My question is, now that this virus seems to have essentially toned down a great deal - have we as a society learned anything at all from this experience? What do you think? Rob
My question is, now that this virus seems to have essentially toned down a great deal - have we as a society learned anything at all from this experience? What do you think? Rob
My employer’s dislike of WFH for the desk level employees has come out big time. If you’re out sick with COVID, but still have to quarantine on doc’s orders, they want you taking sick time, not WFH, even though you being out is putting your coworker(s) in a bad way, workload wise. You think they would have learned from Covid. Sheesh. Friends report the same sort of attitude.
Other friends report the pressure to come into the office when sick is bad, as it was pre-Covid.
I had no idea that such a large percentage of our population had, or has, such an overwhelming distrust in the science of traditional medical institutions. And faith in medical or science conspiracy theory.
It seems like in the end the experts warned this would not be the last pandemic and we should be better prepared for the next. As far as any information I've seen, it's mostly been out of sight, out of mind.
"what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver
If only a fairly high percentage of conspiracy theories during the height of Covid hadn't turned out to be true the general public might have a greater degree of trust in science. If we can learn something from that experience and separate out the political influence we could probably respect science again.Originally Posted by Rogar
"Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein
I suspect your version of political influence differences from mine, but it was not one sided. What comes to my mind is when Donald recommended everyone go out to church on Easter Sunday before there were vaccines or other effective precautions and recommended bizarre chemical preparations as remedy like the injection of cleaning disinfectants. A lot of people died because of disinformation contrary to mainstream science, especially around the refusal to get vaccinated. Masks and lockdowns could be up for debate, but [possibly the best they could come up with at the time and a learning experience.
"what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver
It helps to review the context of things like that. As I recall an Under Secretary for Science and Technology at Department of Homeland Security mentioned a study showing disinfectant and sunlight easily killed the virus on non-porous surfaces. Trump then ad-libbed something to the effect that wouldn't it be nice if we could find a way to have the same effect inside the body, using light or some other medically approved substance, possibly by injection. Social media and the mainstream media then went crazy alleging he was suggesting people should inject bleach or other cleaning products into their bodies. Now, several years later, that's what most people remember, including yourself it appears.
"Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein
Not sure we seem to learn to separate them. Apollo missions, until the fire killed three astronauts, seemed to be driven more from politics then science. So did the Challenger accident investigation, until Sally Ride and Richard Feynman said censored to politics. Not to mention politicians tend to not necessarily follow science or the fact that things change as we learn more (they get their mind set), or the fact that even scientists don't always agree.
I remember in March 2020 right before the lockdown arrived here in Arizona, I went into a post office to drop off some mail in Central Phoenix. This was before masks became widely available so I had a dish towel around my face - seriously. We knew little about the virus and as a US citizen, of course trust is almost non-existent at this point - so I did the best I could with a dish towel.
There was one man in line at the post office who turned around and looked at me and laughed and shook his head and then there was a woman who smiled my way and clapped. I remember thinking then and there to not be so upset about this country's many moral and ethical failings, scams, cash grabs and outright lies and insane inequality - as I realized this country will eventually split. That moment at the post office made this crystal clear to me and I must say it's easier to deal with this country with the belief that it will be splitting up not too too too far down the road. And good riddance!
But I digress. I don't believe society has learned much from covid BUT the silver lining? Covid pushed this nation close to splitting up. It's not all bad in other words. Rob
What political influences do you think obscured a respect for science?
"what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver
We learned how many wanna be petty tyrants desire to deprive other people of medical and bodily autonomy and punish them for not falling into line. We learned that the ACLU and other organizations supposedly devoted to civil liberties will stand by and do nothing. We learned big government will conspire with big tech to censor even well respected scientists like those who signed the Great Barrington Declaration. We learned that consent does not exist, as in Massachusetts the government conspired with phone companies to install secret spyware on people's phones to track their movements. We learned that you can lose custody of your children, be denied an organ transplant, be fired from your job, be expelled from college, or any other number of draconian things for not taking an experimental vaccine under emergency use authorization. We learned young males collapsing on athletic fields of myocarditis is normal now. As lawsuits related to these cases wind their way through the courts the plaintiffs are usually winning - we saw a court case get rid of the mask mandate on planes, now many people unjustly fired from their jobs are getting damages. We learned how our government, a gerontocracy, acted in the interests of their age group at the expense of children. The average age of a person dying of covid was HIGHER than the average life expectancy in the country, and we all have to die of something, but we shut down schools as if education isn't essential. Learning has not recovered. Attendance has not recovered. Many elites sent their own children to private schools that stayed open. We learned that the poorer and the darker you are, the less important you are in this country. We learned that Karens sitting at home on Zoom in their pajama bottoms "working from home" could get delivery drivers fired for not wearing a mask. We learned that the cruelty shown in this video is acceptable to our gerontocratic society if it spares them the tiniest bit of anxiety about a virus we all got and will all continue to get throughout our lifetimes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hPxawPNeN8
Last edited by Yppej; 2-19-24 at 8:15pm.
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