died from COVID-19 was fully vaccinated with the first two doses of Moderna but didn't receive a booster for Omicron, however what I think happened was that he had an underlying condition that was triggered from when he got the virus that made it hard for the vaccine to control. Like I said earlier, there's not enough data and research studies on how COVID-19 triggers underlying and pre-existing conditions that manages to take someone's life with the most common case among COVID-19 patients being Myocarditis which is an inflammation of the heart muscle that can also affect your respiratory system.
My friend and her daughter also managed to get COVID-19 while fully vaccinated with the first two doses of Pfizer except the cases were only mild where my friend and her daughter were recently released from quarantine with no signs of being able to infect other people. She told me that she temporarily lost her sense of taste and smell which is a common symptom among COVID-19 patients and thankfully she got her senses back. I have another friend at work whose husband got Myocarditis from getting vaccinated so hopefully he's doing better now. First time I got vaccinated I had muscle aches and body fatigue but that was really it.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
And here you are doing the same thing. You may have moved on from that person, but you've clearly gone from one anti-science social media person to another, because the statements you are making are still anti-science, still counter-factual, and still devoid of data.
Yes. Vaccines, masking, and social distancing. They work. The data proves it. When they're actually implemented, they work.
There clearly was. Social distancing saved lives.
It's not in a state of prolonged gridlock. We closed nonessential businesses because it was a necessary measure to get the virus under control. We did remote distance learning because it was a necessary measure to keep children safe. Both schools and businesses have since reopened.
Again, how are you still maintaining this stance after 1 1/2 years? We've seen what happens when the virus numbers drop: things reopen. We close them as a matter of public safety. We reopen them when the virus numbers drop below a certain point. The answer is no, we're not in perpetual lockdown, as demonstrated by us not being in lockdown anymore.
What are you talking about? Virtually no one is quitting their job over the vaccine mandates. The number is estimated at 1% of all workers in the US. 1%.
Who do you think is traumatizing the children more: the people who are adhering to public safety advice to benefit society in the face of a widespread global pandemic, or the people who refuse to listen to science and reason and pursue courses of action that would directly lead to the pandemic continuing and, in turn, causing greater threat and harm to said children?
Because doing a year of remote learning is not going to be anywhere near as debilitating as being immuno-compromised, to say nothing of dying from covid.
Really does feel like you are, dude, especially since those measures that you're railing against saved countless lives, and because you're spreading the very misinformation that no doubt cost many people their lives.
Once again, not actually happening, it's close to like 1% if that.
Which was preventable, and would have been prevented had people distanced, adhered to mask policy, and gotten vaccinated.
Wait, "thankfully?" Why are you spreading anti-vaccination nonsense like eating fruits and vegetables to combat covid if you're pro-vaccine?
Second, we are definitely not at 70% vaccination. Where are you getting your data? We're at about 60%. The goal is over 80%. And one of the biggest problems towards getting there has been rampant misinformation about healthcare measures such as the vaccine against Covid. Which you are participating in. If you want more people to get vaccinated, you should aspire to do your part by seeking to listen to the very experts you are deriding and actually propagating things grounded in fact, rather than misinformation.
Ok, Dr. Oz is a media personality, sure. Dr. Fauci, on the other hand, is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President. There is absolutely no comparison between the two.
And here we are with the conspiracy theories.
Again, specifics. What, SPECIFICALLY, about what Fauci has said do you take objection to?
Is it that he advised people to socially distance, wear masks, and get vaccinated - the measures that have been proven to work to combat covid?
What do you actually have about Fauci that's actually objectionable?
Which is really astounding coming from someone who admits himself he propagated conspiracy theories, and also is STILL DOING SO.
... How, exactly? By making a vaccine to the pandemic? The one you admit is a good thing?
Except you're still propagating anti-science nonsense. You've just switched from one source of misinformation to another.
Are you agreeing with me that the sources of misinformation are the ones who are really the ones spreading anxiety and fear, or are you agreeing with the post that has been explicitly proven to be nonsense, I'm confused.
