I’ve given up trying to understand the anti-vaccine crazies. The arguments they pose are nonsensical: “I don’t know what’s in them!” (They don’t know what’s in the hot dogs they eat, among a million other things.) “There’s a chip inserted by Bill Gates!” (Yes, it’s in the cell phone you cheerfully carry!) “My friend’s brother got diabetes after getting his shot!” (“After this, therefore because of this” is one of the oldest logical fallacies…). And don’t even get me started on the claims that requiring sensible public health measures violates the Constitution– people who insist government can require a woman to carry a pregnancy to term while arguing that government lacks authority to require people to get vaccinated, are beyond the reach of reason.)
Logic and reason, clearly, have nothing to do with it.
I was recently sharing my frustration with the young woman who cuts my hair, who told me that her sister– a nurse in a local hospital –is equally frustrated. And angry. According to her sister, the hospital is coping with overflow conditions caused almost entirely by unvaccinated people, and they are not just sick, but unpleasant and irrational. A large number of them refuse to believe they have Covid, insisting that it must be something else, because Covid is a hoax.
In fact, she said, her sister has characterized these patients as “big babies,” who are making the job of tending to them considerably more difficult than it needs to be.
Evidently, those “big babies” are convinced that vaccines are the monsters hiding under their beds…
What is interesting–if maddening–is that this irrational behavior is largely occurring on the political right (although left-wingers who see conspiracies where the rest of us see human complexity also subscribe.) A recent article from The Week suggests a reason for those statistics showing that Republicans are dying at far greater rates than Democrats.
The article recounted several recent speeches by rightwing ideologues, and summarized the worldview common to them:
The right believes that the progressive left hates America; that it is an evil totalitarian cult which has infiltrated every institution; and that it is using a mix of business, bullying, and technological surveillance to deconstruct both masculinity and the United States as a whole in order to create a world without belonging.
In other words, the cult that has replaced the once-respectable GOP believes that “the progressive left” (i.e., everyone to the left of lunacy) is the monster under the bed. They actually believe that Democrats and moderate (i.e. sane) Republicans are capable of constructing and executing a co-ordinated, well-planned and utterly nefarious effort to destroy the America that exists in their fevered imaginations.
Because???
The sheer number of people who have imbibed this Kool-Aid is scary enough, but the threat they pose to the rest of us is monstrous. As RFK Jr’s family has written, “his and others’ work against vaccines is having heartbreaking consequences.” We probably wouldn’t be facing the Omicron upsurge in Covid if vaccination rates had been higher, but the dangers posed by widespread acceptance of these conspiracy theories goes well beyond a deadly pandemic. We wouldn’t be teetering on the brink of something like Civil War if more people were intellectually or emotionally able to resist the lure of simple answers (It’s the bad guys! They’re the monster under the bed!) to complicated realities.
What was that famous quote by H.L. Mencken? “For every complex problem, there’s a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.”
Evidently, America is home to a depressingly large number of people willing to believe that all their problems can be solved just by destroying the imaginary monster under the bed…and if destroying the monster means eliminating democracy, well…so be it.
I don’t happen to think RFK, Jr. is wrong about vaccines. I trust him more than I trust Fauci and Big Pharma with the media.
Sheila writes, “Logic and reason, clearly, have nothing to do with it.”
The problem is you’re equating the unhinged right-wing voters to RFK, Jr. without reading his book or listening to his side. That’s not reasonableness. That’s closed-mindedness.
You are accusing them of the very thing you pride yourself not doing. 😉
This is where political identity takes us. We take the bait the media feeds us. “Look at those crazy right-wingers!”
I’m reading his book now. I suggest you do the same. The vaccines aren’t the panacea because you didn’t vaccine everybody in the world. Now, we are in a case of chasing variants with boosters. Where does that end?
Fauci is a Big Pharma con man. Our government is captured by oligarchy. Our political class is captured by oligarchy. Our media is captured by oligarchy. Our social media is controlled by oligarchy.
These are the facts.
Now, use reason and logic to conclude that this time, they are telling us the truth. 😉
It’s called insanity.
