Every time I post objective info about #COVID19, some idiot responds with a variation of “What do you expect us to do, isolate forever?” or “Do you expect society to shut down?”
Black-or-white strawmen arguments drive me crazy. There is a world of things we can do between “pretend COVID doesn't exist” and “lock ourselves away forever.” In fact, if we did those things--safe air in public places, masks & behavior changes when COVID surges--we could control COVID & save the health of millions.
🎯 False dichotomies, driven by disinformation, have impeded our response to the #pandemic, and contributed to people dying/becoming disabled.
Our public heath professionals have largely failed us by communicating poorly too. “Learning to live with” a dangerous virus means understanding the precautionary principle, and using every tool available to prevent transmission so we CAN continue to live our lives. Ignoring and minimizing this virus is what’s prolonging our suffering.
@KimberlyN @augieray Agree, but you left out a major driving point in the race to win First Place for "Most Devoted Death Cult": in America a charismatic sadist convinced tens of millions of his best masochists it's better to suffer and die than to challenge his greedy insanity. They've learned nothing from all their funerals.
@EarthOne @KimberlyN @augieray I've heard that called a "cult" many times, and I do agree that there are some cult-like aspects to it, but it's not the complete story.
If it was merely a cult, cult deprogramming would be possible, but their defense mechanism is too strong to allow that. What we have here is a contagious, toxic, memetic ecosystem, that uses techniques from cults, as well as tactics from religious evangelists, snake oil salesmen, psychology, propaganda and things learned from advertising and brainwashing studies. Stuff all of these into a brain and scramble them all up and what do you get?
All of these things add up to something more than merely a cult. What we have here can be compared to (this is just an analogy; don't take it literally) what we have here is a contagious, artificially induced, finely crafted, synthetic mental illness.
@ambulocetus @KimberlyN @augieray Well, whatever we call it, I can't watch any news channels or listen to the pundits anymore for fear the next breathless A-block headline will be "5 more batches of classified documents found up Pres. Biden's arse!" Whether organic or synthetic madness, I'm holding tight as I can onto my own sanity at this point.