Vaccine

[BeyondThunderdome]

I tried replying to rodpodge in the other thread, but can’t seem to do it despite multiple attempts, including logging in and out, so just trying a new thread….

Rogpodge: You’re right. I totally missed your vax comment. Mea culpa.

[quote quote=5425]You have, yet again, trotted out another media-created lie that has been debunked over and over.  The media made up the whole bleach thing.  Show me where Trump used the word bleach?[/quote]

The bleach comment was me providing the context of your “mashup” which had a clip from Kamala Harris from a year ago. She said she would get vaccinated if there was a recommendation from a credible source, but wouldn’t trust someone who recommended injecting bleach. I was paraphrasing for you since you missed the context. Here’s the full clip… And, yes, Trump didn’t use the word bleach. He talked about injecting disinfectant – a semantic difference.

Yes, it’s a complex issue, but you’re downplaying the role conservatives have played in muddying the message about getting vaccinated, mask wearing, and social distancing. I don’t think it’s simply a coincidence that most unvaccinated are conservatives. I suspect you will dismiss this, but a study was just published from U. Penn associating conservative media with a reduced willingness to engage in behaviors to prevent the spread of the virus. On the other hand, consumption of mainstream media, such as A.P. and the WSJ, was associated with greater mask wearing and greater intentions to get vaccinated.

It’s not just Newsmax or Fox. It’s talk show hosts like Dennis Prager, a very popular conservative figure, who advocates getting “natural immunity” by contracting the disease. It’s folks like Marjorie Taylor Green —  popular among right wing folks — who has downplayed the number of cases, the idea that many hospitals are or have been overwhelmed by cases, and has downplayed the severity of the disease. It’s people like the four anti-vax conservative talk show hosts who subsequently died of COVID.  The list on the right is too long to post here, but I’ll mention a few more:

• GOP Leader Who Fought Against Vaccine Dies After Weekslong Battle With Coronavirus
• Republican Politician Dies of COVID Complications Days After Mocking Virus
• Anti-Mask Florida Official Dies of COVID—and Takes GOP Software Secrets With Him

The list goes on… And there is an entire (misguided) website that tracks anti-vaxxers on social media that later contract the disease. They invariably tend to be conservative. You say it’s complex. And I agree. Many of these folks, for example, are white evangelicals who happen to be Republicans. But at some point it becomes a distinction without a difference when these messages get echoed on conservative media and shared on social media.

I don’t believe this is some kind of mainstream conservative belief. Everyone who works at Fox, for example, if vaccinated. And even most Republican leaders have recommended vaccinations. But it is nevertheless a real problem with conservatism and something that’s expanding beyond the fringe. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that so many other conspiratorial, anti-government things are coming out of the right wing — things like Q-Anon, Three Percenters, Proud Boys, and Oathkeepers. These things aren’t growing out of Joe Biden’s messaging. They are being fomented on the right and have been brewing long before Biden took office, including a lot of this anti-vax messaging.

I agree COVID shouldn’t be politized, but to some degree it’s impossible not to politicize it. Democrats tend to be in favor of vaccine mandates and Republicans aren’t. I think both sides are generally sincere in their beliefs, but obviously those two approaches are at odds and invariable lead to politicization.

Regarding mandates, the problem is that COVID has a mortality and chronic disease profile that lies in the grey area between the plague and “just” a typical flu. It’s not quite deadly enough for everyone to take it seriously, but has a mortality rate that is 5 to 10 times worse than a typical flu and is more contagious. If it was a few times more deadly or had a disease profile like smallpox there would be no debate — everyone would be deadly serious about vaccine mandates. You wouldn’t dare send your kid to school if their friends weren’t vaccinated. If it was a little less serious and closer to a typical flu I don’t think anyone, including those on the left, would be talking about vaccine mandates.

NO MALARKEY

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