Here is my favorite conspiracy theory, from the Margaret Atwood “MadAddam Trilogy”. It fits beautifully with current events, and I am surprised that it has not been advanced by more right-wingers. It goes like this: (1) the government has been taken over by Big Pharma, because they have learned that the best way to transfer money is through the “healthcare” system (2) the virus was invented by a cabal of Big Pharma corporations (3) the corporations already have the antidote to the virus in the form of a vaccine (4) the vaccine carries the newest variation of the virus in a small number of doses (5) the corporations already have invented the antidote to the newest variation (6) the newest antidote carries a newer variation of the virus, for which the corporation have invented the antidote, which carries an even newer variation (7) and on it goes…what could possibly go wrong?
The MadAddam Trilogy is very imaginative and would be a good read for your holiday reading.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/12/15/how-a-kennedy-built-an-anti-vaccine-juggernaut-amid-covid-19/
I don’t find the current situation confusing at all! In 1968 – wpe had been through “liberalism” which for many seemed more like radicalism – in the Civil Rights Acts and The War on Poverty – President Johnson pushed through the core “liberal” and “middle of the road” politicians of Both major political parties. Opposed- were the Southern Democrats as well as the remnants of the supporters of Barry Goldwater. Change – was scary – for many white people – white men were not only losing their roles as “the man” – but also facing economic pressures as factories were closing and their “entitlement” to government and union jobs – together with other blue collar jobs were ending. Barry Goldwater – George Wallace – and Richard Nixon – inspired the New Republican Party – aided by Key Growth – of reaction in the Supreme Court increasing over the next several decades. Reactionary – Republican – individuals – latched onto – boogiePeople – Hippies – “Welfare Queens” – “bra burning feminists” and more – and The Willie Horton’s – etc. etc. Republicans – built strength in state legislatures, governor’s races – and then Reagan helped build reactionary politics hugely. Democrats – were commonly – reacting and slow – and idiotic and more. The Republicans – “logically” – might have 20-30% support or perhaps a little more – They should be Reeling – in their failures – economically particularly! The worshipping of Donald Trump and the Insanity of Covid Denial as well as the Destruction of the Ozone Layer – and the Ice of the Polar Areas – is a logical response – to the FEARS – that have been allowed to fester over decades. Those of us on the Left – have squabbled with each other and been Very Elitest! Monied – Interests – Rule Over Us Now! Reproductive Justice – is supported by a significant Majority Among Us – BUT – IF – we will allow gerrymandering and a Media – “neutral” – often owned more by the money – from Division – this Insanity – will continue. It will be Extremely Difficult to Fight successfully in 2022 and 2024 – against the forces of Insanity – but we had better – start taking this MUCH more seriously now. Those of us who are white men – particularly – but white people in general. Black Women – elected Joe Biden. They won’t continue to bail us out! The minority oppressing the Majority – rules in Israel-Palestine, and increasingly in other parts of the world. We in the U.S. better starting working in coalition(s) among ourselves! We have no choice (unless we want disaster)!
The vaccination debacle has left its mark on my extended family over the last several years.
Here’s the short version:
An in-law, also an RN, decided not to vaccinated their children.
One ended up with whooping cough which was then shared with their 60 yr old Grandparent, who became so ill as to become hospitalized.
The long term side effects resulted in a mild heart attack and multiple health issues.
None of this family is vaxxed for Covid and guess who became sick with the Delta variant- yup, good old Grandparent.
This is not an uneducated family btw.
They share degrees from Indiana University and Purdue. They were in the top 10 of their classes.
They also subscribe to the anti-vax theories than endanger the rest of us including their 89 yr old matriarch of the family.
I’m seriously having issues with how all this behavior dove-tails with their solid pro-life ( pro-birth) stance and their ‘love your neighbor’ version of Christianity.
After all, if God created scientists who developed effective vaccines to keep us healthy, shouldn’t we be honoring his creations?
Pardon me if I don’t feel like jumping on the RFK bandwagon.
In the past year I’ve rarely made comments, but I’ve reached my limit of Todd’s daily attempts to push some conspiracy laden book.
