I think the certainty that many people have that their interpretation of facts is the accurate one is probably one of the most amusing and interesting social phenomenon I have ever had the pleasure to witness.

Covid stuff as an example.

We don't even have accurate testing 3 years in, but we are super sure that the numbers we've collected are close enough. You also have people completely convinced the virus never existed at all. The same statistics can be used to support either position.

The virus and the vaccines were both introduced to the population within a very short timeframe, but depending on where you review your data either covid is harmless or it's AIDS, and the vaccine is either safe and effective or it's the clot shot. Everyone on all sides is confident they are right.

@thatguyoverthere

Nuance is vital. Then again, use logical fact: a real epidemic leaves behind heaps of bodies across the board. We did not see that.

New products, especially new technologies, are prone to a higher rate of error. We would expect more casualties than from the average vaccine, and vaccination casualties are never zero.

@amerika before "warp speed" I think the expectation was years before a vaccine would be ready. Everyone dogged on trump (oddly not for helping skip safety protocols) saying there was no way for it to be finished and if it was they wouldn't take it. Insert new leader suddenly it's safe and you are a bigot if you disagree

@thatguyoverthere

At this point, COVID has just about become a political loyalty test like everything else.

Worried about COVID, in favor of transgender special rights, pro-Ukraine, want abortion, talk about Blacks constantly = Leftist.

@amerika I tend to agree, but I am still amazed at the strength of conviction

@thatguyoverthere
We are truly living in the era of post-truth: facts are nothing if they don't fit the political agenda, if there are no facts to reinforce your point of view — you are free to cherry pick them or even outright make them up.
Rule of thumb here is to not trust something only because it aligns well with your worldview, question even that, and if it doesn't — integrate it into your worldview by expanding it, do not try to dismiss it.
@amerika

@thatguyoverthere
I have to admit, I must've overestimated COVID, but only because a lot of people around me kept underestimating it, they took more relaxed stance using every opportunity — they just wanted it to be over really bad.
And that is my weakness: I always asses poorly how people take information, you thing that something is going to be a game changer, but most people — they are like that tilt-doll, they return to their old ways almost immediately 🤷
@amerika

@m0xee @amerika when I first started hearing about things (before it was called a pandemic) I took it kind of seriously, mainly because I had a sneaking suspicion pretty early on that it was likely lab grown and might be more deadly than naturally occurring pathogens. As time went on and we started seeing political factions form, I decided "I'm not playing". I don't spend a lot of time retailing anyway, and most of the businesses I deal with put provisions in place to satisfy whatever government requirements they had to meet. If they required a mask I'd wear one, but if not I did not. I wasn't out trying to own anyone on their opinions, but I also didn't hide my skepticism. I still don't really know what to think, but it seems like most people have made up their minds on the facts (and how to interpret them) by now.
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@thatguyoverthere @amerika
Same, I've had a very bad feeling about it. I remember, it was a week before the New Year and a friend of mine asks me if he could borrow a mic and a keyboard stand, my ex had been using them so I go to her to fetch the gear, we spend the evening talking about that, I tell her that this is going to be big, she doesn't believe me of course, then I go to the friend's place and we sit in the kitchen drinking tea, I've been telling him about the virus too and he was:

— Oh, come on, it that Swine Flu shit again!
— No, it's hardly "swine flu shit", this looks serious — the whole city was isolated
— I have a friend in China, he told me everything's fine
After the holidays I did this and that, went to the cinema to see all the movies I had been planning to see — I knew, they would be locked down, spent like whole day at the cinema — it was matinee, so dirt cheap. And then, a few weeks later, all hell broke loose!

@thatguyoverthere @amerika

In a couple of months I asked him about friend from China: "He's no longer responding to my emails, that's odd" 😂

@thatguyoverthere @amerika

@m0xee @thatguyoverthere

The mistake we all made: relying on authorities, both public and private, assuming that they were acting on scientific knowledge.

It turns out that if you drop bad data somewhere in the system in a panic, everyone seizes on it as their chance to either (a) get in good with government or (b) sell products to the credulous normies.

So it was all crap.

In the long calculus, some people are at risk from #COVID19 because of genetic factors.

@m0xee @thatguyoverthere

Our society fears genetics and natural selection because they disprove equality, equity, socialism, pacifism, utilitarianism, and all the other stuff that comes from herd rule.

@m0xee @thatguyoverthere

These tards cannot even agree that social classes, races, and ethnic groups are genetically different.

That makes them liars, and one should not tolerate liars. Ideally liars should be euthanized.

@m0xee @thatguyoverthere

But back to the reality, as @jeffcliff has pointed out, some people get hit hard by #COVID19.

This is true of every new flu. It carries off some who are susceptible to its method of attack.

It was used advantageously as a political panic to steal an election however; it justified the millions of mail-in ballots that anomalously decided the election.

@m0xee @thatguyoverthere @jeffcliff

At first, I trusted the authorities. I do not want to be the source of misery to others.

Once the scam was clear, I started saying "let's genetically test people to figure out the people with those 19 loci that make this dangerous, and leave everyone else tf alone."

A lot of my life philosophy is leaving people alone alone unless there is a need to bother them. Let nature sort humanity out; it's better at it than we are.

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