I'm sorry to hear that.
Well, it's not a booster for Omicron. It's a booster. There's still research ongoing as to whether the vaccine/booster are effective against Omicron.
May I ask you something?
What is your actual argument, here, exactly?
Like, I'm genuinely trying to figure this out. What is even your stance at this point?
You accuse doctors and politicians who are advocating things like masks and vaccines as being wrong and bad and fearmongering, which shows you are clearly listening to anti-science, anti-vaccination people on the internet, and yet, you say that vaccines are good and not only do you concede that covid is not a hoax, but you personally know people who have gotten it.
So I don't understand your position at all.
Children have become too afraid to play with each other or be brave enough to speak without worrying about infecting other people without a face mask on. As an end result these children are losing their social skills as they're not communicating and they're not learning how to communicate in-person because of the fear around us and we got to remind ourselves that fear is the greatest thief of our joy, happiness, and serenity. We have to learn to choose love over everything even though that might sound a little bit cliche but it's the truth. We're learning the harsh lesson of taking our freedoms for granted because this is all we have. A lot of people mock the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution but there's a reason why it's number one.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Dying from covid is a bigger issue than suffering mental health difficulties. And if you want to address mental health how about increasing the minimum wage, providing universal healthcare (including, you know, support for mental health services), extending child tax credits. That sort of thing. That will help mental health. Should decrease crime as well. And, you know, lift millions out of poverty too, if you go for that sort of thing.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
Because that is what we're wearing the masks for. Because otherwise children will die. Because, and again, I have no idea how you continue to not understand this: WE HAVE A PLAGUE GOING ON.
We're not making children wear masks for *****s and giggles, we're doing it because there's a plague going on. One which has killed over 5 million people in less than 2 years.
So I ask again, would you rather the children die?
Because if you were to say to me, "Yes, I would rather millions more die from a virus than to have to go through the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask," then at least you would be demonstrating self-awareness and honesty.
But you do not, DO NOT ever, ever, EVER get to post anti-science, anti-vaxxer, anti-medicine nonsense on the internet and then close it by saying you're choosing love.
You are perpetuating a problem that millions have died from, that people have given their lives to combat, that people are risking their lives now to stop, that people are laboring tirelessly to treat, that people are working around the clock to try to educate people that we can get this problem under control. How dare you say that you're choosing love by actively trying to undermine their efforts and their sacrifices? How dare you say you are choosing love by openly advocating for the death of innocent children? You might as well have just pissed on five million graves.
I apologize If I came off as someone who seemed to be downplaying the severity of COVID-19 and the amount of damage it's done to our society. I didn't think I was but did we really forget that we're all in this together as human beings? How about next time don't be putting words in my mouth saying that I'm someone that I know I'm not. I'm not a criminal. I'm innocent. I love and respect humanity. I'd much prefer If we all work together as one instead of going at each other's throats especially on Twitter and Facebook where there's so much negativity and toxicity.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
1) Are you sure? Like, are you really sure? You're signing up for supporting for increasing the minimum wage, providing universal healthcare and extending child tax credits?
2) If you actually agree 100%, then you support mask requirements. Because my point here was preventing mass covid deaths is more important than potential mental health difficulties from wearing masks and other preventative measures, and that if you are really worried about mental health there are things you could do that would help mental health generally *instead of* stopping or limiting covid preventative measures.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
We have a pandemic. A LITERAL PLAGUE is going on. It’s killed millions of people and continues to rage on.
So sensible people have seen this and realized that we can’t just live out our lives the way we used to when there’s a highly infectious, deadly disease running rampant, because that would be irresponsible and kill a ton of people. What we need to do is take necessary precautions to combat the spread of Covid-19. Thus, we have public health and safety measures.
Now, let’s be very clear: no one particularly likes these safety measures. But the prudent among us understand that these measures are necessary to get the virus under control, and if we do that, we can then safely go back to our regular lives. These people recognize that public safety measures are the solution to the problem. Adhering to them is the path to getting to a point in which we no longer have to.