Todd, I used to think you made intelligent comments worthy of reading. However, since you fell down a conspiracy rabbit hole the first sentence in your comments stops me from reading further because that is how people become brainwashed by them. Unfortunately, this has happened to you from some source that managed to pull you in and you are wasting your time and energy trying to get the rest of us to follow you down that rabbit hole. From now on I will be skipping past your comments. I do hope you will find your way back to reality.
Regarding today’s blog post, the selfishness of the anti-vaxxers is maddening. They don’t care at all about the toll this pandemic has taken on hospital medical staff and they sure as hell don’t mind putting the medical staffs’ lives at risk while taking care of their selfish asses. On the flip side I personally know two nurses that worked at St Joe hospital in Kokomo who were fired for refusing to be vaccinated. St. Joe is part of the St. Vincent health system in Indy. I appreciate St. Vincent’s concern and care about their patients’ health and well being. Unfortunately, Parkview Health in northeast Indiana (my area) does not require their staff to be vaccinated.
Those extremely selfish anti-vaxxers are taking up valuable ICU space that is needed for other health emergencies like strokes, heart attacks and other serious issues. If this continues much longer I believe hospitals should have the right to check a potential patient’s vaccination status before providing care or admisssion and have the right to refuse care for the unvaccinated if the scarce space available is needed for vaccinated people with other serious health conditions.
Those who focus on their rights as in “I am only responsible FOR myself” are the same poor souls who do not see or acknowledge any responsibility TO others.
Well, Todd certainly voices the opinion known only to himself and other right-wingers. No, Fauci is NOT a shill for big Pharma. Big Pharma doesn’t need him. Having worked for Eli Lily, I know that their corporate mindset is: “We’re not in business to make people well. We’re in business to make money.”
Moreover, in Jane Mayer’s “Dark Money”, she describes the star chamber participants that set about “investing” in mass conspiracy movements including sponsoring think tanks and “chairs” in universities to promote the libertarian/fascist philosophy, i.e., codifying their ideologies.
Clearly, it’s working for the 25% of us (That’s approximately 80 million Americans) who swallow every dram of their bullshit. So, Todd, do some more research and you’ll find that the monster under the bed is actually several monsters beginning with the Koch family.
Yes: “Logic and reason, clearly, have nothing to do with it.” Logic is anathema to propaganda, ideology and the idiotic lust for profits at the expense of everything else. Let the Republicans die. They earned that right. The tragic part is that in doing so, they’ve irresponsibly allowed the spread of the COVID to their fellow citizens. And when have you ever seen a frightened Republican do anything responsible?
I’d say that those dying as unvaccinated acolytes of the great right-wing conspiracy are following Darwin’s/Gould’s tenets for selection – natural and otherwise – except for the fact that these poor souls have already been allowed to reproduce.
Sadly, the monsters aren’t only under the bed. Two of them are serving as minority leaders in the House and Senate. Five are on the Supreme Court. Thousands are sprinkled through legislatures and governors’ mansions in the states.
I wish there was a way to block seeing Todd’s comments! Shakes fist!
My 28 year old neighbor was infected with covid a year ago and still has no sense of smell or taste. It’s possible she may never get them back. Can you imagine? She was healthy, fit and a nanny. She is now permanently disabled. At least she is out of a wheelchair after physical therapy but still cannot work. You don’t want that virus! Get your shots, damn it.
I got my booster on Friday and all I got this time was a sore arm. But I’m also one that nearly has a heart attack from Novocain when I need dental work. Everyone is different.
The vaccines are safe and effective. If you refuse the shots, for goodness sake, don’t go to the hospital if you get covid. Stay home and take care of yourself. They practice science at the hospital and you’ve already proven you don’t believe in it.
The republicans healthcare is “if you get sick, die quickly.” Go on!
In the future, I will no longer read Mr. Smeken’s bilge.
It’s fun looking at all the reds and blues that align with their propaganda of choice. The truth shall set you free but you’re minds are closed as to where the truth leads. It’s called closed-mindedness. I would expect more from those who pride themselves on being “liberal.”
