They broke into Lawrence Fishborne’s house and demanded the vaccine at gunpoint!
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I see no way that northern states with low vaccination rates (Dakotas, Wyoming, WV, Idaho to name the worst offenders) fade a very big fall spike. The highly vaxxed big northeastern states (60-65% vaxxed, which is probably 80%+ of eligible population) should fare a lot better, but I still think there will be a spike.
It sure would be nice to start vaccinating children now…
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I think this is the key point. Conservatives - and especially the far right (one in the same?) - have no real platform after racism, misogyny, and pro-wealthy. Most of their politics is simply “if liberals like it, I hate it.” So liberals/Dems/Biden/whoever are pro-mask, pro-vaccine, pro-safety and thus conservatives are anti all of that. Libs think ivermectin is crazy talk, so conservatives rush to feed stores.
Similarly, when Trump was president, conservatives were for whatever he liked, no matter how crazy it was. And since Trump just threw stupid bullshit out there just so he could brag about being right if one of his hundreds of ideas actually worked, libs laughed at him and conservatives lapped it up.
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Notably, when he threw out some pro-vax statement at his rally, they definitely weren’t for that.
True. I feel like it’s one of or both of a) he doesn’t mean it, so they aren’t buying it, or b) they are so far fucking gone that they have turned on their master (probably this).
Thinking back, Trump hyped Operation Warp Speed like crazy, again, because he wanted all the credit. At that time conservatives were cheering him on as the hero that was bringing us the vaccine. But when Biden was in the White House and the vaccines got plentiful, they’re all like “fuck this.”
My theory is closer to b. The MAGA base has certain things they believe in (e.g racism, guns). The list is short, but Trump is never going to get them off of those. They will stick to their beliefs on those things. And Trump constantly feeds them red meat related to the items on the list (especially the racism). That is how he stays beloved.
Also, as a result, for anything not on that list (most domestic and foreign policy issues) they will blindly follow his lead. No matter how ridiculous or against their self interest it might be, they will support his position.
So to recap there are two lists of issues:
- Short list of things MAGA folk care about
- Everything else they don’t actually give a shit about
When it comes to list #1 they guide Trump. And he follows like a champ. On list #2, Trump guides them. And they will follow even to their own detriment. The problem at his rally was that Trump thought the vaccine was on list #2 (and it definitely started there), but it somehow made it onto list #1.
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I mean a big part of it was he convinced them it was just the flu. So he took them on a wild ride of 99% survive covid it’s not a big deal or it’s fake. So naturally they don’t want or need a vaccine for the weak flu like virus.
They’ve spent the entire pandemic arguing with everyone they know and love the virus was bullshit so not getting a vaccine is an extension of that. Getting the vaccine would be admitting it was a big deal in their dumb brains.
Then again they never care about hypocrisy so who knows
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What you’re describing is how anti-vaxxing got onto list #1. That’s probably a lot of the reason. But however it got on list #1 doesn’t matter. Once it’s there, Trump can’t push them off that issue (even if he is the one responsible for getting on list #1 in the first place). That’s how list #1 works.
Trump was never their master. He didn’t lead Republicans off a cliff. A party already headed in that direction enabled Trump. Maybe he hastened that movement by showing just how hollow the GOP establishment was, but he’s just riding the wave, not causing it. He happened to be in the right place at the right time.
These people trust their own intuition rather than facts reported by people who seem far removed from them. Mitigation efforts don’t make intuitive sense to them, so they resist.
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I’d put that nearer 60:40 in AZ favour, no more than that e.g. Pfizer approved a month earlier than AZ
Thanks for taking this up (ivermectin).
I haven’t paid much attention to this except that I’ve noticed that a person I follow on twitter (I believe this is Carl Page, brother of Google founder, though not verified) has posted numerous articles referring to studies that claim some level of benefit. Usually he posts energy related stuff and advocates for solar and nuclear. I thought he’d given up and maybe changed his mind, but I saw another post from him on this recently. Anyway, he generally seems like a thoughtful guy so the ivermectin stuff was surprising.
I don’t plan on looking at this any further as it doesn’t seem to be worth it. I only poke fun here on UP, and only at people who insist on seeking questionable treatments without the specific advice of a doctor who can tell them what the proven or at least likely better options are.
Two degrees of separation from someone who is now really sick in the hospital icu after refusing the vaccine.
Subreddits continue to blast Reddit for allowing bad Covid info.
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People still play Pokémon Go?
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Apparently part of the reason Cam Newton got cut is that he won’t get vaccinated. Have the deplorables finally found a black quarterback they can support?
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uhhh pokemon go grossed 1.3 billion dollars in 2020 so yeah
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Yeah see I don’t buy that this is the purpose at all, you don’t change anyone’s mind that way. The purpose, as others have said, is to laugh at conservatives. Which is fine, except that in their eagerness to turn this into another culture-war issue the media are clearly overstepping the mark in the level of certainty in most of the articles. Both these guys on Twitter have been active in exposing fraud in the ivermectin literature and are experts on the controversy:
https://twitter.com/GidMK/status/1432286200321044481
https://twitter.com/K_Sheldrick/status/1416789285886304258
If it turns out that ivermectin does actually provide some modest benefit, even more people will quite reasonably conclude that the media are more interested in reifying conventional wisdom than in reporting the truth.
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