We have seen it demonstrated across multiple countries that adherence to safety protocols such as social distancing, testing, masking, and vaccination help to get the virus under control and facilitate a return to relative normalcy. The coronavirus is a problem, but it’s a problem with a known solution.
The issue has been the significant percentage of people who refuse to adhere to safety protocols, either out of ignorance of the facts surrounding the threat of the coronavirus and the efficacy of public safety measures, or out of not caring whether or not people die as long as a person is not inconvenienced by them. These people have actively undermined attempts to control the virus in many countries - including the United States, in which hundreds of thousands of otherwise preventable deaths have occurred.
And this is what makes the Covid-19 situation such a uniquely infuriating one: there is absolutely no reason for the problem to have ever gotten this bad, and wouldn’t have had people acted sensibly by adhering to public safety precautions. Yet many consistently did not, which has subverted the responsible majority at every turn.
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We originally attempted a lockdown to try to get the virus under control. This would have worked, as evidenced by countries who did so successfully, but while it did get the numbers down, it failed to do enough because not enough people locked down.
We eventually opened the country back up, and then prescribed a regimen of social distancing and rigorous testing for the virus. This would have worked, as evidenced by countries who did so successfully, but while it did get the numbers down, it failed to do enough because not enough people got tested nor adhered to social distancing protocols, nor quarantined when they got it.
Amazingly, we ended up getting a vaccine for Covid that was over 90% effective against the major strain in record time, and the US accumulated enough of the vaccine to be able to vaccinate every American. The plan was to get enough people vaccinated to get the numbers for Covid down. This would have worked, as evidenced by countries who did so successfully, but while it did get the numbers down, it failed to do enough because not enough people got vaccinated.
Once again, public health measures would have not only combated the coronavirus’ spread, thus saving hundreds of thousands of lives, but would have also reduced the numbers to the point that we would have been able to relax said public health measures, thereby allowing us to live more freely.
Yet, at every turn, America seen vociferous opposition to health measures that would have protected lives and allowed us a return to relative normalcy. And a major contributing factor to this has been the sheer volume of speakers on the internet spreading misinformation and maligning both scientists and healthcare workers, and the safety measures they have recommended. We’re in the mess we’re in because of these people.
So that’s why it’s so maddening to see you post something like this:
No, you’re not. You’re actively spreading misinformation about Covid-19, and you’re also calling for an end to masking for children - a safety measure that has saved countless lives, and the removal of which would kill countless numbers of children and leave still more immunocompromised for the rest of their lives - for ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD REASON AT ALL.
You’re part of the problem!
That’s why it’s so maddening to see you post something like this:
Great, SO GET ON BOARD THEN! Go do your part! You're the one who isn't doing what he's supposed to be doing! It’s people like you who are the holdouts that are subverting the work that the responsible people are doing.
The good news is you don’t have to be an obstacle. You can change.
Are you tired of this pandemic? Do you want to get back to regular life and not have to wear masks? Cool. SO DO WE. The difference is we understand that it’s not safe to do so right this moment and it will take some work to get there.
You want to help? First of all, get vaccinated. Second, socially distance, and wear a mask when unable to remain 6 feet apart from someone in a public setting. Third, keep an eye on your health, and get tested if you feel symptoms of Covid-19. If the test is positive, adhere to proper quarantining protocols until you are no longer infectious.
And fourth, encourage this behavior in others. Encourage people to get vaccinated, to wear masks, and to get tested. Rather than copy/pasting articles from anti-science radicals, or making posts about promoting measures that would cause countless children to die, instead do the opposite:
Share articles from experts in the field of virology and from reputable medical professionals.
Actively promote public health measures and share data about their demonstrated efficacy.
Try to promote plans that don’t involve countless children dying horrible deaths for no good reason.
These small actions can produce a lot of positive change, and can encourage others to take proactive steps to do so as well.