I’ve learned that “liberal” or open-minded or even progressive is just an “identity” our egos can choose but that doesn’t make it so. We want people to judge us by our words but we are judged by our actions. Closed-minded people are easy to spot.
The oligarch-controlled business world has acknowledged the threat of Covid/omicron and its potential impact in their profits. It seems that the oligarchs would happily accept high vaccination rates as a hedge against their potential losses. The same for investors. The question is: who gains from discouraging vaccinations? Not pharma, not healthcare professionals, not merchants, etc. Who are the big winners? Is it social media and/or the political Right?
Yes, “Big Pharma” is not serving the common good. Neither is the MIC. Neither is the HIC. Neither is the MIC. Neither is the TIC. Neither is the PIC….
Us as individuals cannot beat back these “industrial complexes”. What we can do is to band together to vote and elect servant leaders who will not be bound to such destructive ecosystems. Unfortunately, it seems like only “60’s people” understand that. The saddest thing is that young people understand the problem, but think that if they just ignore it and march in the streets it will go away like magic…
The anti-vaxcer’s should be just a fringe element in this Pandemic, and when I got to travel to Portugal late this summer, I could see there are places where this is the case. In the US they seem to be getting a huge boost (and dragging a lot of innocent people along with them) from the Republican Party. Even in Indiana we have more than our share of these irrational Republicans in the state legislature.
I have often asked myself why this might be. I ran across on a editorial in the NY Times that said it better then a I ever could:
——-
What’s that about? As many observers have pointed out, claims that opposition to vaccine mandates (and similar opposition to mask mandates) is about maintaining personal freedom don’t stand up to any kind of scrutiny. No reasonable definition of freedom includes the right to endanger other people’s health and lives because you don’t feel like taking basic precautions.
Furthermore, actions by Republican-controlled state governments, for example in Florida and Texas, show a party that isn’t so much pro-freedom as it is pro-Covid. How else can you explain attempts to prevent private businesses — whose freedom to choose was supposed to be sacrosanct — from requiring that their workers be vaccinated, or offers of special unemployment benefits for the unvaccinated?
In other words, the G.O.P. doesn’t look like a party trying to defend liberty; it looks like a party trying to block any effective response to a deadly disease. Why is it doing this?
To some extent it surely reflects a coldly cynical political calculation. Voters tend to blame whichever party holds the White House for anything bad that happens on its watch, which creates an incentive for a sufficiently ruthless party to engage in outright sabotage. Sure enough, Republicans who fought all efforts to contain the coronavirus are now attacking the Biden administration for failing to end the pandemic.
——————
This is outright SABOTAGE for political gain. People are dying. The economy is being whipsawed, but it will give the Republicans a chance to get back in power.
Todd and RFK, Jr. prove that crazy anti-vax philosophy isn’t confined to the right side of the political spectrum. There is a long history of anti-vax positions being taken by left wingers. They have always had different motivations for their position, but they reach the same conclusion as the Trumpers. Come to think of it, they’re not even that far apart on their reasoning anymore. Todd’s Fauci is a tool of Big Pharma conspiracy theory is something you regularly hear from Trumpers.
Paul Ogden – so correct. The anti-vaxers are the result of a bitter juxtaposition in American culture – the continued cultural move away from “Us to Me” – thus, on both sides.
Rugged individualism and personal liberty have been the American “brand” since the beginning. This was nurtured especially in the 1980’s and since by the turn in consumerism (with a huge assist from The Web and Big Tech to “mass customization” of everything: TV channels, music genres, news sources, even personal cultural ID’s and, per Paul, political identities. The huge increase in inequality of opportunity/wealth creating “the professional class” has only worsened and enabled it further. The great majority of those at The Capital had college degrees and were middle class or above…
T
Dr. Fauci is one of the world’s leading epidemiologists who also understands exactly how mRNA vaccines work and why they are safe and effective. Very few, if any of us, understand what he has learned in preparation for these times. He is also a compassionate human being by all accounts. I trust his advice explicitly. I can see no reason at all not to because he spent his life preparing for these times and I did not.
Let me be clear. Expertise is absolutely necessary in this world because none of us are anywhere near prepared for the complexity that surrounds us. It is the nature of liberalism to honor and accept expertise in others. Why? It frees us from life run by our ignorance.
But the natural tendency for humans to be liberal has been stolen from much of the country by the combination of a nefarious entitled feeling ubber wealthy few and pervasive entertainment media which we were not smart enough to keep out of our living rooms.
If we are not smart enough to avoid paying for a propaganda machine in our lives constantly, why does anyone believe that we are prepared to deal with a pandemic caused by a novel virus or changing the environment we exist it by how we dispose of our fossil fuel waste?
“We probably wouldn’t be facing the Omicron upsurge in Covid if vaccination rates had been higher”
I enjoy your thoughts but your spreading of these false narratives is equivalent to what you accuse others of. That statement is not validated by the evidence around the world. I suspect these bullying talking points are why such deep divisions exist. There is a common problem we are currently facing and in the final submission I doubt it will be called Republican or Democrat.
Years ago when I was still in college, I needed one more science course to meet general requirements for a liberal arts degree. The course I took was microbiology. The content included study of viruses. Based on what I learned in that course, there is no way I would ever adopt an antivaccination stance. Ever. Vaccines work. Look at the growth in human population after vaccines were introduced into health care practices; there was an enormous increase in survival rates.
RFK Jr. and his wife recently held a party and required invitees to be COVID vaccinated. When questioned about the apparent hypocrisy of opposing while requiring vaccinations, RFK blamed the requirement on his wife. His broad-scale anti-vaccine rationale apparently is not convincing enough to persuade the person who married and lives with him. Neither has it convinced his siblings who publicly disavow his anti-vaxx comments.
90% of those dying from COVID are unvaccinated who are clogging hospitals and overwhelming our economy as well as our health care systems and even family relationships. How much more damage will some permit COVID to do before getting a simple (and FREE) vaccination?
As a retired RN, I can tell all of you that in order to be true to the Hippocratic Oath and the one written by Florence Nightingale, I would be required to treat all patients, even those who refused to take the vaccine, with the best competent care of which I am capable. Nurses are called to high ethical standards. Clara Barton,as I have said befored, nursed confederate soldiers. She cared even for the enemy.
Isn’t it sad that Americans are not following the example of Clara Barton? Isn’t it sad that many whine about wearing masks? I think it especially sad when I think of all the sacrifices my parents’ generation made so that we could defeat the Axis countries that were Fascist and Nazi.
I respect Dr. Fauci. He does not, however, have the narrative that will reach people who are reluctant or very resistant to taking the vaccine. I am sure he is perceived as part of the elite by the far right. It will take someone who can speak the language of the military, of war against an invisible enemy to motivate them.
Ultimately, I think what lies beneath the antivaxxers is the desire to undermine President Biden. Given his marked dropped in the approval ratings, it would seem they are succeeding and dying in order to do so.
Beyond all that, I think that fear is the greatest enemy we have right now. It destroys e pluribus unum. Beware of the monster under your own bed or in other words, I have found the enemy, and it is within.
It’s obvious Todd is a member of the Russian government. His purpose here is to brainwash all of us. He MUST BE BANNED!
Just think back About 100 years or so ago.
910 AD measles and smallpox described separately. 1545 smallpox epidemic in India. 1578 whooping cough epidemic in Paris. 1612 Typhoid fever strikes royalty. 1613 the Spanish epidemic. 1625 smallpox in North America. 1633 Colonial Epidemic. 1648 Quarantine in Boston. 1657 measles appear in Boston. bladders in the windpipe (diphtheria) 1659 the colonies of North America. 1661 Royal Support of Inoculation China.1678 New Pamphlet on smallpox. 1684 smallpox treatment. 1699 yellow fever attack American colonies. 1721 Boston smallpox epidemic. 1730 continuous plagues In the American colonies. 1740 Rubella. 1751 London is ravaged by smallpox. 1757 The infectious nature of measles discovered. 1764 Harvard, Adams, and smallpox. 1776 smallpox becomes a weapon of war. 1777 mandatory inoculation for continental army. 1792 stricter regulations passed for inoculation. 1793 yellow fever decimates Philadelphia. 1800 Waterhouse brings vaccination to the states. 1801 Russian Empress encourages vaccination. 1810 Italian physician uses cows for vaccine production. 1813 US vaccination agency established. 1817 cholera pandemics begin. 1826 diphtheria given its name. 1831 Pasteur observes rabies. 1841 Rubella The naming of the little red. 1854 Pacini links bacteria to cholera. 1856 diphtheria epidemic in California. 1870 Anthrax vaccine brought to the US. 1878 yellow fever cripples Mississippi Valley. 1878 Native American tribes affected. 1879 first laboratory vaccine. 1880 rabies studies begin. 1881 pneumococcal bacterium discovered. 1882 anti-vaccination argument spread. 1882 Koch isolates and cultures tuberculosis Bascillus. 1885 success with cholera vaccine.1885 success with rabies vaccine. 1885 rabies vaccine used in humans. 1892 relationship between chicken pox and shingles suggested. 1893 Asian Indian vaccine trials for cholera. 1894 first polio epidemic in the United States. 1896 basis for typhoid vaccination established. 1899 yellow fever plagues Panama Canal workers. 1899 Early Typhoid vaccines used by British military. 1900 US Army researchers discover cause of yellow fever. 1901 the length of mosquitoes to spread of disease.1905 North America sees the last yellow fever epidemic. 1905 US Supreme Court addresses vaccination. 1906 whooping cough bacteria isolated. 1908 polio virus identified. 1909 the debut of Typhoid Mary. 1911 pneumococcal whole-cell vaccine tested. 1911 He killed cholera vaccine developed. 1914 Typhoid vaccination becomes commonplace in the United States.1916 typhoid fever focus on water supplies and public health grows. 1918 Spanish Influenza kills millions. 1926 opposition to vaccination grows. 1931 link to meningitis discovered. 1938 researchers demonstrate transmission of rubella disease. 1942 FDR pleads for victory against polio. Also hepatitis outbreak occurs. 1944 vaccine for Japanese encephalitis.1945 influenza vaccine approved. 1947 massive vaccination effort. 1948 whooping cough vaccine combined with tetanus and diphtheria. 1949 US find successes with vaccination.
You all can read the rest at; histories of vaccines.org/timeline/all
An imperfect world full of imperfect inhabitants can never create a perfect anything. There are trials and tribulations to vaccine productions and research. And, I might add even death. But, can you imagine if we did not have any of these vaccines? Imagine how the world would be right now considering how connected everything is.
Probably the only thing that the president administration could do is declare martial law, And I would suggest that if he does not do that, The Republican president coming from behind this one Will do it. There’s an opportunity to Make things right, but someone has to have the stones to do it. And I don’t think There is anyone presently in office that has those stones. I’ve mentioned it before, and a lot of folks decided that was a bridge too far, But is it ? a multitude of wrongs can be made right, and The Supreme Court issues can be remedied. Along with gerrymandering, voters rights, equal rights, climate change, infrastructure, Healthcare and everything else.
Let’s face it, society has lost its cohesiveness, individuals would rather watch someone die than to give them a drink of water. They claim to have a form of godly devotion but prove false to its power. So there you go! Sad as it may seem, we probably have reached the breaking point. But not just in this country, worldwide! When free society allows unfettered spread of conspiracy theories and misinformation basically out and out lies, You see what it breeds. And, There definitely is not going to be a way to put that genie back in the bottle without an authoritarian hand in the mix. One would have to hope it’s the correct hand, But more than likely it’s going to be the right hand, Yikes.
And/or as Pogo once said: “Look under the bed, it’s us….”
Sheila, you forgot two big ones. First, the 5G cell towers! Of course, they are more numerous in populated areas which means they correlate well with anything that requires people… I bet they are causing more traffic accidents, heart attacks, trips to 7/11, arguments with the kids, etc. Second, magnetism! So stupid. All the attempts to “demonstrate” it make me sad for humanity because it’s clear that they believe it.
And that brings us to Todd. So silly. But, like many, he’s “doing his own research.” Never mind that he has no expertise in the area. It’s stunning that he argues for “logic” without noticing his own fallacies at all. Well, perhaps I misspoke. Is it surprising? Unfortunately, it seems all too common.
Unlike the French officer in Casablanca, I was TRULY shocked to read Todd’s take on inoculation and the politics and economics surrounding this manufactured issue by the no shot crowd. Had this no shot view been around for the centuries prior to today it is doubtful that there would be any homo sapiens around to kill. Todd is wrong in both his presumptions of fact and conclusion drawn therefrom, and Sheila’s recitation of facts and conclusions drawn therefrom are (in my view) right to a fault.
However, unlike some, I will continue to read his contributions to this blog since I have found many of his anti-oligarch and other views to be on point and thoughtful, but he is so far off base on today’s topic that I am wondering whether someone forced him to write this diatribe at gunpoint. Did you write this, Todd, or must you remain silent under threat of future violence? Que es?
im wondering how variants multiply? seems my long ago bio class.said a petri dish was for developing some types of whatevers,(long list) seems the body is also a petri dish. if the sars 2 was the start,we have come a long way to have,how many variants? seems biology isnt a standing subject,with the maga,ignorant,alex jones,etc..,even when its in the scope of those,who die..if the bat was a precurser of the traits,then manage to spread to human,is this still the same virus?the toll on health care personel has to be of the highest eye opening spread of ignorance. if the social media blitz has controled the outcome,maybe its time to control the social media and those who spread the hype. they have become the incubators of the next variant,next to the ones,who the world has denied the shots..profits over people has demanded we continue on this course.
Mr. Smekens is wise in recommending RFK’s book of warning about ties among Dr. Fauci, Bill Gates and Pharma.
The lesson we learned from the 1976 Swine Flu debacle is that Americans will not allow questioning of a trusted CDC Director like Dr. David Sensor, when they are fearful of dying from flu that is compared in the press to the “deadly 1918 flu epidemic.”
Forty-five million Americans in 1976 took vaccine doses from four pharmaceutical manufacturers who were granted immunity from liability, should their vaccines cause harm. Some who received the vaccines, reported they felt it was the “patriotic” thing to do.
A 10/13/76 headline appeared in the New York Times, “SWINE FLU PROGRAM IS HALTED IN 9 STATES AS 3 DIE AFTER SHOTS.”
The questioning of Dr. Sensor was finally allowed, by Mike Wallace on “60 Minutes,” after Dr. Sensor had left CDC, and recalled that he had received no warnings of neurological damage that the vaccine could cause.
On “60 Minutes,” Dr. Michael Hatwick, who directed the surveillance team for the swine flu vaccine, said he warned Dr. Sensor of neurological damage caused by the flu vaccine.
Some 4,000 individuals filed suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act, seeking recovery from the government for performing uninformed experimentation with a vaccine.
https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/13/archives/swine-flu-prograrm-is-halted-in-9-states-as-3-die-after-shots.html
WADR Gordon Evans – There have been advances in research and clinical trial procedures in 45 years…just a few…false equivalency?
Dr. David J. Sencer was the CDC director in 1976. Additional info about the 1976 flu vaccine fiasco:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/long-shadow-1976-swine-flu-vaccine-fiasco-180961994/
Maybe Sheila could consider a different application for this blog, with up and down votes and blocking of individual posters. Disqus works really well. Consult the webmaster that runs the site.
On the Smekens post, I immediately noticed his “Do the research” ploy of “Read the RFK book.”
Sorry, Todd. I’m too busy reading scientific reports, from serious researchers.
Personally, I think everyone, even a gullible self-important goober should have the right to voice their opinion here, even if it’s misinformed and/or misguided, to put it mildly.
BUT, having said that: Lester– yes, false equivalency, by a long shot; good for you. Nancy, AgingLGirl and Ormond: right on, and right on to others commenting today–you know who you are–who keep fighting the good fight against the dangerous ignorance and foolish paranoia of conspiracy wackos.
Mind you, the wackos may win in the end–I’m afraid there are more of those bottom feeders and earth-nosers than us, and they’re getting media attention by mirroring the thought of the ascendant, amoral, rightist elite radical oligarchy (see what I did there?).
Sheila – when I read the description in the article from The Week, one word came to mind – Projection.
Loved the Mencken quote – always one of my favorites.
A note on RFK Jr. – people in Arlington had thought they had discovered a new geological fault – it was just RFK rolling over — lengthwise — ever time Junior spoke [disclaimer – I made that up – just for those who don’t recognize snarky humor]
Paul Ogden – another day I agree with my Conservative friend on his comment
As for doing my own research, I always do, but from trusted sources. Part of my training as a scientist was how to “peer review” articles so that authors received constructive criticism and only well-researched, well-reasoned articles got published.
I also reason from first principles (taught to me by my Masters mentor). All six of my postulates, formulated at the beginning of the pandemic, have proven true – and it isn’t because I am that insightful or brilliant – I just paused to think of basic science, like viruses mutate, air-born viruses spread through the air, and SARS-CoV2 is related to SARS-CoV1 and not the measles virus.
This whole anti-vaccine thing is just mother nature’s attempt to reduce human stupidity.
I am very late to this, today, because I was out, masked when indoors, with similarly masked family, until just recently, and find that, todd, you
have fallen off the edge. Gaslight got you, from somewhere.
Dr. Anthony Fauci says he and his family continue to receive death threats amid inflammatory statements made by critics including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent anti-vaxxer whose new book is filled with wild claims attacking the nation’s top infectious disease expert.
“It’s very unfortunate because I don’t think he is inherently malicious,” Fauci said of Kennedy in a wide-ranging interview with Yahoo News on Tuesday. “I just think he’s a very disturbed individual.”
The former environmental lawyer’s book, “The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health,” was published last month.
“It’s a shame because he comes from such an extraordinarily distinguished family, many members of whom I know personally,” Fauci continued. “I was very close to Sen. Ted Kennedy, who was such an extraordinary person and a real warrior for public health and to have RFK Jr. just spouting things that make absolutely no sense … I’m so sorry that he’s doing that.”
Fauci added: “Not just because he’s attacking me — that seems to be the rage among some people — but because ultimately it is going to hurt people.”
His comments came a day after Fox News host Jesse Watters encouraged attendees at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference to “ambush” Fauci with questions about the National Institutes of Health’s alleged funding of “gain-of-function” research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
“Now you go in for the kill shot,” Watters said. “The kill shot? With an ambush? Deadly. Because he doesn’t see it coming.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci stands at a podium as he speaks about the Omicron coronavirus variant during a press briefing at the White House.
Dr. Anthony Fauci at a press briefing at the White House earlier this month. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Fauci told Yahoo News that such statements are often followed by death threats.
“It even gets accelerated when you have the inflammatory statements that are made, [by] people like RFK Jr. and some of the Fox media personalities,” Fauci said, adding that he finds it “strange that they go unchecked with no consequences for people to say that.”
“And when they do that publicly, that’s when I get more death threats and people harass me, my wife and my children,” he added.
“The only thing I’ve ever said or done is to encourage people to get vaccinated, to wear a mask and to do things that would be good for their health, the health of their family and the health of the community,” he said. “So to get villainized because of that is a sad testimony on our society.”
Fauci was also asked whether he believes former President Donald Trump has the power to change minds among his supporters who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“I would think so, because of so many followers that he has — people who hang on his every word,” Fauci said.
In a live interview with Bill O’Reilly on Sunday, Trump revealed that he received a COVID-19 booster shot after previously saying he was not going to get the additional dose — and was booed by a smattering of those in attendance.
“One of the things that surprised me is that when he publicly made that statement, he was actually booed by his followers,” Fauci said. “Which tells me that the depth of the divisiveness in society, where people are so intent on not doing something almost for ideological reasons, without dropping back and taking a look at the big picture — that it’s for one’s own good to protect one’s self, to protect one’s family, but also for your communal responsibility to not allow this virus to run rampant through society.
“So I was pleased that the former president said publicly that he was vaccinated and boosted,” Fauci added. “I was dismayed that even his own followers booed him. It was rather disturbing to see that.”