Having been a parent through my kids’ cartoon phase, what first comes to mind is the equally catchy and irritating refrain: “BOB the builder. Can we fix it? YES, we can.”
I wish it were so simple. Over the past few weeks I visited the SF bay area, my childhood and 20+ year home, and a small town in Western MA, where I went to college, too many decades ago.
I wasn’t hoping for anything in particular, my trips being planned for my dad’s milestone birthday and the other to commemorate a milestone birthday year among college friends. One principle I had in mind going into these visits was to listen with patience, with intent to understand, breathing slowly through perspectives that I might find personally threatening. The other was to speak my mind, in a non-confrontational way, for my own health and sanity, and also to raise awareness of my pandemic experience, which was also shared by millions of others. This as a matter of conscience, advocacy and historical record.
How did it go? And what did I learn? I was (for the most part) able to stay on principle, listening to learn and sharing my point of view. I learned that there is a contingent of Biden loyalists who believe that he has had a positive impact of historic proportions, skillfully guiding the country through what could have otherwise been a worse catastrophe. For the two people in my circle who were of this mind, the vaccines saved lives and were effective in reducing the spread of covid. Mandates were justified in the name of public health, and whatever experience I had was acceptable collateral damage for the greater good.
In….. hold…… out. Repeat.
One of these discussions was fairly heated, as I shared my assessment of Biden being an authoritarian, having ordered government censorship of social media, stoking hate towards the unvaccinated and making false (and very likely illegal) statements about covid vaccine effectiveness. This was received as deeply offensive, and in that person’s view, unfair and inaccurate. Neither person in the Biden loyalist camp had heard of the Missouri vs Biden censorship case, nor that the CEO of Pfizer had requested censorship of social media content alleging effectiveness of natural immunity against covid, and it was done. I did not push much on what we now know about negative impacts of the covid vax, as I am aware that fear itself can cause stress which ultimately can lead to negative health, and these are people that I love.
It’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the deep variance in fact sets. Did the covid vaccines stop or slow transmission? This ought to be knowable science, at this point. Just for fun, I asked ChatGpt:
“Covid vaccines have shown effectiveness in reducing transmission by lowering the viral load in vaccinated individuals, thus decreasing the likelihood of transmitting the virus to others. However, breakthrough infections can still occur, so it's important to continue following public health guidelines to minimize transmission risk.”
I am pretty sure the CDC and Fauci ultimately fessed up on this topic.. but when I search google and duckduckgo, I did not find that.
Here is the CDC last October:
https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/whats-new/5-things-you-should-know.html
and now:
https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/whats-new/covid-19-vaccine-effectiveness.html
and here are two articles from non-CDC sources:
https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/covid-19-vaccine-comparison
https://www.factcheck.org/scicheck_digest/how-effective-are-the-vaccines/
In….. hold…… out. Repeat.
I have no words. All these mainstream sources paint a reasonable point of view which, to people who trust authorities, do not question their doctors, or perceive conflicts of interest in medicine, is acceptable.
Still, on the point of mandates, we do now have acknowledgement of risks, though downplayed:
“Most people who were reported to have myocarditis after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination responded well to medicine and rest and had resolution of symptoms by the time they went home from the hospital. A study found that most patients with myocarditis after mRNA COVID-19 vaccination were considered to have recovered by their healthcare provider after at least 90 days since onset.”
Is it ethical to mandate a product that can cause an issue that can take 90 days for recovery? If the virus is still dangerous, and I expect this group still believes it is…
I have so many counterpoints to all of the above. Chances are, if you are reading this, you do, too. Which is all beside the point.
Where do we go from a place where “facts” are so different?
I thought about starting a new, unbiased news source. The thing is, they already exist - with somewhat limited success - because segments of people are tied to their existing news sources and because distribution of alternate news sources is limited (ie not available on TV or YouTube).
Maybe all we can do is the same thing we want from our Biden loyalist loved ones: respect. Listen to learn, mind one another’s boundaries, and continue to share what we perceive to be truth. At the least, over time, we all open our minds a little more. At most, we avoid walking away from cherished lifelong relationships. Yes, relationships with the people we know would stand by, approving, if we had been forcibly exiled to covid quarantine camps. Beyond fortunately, we did not get that far. Perhaps, if there is a next time, through our ongoing relationships, they will be more open to question “the narrative”. If not, at least we will have the very small, joyless pleasure of recognizing some of the faces of our captors.
Thankfully, I wasn’t injured! I refused the jab and incurred the consequences.
They don't know what they don't know. For them, we can hope that one day they'll want to find out.