The grocery store I work at was also selling COVID-19 testing kits for $20 where there was a disclaimer on the back of the box saying that there's a 50% chance of the kit actually working since we're still finding out new information and data about COVID-19 the more it surfaces. I didn't bother to purchase the testing kit since there's no real guarantee that it actually works so there's that. I have been wearing my face mask in public again but recently stopped wearing it at my LGS so that I can communicate with other people a bit easier. We usually get about 20 or so people showing up on Saturdays even though I'm not able to frequent the other LGS I used to go to on Friday nights on account of very small overhead and less space to play Paper Magic. Even though the Omicron variant was found to be less severe than the Delta variant people should still go out and get vaccinated to greatly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death.
EDIT: Both my Stepdad and my Mom got their booster shot for COVID-19 while I'm waiting to get mine in early March this year. Much like everyone else we're still waiting for Pfizer and Moderna to release their vaccine specifically designed to fight against the Omicron variant. Scientists are currently working on a way to engineer the COVID-19 vaccine so that they won't have to continually update it for each new variant that arises. My friend who recently lost her husband to COVID-19 also lost members of her church to it as it seems as though the virus is causing as many hospitalizations and deaths as those who are unvaccinated and are at much higher risk of infection than fully vaccinated people. I've been hearing rumors that the reason why Omicron doesn't appear to be as lethal as Delta and past variants of COVID-19 is due to a large amount of the human population now having better immunity against the virus but then why are people still dying from it?
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
People are still dying from it because people are still being infected by it.
You are less likely to die from an infection from the Omicron variant than the Delta variant. I believe the factor is 9 deaths per 1,000 cases vs. 13 deaths per 1,000 cases from the Delta variant. However, as you can see, the fact remains that Omicron variant is still a deadly disease.
What is also extremely important to note is that Omicron is also significantly more infectious than the Delta variant, so the Omicron has infected far more people than the Delta variant did. And while a recent study from the UK said that people fully vaccinated are about 93% less likely to die from Covid, you must realize that the Omicron variant continues to infect thousands per day. The New York Times reported that yesterday there were over 25,000 new cases of Covid reported. That's just yesterday. And this is down from January, in which there were hundreds of thousands, if not over a million, new cases daily. So you have to consider the volume of people infected. If you have a million people infected per day, and 9 out of 1,000 of those people are likely to die, then you will have 9,000 deaths.
And the fact of the matter is that a lot of the deaths and hospitalizations are from people who are NOT vaccinated. Only about 65.8% of the country is fully vaccinated. This is, of course, the national average and it varies between states, with it being skewed along party lines - strongly conservative states have significantly less than 65.8% of the population vaccinated, strongly blue states are more likely to have more. This is because conservatives strongly politicized efforts to combat the coronavirus, making things like vaccines and wearing a mask political issues. We can see this reflected in your stance. You have proven very susceptible to right-wing propaganda, and this is reflected in your posts in this thread.
This is why it is so vitally important to do proper research and to listen to scientists and other medical professionals and experts, not conspiracy theorists and pundits.
Here's another example: many states are now pulling back their mask restrictions due to the dropping coronavirus numbers. So, clearly the answer is no, contrary to right-wing fearmongering, mask mandates will not be permanent and are not the fruit of an evil totalitarian regime trying to force you to wear a mask to get rid of your freedoms for nefarious ends. Moreover, not only was that clearly never true, but how could that possibly have even made sense? I'm reminded of the South Park meme:
Step 1: Make everyone wear a mask and stand 6 feet apart
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Profit
The idea was pure nonsense, and yet many, including yourself, were roped into this nonsense. But the relevant question is WHY?
Because you failed to do proper research and listen to scientists and other experts who were providing you good information, instead allowed yourself to be poisoned by people who were feeding you lies and propaganda. When the only people you listen to are liars, you will find yourself believing in lies naturally.
So I hope that with this experience, Card Slinger J, you will make active steps in the future to stop listening to whoever you've been listening to and start listening to facts. Let this be the time you abandon the American right-wing, who has clearly been feeding you misinformation, and instead seek reputable sources for data.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta